DISQUS

Bushwack · 1 year ago

Well said moron, spit in the eyes of those that grant you the freedom to spout your drivel. I wish you "progressives" would head out of the nation go to places like China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, or even Mexico and divulge in such ridiculous actions against your country.

You have the right to speak the way you do because BETTER men than you laid down their lives in defense of the freedoms you take advantage of. Please sir, show up one day where you and I share space and say anything like you write.

Leslie · 1 year ago

Are these "better" MEN currently fighting the unjustified war the administration we're supposed to unconditionally love because it allegedly represents the 300,000,000 people of our country to insure Matthew Rothschild's right to free speech? Please stop speaking (and apparently thinking) in platitudes and instead of throwing out juvenile insults (calling someone a moron because you happen to disagree with them does not make your admittedly weak argument more valid), perhaps actually consider the criticisms the author so justly makes. I notice that you, like so many of your partners in patriotism, adovate that Mr. Rothschild emigrate ("Love it or leave it" being another ridiculous cliche for those who don't think beyond them). Of course you mention countries (many of which "America," meaning our current administration is friendly with) with heinous human rights abuses yet neglect to mention the many places which do not have anywhere near the muder rates, poor educational and social welfare systems, imperialistic behavior, etc. which Rothschild and other "progressives" would like to remedy in our homeland. Nowhere does he say he "hates" that homeland (that would be as silly and simplistic as to "love" something as complex, amorphous and flawed), but as a BETTER American, he is ready to see the ugliness and advocate positive change.

Bushwack · 1 year ago

LOL, an unjustified war, the lefty loon creeps out and speaks, the cowardice
of you on the left baffles me, everyone Demorat, Republidiot was all for
Iraq at the start, but it got tough and the first thing you faux
intellectuals do is advocate withdraw... We broke it, the responsible thing
is for us to fix it. OH but to expect you liberals to know anything about
respnsibility is asking too much.

I am proud of the country I live in and you are a so-called inteligent
educated person yet you spit in the face of the very country that aided you
in achieving your intelect. You are a bright person I can tell by your
writing and eventually you will grow up and see that things are not always
worth running from, you need to stand fight and be prepared to make a
sacrifice for others.
While you and your college ilk are screaming "unjust" and "Blood for Oil"
our guys are dying too, and YOU are as guilty in putting them there as I
am. We as a nation put them there, YOU as a liberal piece of crap decide
you would rather make them leave than try to fix the error.. typicl liberal
thinking "Its too hard, we have to quit" Deal with it. We need to fix what
we broke, and true American values need to kick in but unfortunately you
were probaly one of those elite kids that had rich parents and they didn't
love you enough or allowed you to run amuk without some moral values. OH
well I'm just damn glad you ARE the minority, you will see even your Messiah
Obama will not live up to his promise of retreat and surrender....

Red State · 1 year ago

Did you say LOL?

Wow, you are cool.

Bonewoman · 1 year ago

Actually, the statement that everyone was for the Iraq war at the start is a lie or misinformed opinion. A majority of Americans were against the Iraq war at the start, it took visions of mushroom clouds from Condi, Dick and old Clueless as well as strategic lies and conflation of Sadaam Hussein with Al Qaeda to make people change their minds. Lots of us did not. That does not make us cowards, it just means that we knew some things that others did not, are less inclined to follow the crowd and more inclined to do our own research rather than accepting the spoonfeeding of Rush Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity et.al. And, we have the right to speak out because it is guaranteed to us by our Bill of Rights - not military action. Furthermore, it is not an error to leave Iraq, it is a necessity. Noone wins war, everyone is a loser where violence against others takes place. And, historically, wars fought on lies end badly; and wars fought for imperialistic reasons, may be won, but they are usually pyrrhic victories. The victor ends up crushed by hubris, responsibility, endless insurgencies, and huge debt. Most people don't like other people invading their territory; killing their family members; and dictating to them what should happen in their country. We wouldn't like it in ours. They tend to want to fight to get invaders out. As for making it right, the best course of action is to leave Iraq; pay reparations into an account administered by some other organization - say the UN; and mend our militaristic ways. Militarism, nationalism and corporatism doom this nation. It is people who stand up to tyranny and wrongheaded governmental actions who have courage - not the people who go along and condone that which is wrong. And, many people who are not college educated disagreed with going to war - just as many highly educated people supported the war i.e, George Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Thomas Friedman, and so on. As for American values kicking in, it would be refreshing to see that happen here in the United States. I look forward to people valuing the things that made our country different than so many others at one time - our Constitution and Bill of Rights; voting rights; and human rights. If you want to follow these people deeper in to the hole that they have dug, by all means do, but that does not mean that those of us with clearer heads need to join you.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

I'm glad to let you know it is men and women of Matt's stature that make it possible for you to have a venue to spill your thoughts so freely and without care.

Travisprob · 1 year ago

Matt is actually simply excerising a right that was made POSSIBLE by patriots that sacrificed themselves in wars before Matt was even born. He is using that right, although with faulty arguments, but he is not making it possible.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

You have it backwards and that is not surprising, as you have been trained to believe rather than think. Multiply guess testing perhaps?

When wars come they come to take away civil liberties. Presently the liberties of each and every American are under assault. The Bush Administration is leading the charge against our civil liberties.

So wrap yourself in the butcher's apron and sing the anthem, while Matt and others do the heavy lifting daily their entire lives.

Travisprob · 1 year ago

It is the soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the soldier
Who salutes the flag
Who serves under the flag
Whose coffin is draped in the flag
Who allows the protester to burn the flag

-Charles M. Province

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Would it were true. If only reason could verify that belief, but it cannot?

Believe what you like, but reality is quite different.

Travisprob · 1 year ago

Thanks for the psycho-analysis there doc...how much do I owe you? Trained to believe, huh? Have you met me? Do you know my educational credentials?
You are correct that wars do infringe upon civil liberties. Liberty and security share a precarious relationship, and an increased need for security always affects civil liberties. You are also correct that governments tend to overstep their boundaries in this process.
What you and Matt are failing to realize is the horrible situation that ensues when governments do nothing in the face of security threats. Your civil liberties, the ones that you and Matt so freely exercise, disappear. Do you think that a resource-rich nation like the United States could maintain its freedoms if patriotism did not lead men and women to defend it militarily? In other words, let's assume that the military was non-existent, but that we were full of 'Matt's' who stood up with their lab-tops and wrote scathing indictments against Islamists, Fascist, Communists or any other state-backed ideology that would love to exploit our resources.
Patriotism does not require throwing the first punch, but it requires the ability to punch-back. Something that Matt does not do.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Ben Franklin (also quoted by Jefferson)

Matt, I believe has the strength to do right. Certainly he can be harangued for this, which only verifies his worth to us all.

Stop being so afraid to the world and other peoples; have some compassion for the least of us. Enfranchise people

"Join in the battle
Wherein no man can fail
For who so fadeth and dieth
Yet his deed shall still prevail"

William Morris

Joe Lammers · 1 year ago

"Matthew-- my comment seems to have gotten lost-- or are you only accepting the ranting, hate-filled comments from conservatives so you can say, "See, I told you so?""

Yes, of course if someone disagrees with your point of view they must be "ranting, hate-filled...conservatives". See how easy it is, you don't need to debate their points, just launch ad hominiem attacks.

Ken · 1 year ago

Because other people are proud of their countries, we have no right to be proud of America? Because others might think their way of life is superior, there can be no objectively better way of life?

There is a virulent strain of American exceptionalism that infects "progressives" such as the writer of this essay. All countries are given a free pass for genuine human rights violations except for America being charged on dubious evidence.

Seeing economic justice through the prism of statistics filters out the obvious. People own wealth, not numbers, and individuals move up and down through the percentiles quite freely. And the percentiles represent shares of a fluid and growing economy. Ten percent of a trillion is far larger than ten percent of a milliion. The chief nutritional crisis among America's poor is obesity.

The Bush administration has afforded prisoners captured on the battlefield far more legal latitiude than any administration in history. Its efforts to gather intelligence against real enemies has been less intrusive than that employed by progressive icons like FDR and Woodrow Wilson. But then Wilson locked up more disseidents than Mussolini.

We are not less great today, in spite of the economic and historical ignorance of writers like this essayist.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial: My dear boy, do your homework, as life is not a multiply guess test.

cfoss · 1 year ago

I am sorry, but my immediate reaction to this article is that it is very, very negative...and depressing.

If you think about it, there are a bunch of things that we can brag about. How about our freedoms (eg. of the press), opportunity--a woman and a black man bona fide candidates for President of the United States, speaking of progress. How about our economic opportunities? Natural beauty and abundant resources in the U.S.?

Patriotism is not about nationalism or thinking we are the best. In fact, I think Beinhart in Time Mag did make a useful distinction between loving our country because it is our country and loving our country because of the possibilities. In Beinhart's opinion, the country needs both, and I won't disagree.

I choose to be thankful for the many benefits of living in the United States, but seek to improve it in whatever humble way I can. Personally, I think that three major issues facing the U.S. are serious campaign finance reform to restore real democracy in America; taking care of our own house before we try to fix others: and taking a leadership position in confronting the world's major crises.

I would think that you would need a more positive premise for the progressive cause to be successful.

Laura · 1 year ago

Let's see what Jefferson had to say about love of country:

"Adore your God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more then yourself. Be just. Be true." Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Smith - February 21, 1825

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither”
Thomas Jefferson

kazoolist · 1 year ago

a.) Your quote is off (it's "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety")

b.) Your attribution is correct (Ben Franklin, not Jefferson)

c.) We give up liberty for safety all the time. For instance, to have police around means giving up liberty (to gain safety), but I've never heard anyone spout off this quote who was serious about abolishing the police to gain back every ounce of their natural rights. The importance is getting the balance right, not abolishing the social contract.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

It's Jefferson's paraphrase of Franklin's "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

Jefferson's use demonstrates the point in reference to the above fatuous sentimentality about the "love" of country.

Detoqueville · 1 year ago

I think you could poll every "knuckle dragging conservative" that commented in this thread whether or not Matthew had the right to voice his opinion and they would say yes. What they and I are tired about is the ceasless marginalization of all things associated with American exceptionalism or American culture vice virtually every other nation or collection of nations (think EU) in the world. If you don't like the way things go, what are you doing about it? As John Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?" People who understand and are acting on that challenge are offended and scared by people who truly do not understand the fundamental differences by people who want us to be more like the enlightened international community. That community where you do not have fundamental rights. That international community where you can be physically tortured by police, while their politicians are vociferously complaining about U.S. insensitivities. Contemplate what this American experiment has accomplished since the signing of the Constitution 200 years ago. Think about how and why the EU exists and the amount of money they are pooling to try and do things like oppose Google or Microsoft, two companies that basically hatched out of garages. Why don't companies like these happen there without government intervention?

Stop looking for reasons to loath America and you may find that it's more than just a pretty good place to live.

Two Dogs · 1 year ago

Actually, "knuckle-dragging" implies a belief in evolution, which has found no proof in science. People who choose to disbelieve science are known as "Progessives."

Get out your Progressive hate-speech dictionary before you write something, then you won't sound so stupid.

We are all dumber for having read the above article and subsequent comments, mine included.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Microsoft was allowed the IBM franchise because IBM being under monopoly supervision wanted to monopolize the personal computer market. This plan failed for IBM but the franchise did become a monopoly.

Google was hatched out of a research university underwritten with oodles and boodles of government grants. Government research grants have made many of the lucky ones wildly rich.

Twenty years from now, let’s revisit this topic.

Opposing monopolies helps the world advance more quickly and more fairly.

Remember the American "Trust Busters" of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Yankee Oppressor · 1 year ago

Sir-
Your article sickens me. Is there nothing worth fighting for? We have the highest standard of living compared to ANYWHERE. WE consume because we have the freedom of choice.
Empire? I doubt it...Germany? Italy? Japan? Korea? Those locations were paid for in blood. Go read your history again. If the POTUS or VP had violated the Constitution, then the Speaker of the House would be duty bound to present Articles of Impeachment. Not to do so would be a dereliction of duty. Again, you would know this if you new anything about the country you so vehemently despise. The American people are the most benevolent on the planet. Again...if you had done your homework you would know that. I do not agree with you but I would fight to the death to preserve your right to think as you do (I have worn the uniform of this nation for over 26 years)-
I won't even ask you to say thank you.
PS- Intellectually, George Carlin is way out of your league. Why don't you confine your journalistic talents to women's fashions or something along that line.

Jeffrey P. Colin · 1 year ago

People like you are all that is wrong with the USA. The USA was not a nation ordained as perfect by God. It is simply another nation on the face of a sadly fragmented planet. If you value the concept of the USA as an International leader among the numerous nations, then stop denying that we have problems. Comparing the USA to nations like Zimbabwe may make people like yourself feel superior, but we lag behind the European nations in taking care of our own people. We lack universal access to healthcare, education, and we treat the poor as though they are poor because they being punished for some crime or offense against God. And by the way, we ARE NOT a Christian nation. Our diversity is our strength, and we fail to celebrate THAT at all. All in all, if you believe that the USA is the best nation in the world, then you know very little about the rest of the world. I hope you will spend a bit more time learning the truth before pretending to know it all.

Gringo · 1 year ago

People like you are all that is wrong with the USA….Comparing the USA to nations like Zimbabwe may make people like yourself feel superior, but we lag behind the European nations in taking care of our own people.
Are you referring to British health care, where the nightmare tales accumulate? Are you referring to the 15,000 elderly French that died during a heat wave, a heat wave that would be an ordinary summer in Texas? Are you referring to the bloated welfare system in much of Western Europe which goes hand in hand with much higher unemployment rates than in the US and with a much worse record at job creation than the US? Are you referring to a continent that has so little faith in the future that its fertility rate is far behind replacement levels in many countries?

Is my pointing this out to you an indication that I am one of the people that is “all that is wrong with the USA?”

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

What harebrained poppycock you disgorged here.

Joe Lammers · 1 year ago

"Apparently, it is the mission of those in power to crush that spirit and replace it with unquestioned loyalty. Thankfully dissent is allowed...at least for now."

You've got to be kidding. Just because your views are being criticised doesn't mean anyone is trying to "crush your spirit". It's called freedom of speech. You should learn what it really means.

Gringo · 1 year ago

The millions of victims of Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot have on their death certificates a dual diagnosis: yes communism, but also that other ism, nationalism.
For example: the tens of millions of Chinese who died during the Great Leap
Forward because following Chairman Mao's cockamanie ideas on increasing agricultural production resulted in famine. Mao's hubris, yes. Nationalism? I fail to see how.
Ditto for those lost in Stalin's Gulag.
Pol Pot? Those were CAMBODIANS.

The ignorance of your statement shows a fifth grade level of historical knowledge, if that.

Potfry · 1 year ago

Thank you for providing a wonderful example of the most common progressive disorder-- the inability to consider the self as part of something larger. From sports teams to God and religion, to patriotism and nationalism, the progressive looks down his or her nose at membership of any kind. And, simultaneously, those that are able to rally around a concept larger than themselves are dismissed as dumb and easily influenced.

It's actually quite tragic-- the progressive can't fit in, yet stomps their feet and screams that they are much smarter, much more worldly. The world would be a better place, if everyone would just listen.

Joe Lammers · 1 year ago

"Best 4th of July article I've ever read! We need a revolution now." Another socialist wannabe. Yes, the war in Iraq was a really bad idea. The rest of this article makes little sense.

Gene Cole · 1 year ago

But don't question his patriotism!

Artbyruth · 1 year ago

I guess you disagree with Barak Obama who quoted Mark Twain's definition of patriotism as his own: "..support your country at all times and your government when it deserves it."

Since you do not support your country....then I assume you do not support Obama for President since he claims to think this is a great country?

I think you will find yourself alone in your thinking.

Evan · 1 year ago

Dude, you should try and be positive about the small place on Earth you and your friends and loved ones presently occupy. Unless you live alone in a trash-strewn depressing mess, you should at least be proud of YOUR space that is clean, safe and allows you to write tripe like that. You know your waving a personal flag in your heart when the fat check you got for this crap was mailed to your home in Pessimism, USA.

Keeping a nation on a decent and generally progressive path is NO EASY FEAT!!! Most of those flag wavers you despise are struggling to stay on the right path and stay positive and realize it would be much harder just about anywhere on the planet. They realize the only other comparably well-off nations are much smaller and more racially homogenous. They are relieved to be in the company of different people who are all willing to look at the glass as half full for one day out of the year.

Extrapolating from where this country has been to where it is and continuing out and up to where (based on the trajectory) can likely be if we all stay positive blows your BS article out of it's half-empty glass.

And besides, I AM proud of The Dominion of Canada, too. Still have the Queen on the coin of the Realm at all that!

Jim H USA, Ret · 1 year ago

Did not even read past the 1st paragraph; however, I can tell this sick old [young?] man that he is in a country that allows his warped opinions because of many men and women that did believe.

dellbabe68 · 1 year ago

It's okay. I'll wave enough flags for you and me both!

lolly · 1 year ago

As jd points out below, patriotism, especially in such a multicultural nation as America, is not blind devotion to one's homeland. It involves respecting the values upon which our nation has been founded--the values of equality, growth through self determination, and justice.
Sure we're not perfect. But throughout the years Americans as a whole have strived to project the cornerstone values as our young nation continued to evolve. (Hence the civil rights movement, the constant striking down of old laws and enforcement of new ones to maintain justice through harsh examination, and most recently the validation of gay marriage to ensure equal rights to every american citizen)

Patriotism is honoring the right and good values one's nation stands for. Holidays such as Independence Day is a time to recognize the things America has done right, but also to reflect on what we can do to make it better.

Not rant about its imperfections.

Geechee · 1 year ago

Why don't you go help Alec Baldwin load up that truck? He should be close to being finished now, since he's had 4 years to complete the task. I'm sure he'll have room at his new place in Siberia or Nairobi for an extra Leftie tea sipper like you. We sure as hell won't miss ya.

JG · 1 year ago

Holy Founding Fathers! People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw their navel lint around for 1,337 words. What a waste of two minutes of my time.

Martin · 1 year ago

Matthew,

America is a great country (and I and many others would argue, the greatest country in the world) because we enjoy the greatest combination of freedom and opportunity that exists in the world for the greatest number of people, including the freedom to spout the drivel you write in your piece. This doesn’t mean we have to denigrate other countries or invade them as a result of this “patriotism” (if that’s what you want to call a feeling that America is a great or even the greatest country in the world), but it does imply that we should be thankful for the freedoms and opportunity our country/form of (self-)government affords us, especially on July 4. For me, the American experiment begun by our founders back in 1776 has been as much about, and continues to be about, extending those freedoms and that opportunity to ever-widening classes of people, both within this country and in other parts of the world (in terms of inspiring millions of immigrants to uproot their lives and move here as well as serving as a model around which other countries can (re)fashion their politico-economic systems). Some other countries may have (or be perceived to have) more civil rights and civil liberties (more freedom?), but they also generally have much higher taxes and significantly stricter/complicated economic systems and regulations (less opportunity). Some countries that offer perhaps equal or better economic opportunities (maybe some examples in Asia) generally are much more authoritarian (think Singapore with all the caning for spitting your gum out on the sidewalk). It’s really hard, perhaps impossible, to find another country that balances freedom and opportunity quite as well as America does and has done over the years.

Without addressing each of your criticisms (some of which are more egregious than others, particularly those that conflate ethnic- or even tribal-based “nationalism” with patriotism in a diverse, pluralistic society such as America), perhaps you should consider:

Americans produce roughly 25% of the world’s goods and services despite being only 5% of the global population. Rather than view this as evidence of being the most productive society on the face of the planet (and do you think our unique, dare we say it, “American” system has something to do with it?), you, and many other neo-Malthusians within the hard left/environmental movement, treat this as evidence of either greed or environmental indifference. We make about 25% of all the world’s stuff and we account for about 25% of the resources used in the world each year in doing so. Duh. Leave that one out from next year’s July 4th screed, please.

Also, Kennedy's Inaugural words inspired thousands of people (including many of those narcissistic baby boomers) to do altruistic things like joining the Peace Corps; his words echo from beyond the grave to inspire people like me (Gen Xer) who weren’t even born when he challenged Americans to look beyond purely selfish goals and desires -- no one has taken them to support goose-stepping on the Mall a la Berlin 1933. It would be a better country if more politicians, both on the left and the right, could, like Kennedy, inspire new generations of Americans to new heights of self-sacrifice, be it through volunteering in non-profit organizations, or joining our armed forces in this time of violent conflict visited upon us to help defend our freedoms, rather than financially-directed appeals such as calling for more charitable contributions (those on the right, perhaps) or accepting higher tax rates (those on the left).

Perhaps you don’t want to accept it, but until the rest of the world becomes a lot more like America in terms of setting up an enduring system that maximizes BOTH freedom and opportunity (not just one of these, mind you), America is the best and increasingly only game in town.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Mumbo-Jumbo!

Fantasy Island!

Gibberish

nonukesinnz · 1 year ago

'Give me your huddled mass' so we can exploit them. I am curious just why so many Americans want to get out of the 'Land of the Free'. America is not the only game in town by a long shot.

My country (New Zealand) is receiving record hits from Americans on our immigration website. Perhaps they feel safer out of their own country. Or perhaps is it that when they get permanent residency, and become NZ citizens, that they will qualify for free healthcare which we enjoy here - and have for many years.

Unlike the sad story of guy in NY who had to sell his home to pay his hospital bill, this would never happen in my country. You can have America and its racist, violent society. You can die in foreign countries on behalf of the multi-nationals - Bush's big-oil friends, but don't expect us to follow suit. None of our young are dying in Iraq on behalf of America.

The threats to Iran by a country which has 10,000 nuclear weapons just leaves us cold. America's hypocrisy knows no bounds. America has not learned it lesson from Vietnam - another lost cause.

Americans are welcome here. We know they want to escape the criminals who have taken their country into a war which is reviled around the world and bankrupted their country.

And I see no change no matter who is elected president.

Bob · 1 year ago

I read a few paragraphs of this idiots commentary and decided it wasn't worth my time. What makes America Great is a remnant that is more heroic that the mediocrity of the cynics and self-mongers. Have fun in you pitiful stupor of nothingness. I'm focused on "better" not "it ain't good enough"...

A Patriot

quincyscott · 1 year ago

Why does it not surprise me that you didn't bother to read the entire essay?

It's a free country, and he can say what he wants. You can say what you want, too, but the least you could do is hear the man out first. Your knee-jerk, thoughtless response only proves his point.

Or perhaps you see it as your patriotic duty to partially read essays on liberal websites and write responses to them. A grateful nation salutes you.

BeanBuy · 1 year ago

What an unmitigated piece of crap from a so-called journalist. Was this rant done simply to further your career among the rest of the America hating media? You can't possibly think that Patriotism stands side by side with Communism as evils in the world. What planet are you on?

Dennis Jacques · 1 year ago

Nationalism is absolutely as evil as communism, and what passes for patriotism in this country is actually a virulent nationalism. I think Rothschild is wrong that there is no such conceiveable thing as innocent patriotism; but he's dead right that the kind we're all used to in America is far from innocent.

Neil · 1 year ago

Another in the "If it's not perfect, then it must be bad" crowd. We'll we're not perfect, but we're trying to get better together. For that, I'm proud to be apart of America.

Grow up little Matthew.

jd · 1 year ago

You are missing the point....................Patriotism in America stems from the love of our American values first, not love of empty nationalistic indoctrination as you suggest. Patriotism does not require one to love every element of the American condition. Self-determination, democracy, respect for basic human liberties are the cornerstone of American values. If you take issue with these, you take issue with the basic tenents of our founding. So when I celebrate this weekend and reflect on my patriotic duty, I will do so with reverence of our core values, not simply nationalistic/ethnic pride.

All50 · 1 year ago

We ARE a great nation, and I'm thankful for everything President Bush has done to make us safe. Not a single attack on Americans since 9/11 -- who could have predicted that? One more thing, as Condi Rice correctly stated, "We don't torture". But some of you think almost anything is "torture", from sleep-deprivation to playing loud AC/DC music for 24 hours, to using their Koran for toilet paper. Disrespect and discomfort are NOT torture.

But on the other hand, Mr. Rothschild, I really do appreciate your article. Let's hope Barack H Obama agrees with you and makes it clear that he does.

Scott · 1 year ago

And to think that if this idiot said any of these things in the vast majority of contries he would be sent to prison or executed!

The_Dude · 1 year ago

I love the disdain for ordinary Americans, who are portrayed as dupes and fools. Well played. Who says "Progressives" are arrogant?

Joe · 1 year ago

Why don't you move to Venezuela, that Marxist paradise? You have that choice. This country allows you to. Love it or leave it baby.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

I just love it when you call me baby. Give us a kiss.

David · 1 year ago

what a sad sad life you liberals lead... so full of self hate... so full of hate for those who love themselves and others and yes, their country...

andy · 1 year ago

the only I'm seeing here is coming from right to left - that's it - if this country had no liberal thought, no liberal ideas, democratic rule would cease in a generation. conservatism as presently constitued in the U.S. only leads to military, oligarchic, plutocratic rule - END of STORY.
and despite what 90% of the respondants here let dribble from their mouths, it's productive remain unsatisfied with the quality of life in the US (or anywere). to never be satisfied is a quality that leads to progression, not regression.

Shryke · 1 year ago

We are the greatest country in the world because anyone can become anything they wish. It only requires effort.

That is the reason more people immigrate to this country than any other.

Rodger Lodger · 1 year ago

Yeah, you have to learn patriotism. My lesson came when I briefly toured communist countries in 1974. I can still see the guard towers on the border of one of them that was next to a free European country. They were ready to shoot to kill if you tried to escape the commies. That told me all I had to know about the supporters of the Soviets (there were plenty in the USA then) and the neutralists who thought all government systems were relative.

Lee · 1 year ago

No, we're the greatest country on earth because people like you can spout this crap and not fear the mob bullet, as in almost every other country in the world...

Ivanhoe · 1 year ago

Let the 'Progressives' into power and after they turn everything into their socialist dreamworld, followed by letting out their fascist clutch, you WON'T be able speak your mind. Unless you're one of them--and even then...

Rothschild: You forgot to mention due to the generosity of America, we donate to worthy causes at the rate of $500,000 hour. One of MANY great things about this country, in spite of worthless whiners like yourself.

adam · 1 year ago

agreed

Todd · 1 year ago

After reading some of the inane comments spouted by the brown shirts posting on this forum, I'm not so sure he doesn't have to "fear the mob bullet."

AG · 1 year ago

Thirty years ago I would have agreed with much of what you say. Then I grew up. If you really believe that Bush and Chaney have ruined this country then you are a fool, and there's not much I can say to reach you. If you had the opportunity to tour any Iron Curtain country in the 70s (or say, Cuba, Zimbabwe, North Korean, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China, .... today) I suspect you would return and kiss the ground here. Have you spent any time at all abroad? If you truly don't "get" patriotism I would urge you to re-read some history. You might start with biographies of Washington, Adams, Jefferson or Lincoln. You might start with more recent history, such as Paul Johnson's "Modern Times" (which provides excellent portraits of pretty much every 20th c. leader of any significance and their country). If you think the mark of a "great" country is the extent to which it provides cradle to grave nanny service to its people, then I'm sorry, but you should move to Scandinavia. If you think that maybe, just maybe, a country's worth can be evaluated by the extent to which it strives to enpower individual rights and liberties, and to secure and broaden freedom not only for its own citizens but also for people around the world, then re-think your low opinion of the U.S. America may fairly be judged to fall short of its ideals, but at least it has ideals, and values them dearly. The vast majority of the rest of the world either has no such ideals, or even worse, rejects them entirely.

cd_ryan · 1 year ago

and to what point do you think that any democray in the EU (and there are only such...) does not share the values of equality and liberty? heard of the french revolution? :D

pst314 · 1 year ago

The French Revolution? Heh. We saw how well that Jacobin foolishness turned out.

Bill · 1 year ago

Not being a patriot is an entirely acceptable position and certainly defended by our constitutional right of free speech and thought. However, as I read the article I did see the foundation of thought that would lead someone to vote for Barack Obama, a man who would agree with every word of the article.

David · 1 year ago

Think back to 1776 – how many of the nations cited above embraced the ideals you describe. We are many things to many people. You can disdain us or take pride in us but first and foremost, you must give us our due. We embarked on a great experiment that became the mode for which others would learn to govern. Anyone can take pride in that no matter your nationality.

Travisprob · 1 year ago

Your argument is stacked with logical fallacies. I'll touch one one of these. You denounce patriotism based on limited examples, but you never counter the critique that patriotism has led to a lot of good in the world. The defeat of Nazi patriotism, the eventual emancipation of blacks in the United States and, yes, the "inculcation" of freedom in Iraq (read the recent reports from that country) have all been acheived through American patriotism. You incorrectly claim that patriotism is evil on the basis that it has been used incorrectly before. What a benighted argument. GOD BLESS THE USA, the world's last best hope!!!

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

The Nazi defeat happened on the Eastern front. Battle of Stalingrad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad) "The results of these operations are often cited as one of the turning points of World War II. Stalingrad was the bloodiest battle in human history, with combined casualties estimated to be above 1.5 million. The battle was marked by brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties by both sides. The German offensive to take Stalingrad, the battle inside the city, and the Soviet counter-offensive which eventually trapped and destroyed the 6th Army and other Axis forces around the city was the second large-scale defeat of the Second World War. "

Travisprob · 1 year ago

I'm assuming that your comment is insinuating that the Soviets defeated the Germans and not the Americans. I do not deny the decisive defeat of the Soviets over the Germans on the Eastern Front. Hitler, like Napoleon, saw his ultimate demise on the Russian front. If I am correct in assuming your point, however, then you are surprisingly overlooking the American's influence on the overall German effort. Would the defeat at Stalingrad been decisive to the overall German defeat if the Americans had been absent on the Western Front? I am fairly confident in answering in the negative. Furthermore, this response does not fully refute my conclusion that the author of this article erroneously concludes that patriotism is evil because in certain instances it has been used for insidious purposes.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Your just selling another "How I Won The War" story.

Smartest Guy in the Room · 1 year ago

This country is great because self absorbed little snots like you can pen their uniquely American right to be wrong without fear of reprisal from the government. We are the greatest nation because we are the only self-limiting country in the world. Your success is only limited by your willingness to work, your God given ability, and your effectiveness in the market. We are a great country because we are the most giving and generous nation in history, giving American resources and American lives without expectation of payback. We are not a perfect land, but we are clearly great when compared to the next best altnernative. I guess people risk their lives floating from Cuba to the United States in a milk crate because we suck...maybe they just can't stand all that great nationalized healthcare Cuba offers its citizens. Wake up pal, you are being duped by left wing ninnies like Micheal Moore who wouldn't know greatness if it bit him in his fat ass.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

It may surprise you but more Americans want to go to Cuba than Cubans want to come to USA.

Rick7898789878 · 1 year ago

What a pathetic creature. "Those poor oppressed Americans living under the eeevil Bush and Cheney." Tell you what, next time you throw a pity party make sure you invite some Burmese monks or some North Korean peasants. I'm sure they'll be thinking "Gosh, and we thought we had it bad." Have you actually experienced any hardship yourself since 9/11? Any government oppression? Have you been waterboarded? Do you know anyone who has been waterboarded? Didn't think so. Do you even realize that if things are really as bad as you make them out to be, then you wouldn't actually be able to say it? What a whining Liberal woman you are Nancy. There are people in places like Zimbabwe and Darfur who would gladly give up their real hardcore ass-pounding oppression for the so-called "oppression" in your fantasy world.

Dave · 1 year ago

In your world there are two kinds of people: those who are stupid enough to love their country and those who are smart enough to hate it. Well, ignorance is bliss. I'd rather be deluded and proud than enlightened and angry. As the great Merle Haggard said, if you don't love it, leave it. Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable in Zimbabwe. If patriotism's place is on the shelf, where should we keep self-loathing?

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

In your pocket?

AZhOtHeAd · 1 year ago

What a moron you are. I'm sorry I took the time to read this drivel...

OUTofTHEblue · 1 year ago

does it matter that the USA is one of only a few countries on the planet where nationalism and patriotism imples no race or ethnicity? if a somalian immigrant arrives and calls himself an american, he is surely welcomed with open arms. try going to somalia and calling yourself a 'somalian.' america and maybe canada are rare nations where ANY person can arrive and declare themselves an american and NO ONE could infer their race...THAT IS WORTH OUR PATRIOTISM you moral equivalating, multiculturalist worshipping dolt.
fools like this author exude ego and often think ideas like this are just soooo smart and cutting edge. i'm always left unimpressed.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

How we love it when you talk crazy. Do go on and tell us more.

George · 1 year ago

Rot in hell, liberal scum. It's because of people like you that Europe is going to be controlled by Islamists within this century, and native Europeans will likely be extinct.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Since there is neither a heaven nor a hell, shall we just rot here? Remember no one gets out alive so we all can at some point rot together. Cheers!

M. Alkali · 1 year ago

Rothschild is a useful fool indeed. I have no doubt this ignorance, hate and petty narcissism push left wing buttons. But for someone not a part of that cult, this "Progressive" stereotype is a tour de force. A caricature. Worth saving and sharing.

Thank you.

BillSanford · 1 year ago

Printing junk like this proves that we have freedom of speech in this country.

I've seen the Author before. He/She is the one that comes to town meetings, have nothing but complaints, no suggestions, and refuse to help anybody out. These excuses for people always refer to " THEY " as being the ones that try to make things better and end up getting better as a unexpected result.

Admit it; We would be a better society without these leeches.

bluehillsmike · 1 year ago

Why don't you leave then?

jeff · 1 year ago

America and it's ideas are better than most, get over it. Does it make mistakes, yes. But without us most of the world would be worse off.

KenBurch · 1 year ago

Most of Latin America wouldn't.

Matty · 1 year ago

I suppose love of country can be compared to love of: race/ethnicity, religion (the ACTUAL cause of the most human deaths in history), culture, etc.....an accident of birth. Of course, if you're a ratioanl person who has looked at the history of the world and realized that the United States has a better record on accomplishment and efforts toward egalitarianism than any other nation in all of recorded history, this all falls apart, but I wouldn't want to inject anything like the concept of a rational choice into Mr. Rothschild's emotionally-based decisions.

Steve · 1 year ago

Matthew are you sure you want to continue to live in the US?

Paul · 1 year ago

When citizens of other nations wave their flags and show their national spirit, it's pride. When Americans do it, it's jingoism and arrogance.

This article is just another example of how the left continues to be wrong on just about every issue. The left's hate of America continues, unabated. Thankfully, you're in the minority.

cfoss · 1 year ago

The view that the left hates America is what will kill progress.

Bill · 1 year ago

Two comments for the author::

I must say that this really reads like a high school essay, full of rant and anger, and misguided and unearned scorn.

More importantly, I think you're really missing out on one of the true joys in life. To feel a love for country, despite its flaws; to admire and take lessons from its history, despite some grave errors of action or inaction; to be thankful for the opportunities this great nation offers to all; to know that there are ideals that this country offers, too, and though it may not meet them often enough, it still holds them; to appreciate your fellow citizens, wish them well, and give them the benefit of the doubt; to celebrate this love of country with those fellow citizens at a celebration like a 4th of July parade.

I know you're too cool, or angry, but I do wish you could know the joy that feeling and perspective brings.

Happy 4th to you.

Bill

Hayekian · 1 year ago

Spoken like a true post-1968 Democrat.

KenBurch · 1 year ago

If you call yourself "Hayekian" you were never a PRE-1968 Democrat. Hayek hated the New Deal and would have the policies every Democratic president after FDR pursued as well.

Tony · 1 year ago

You must want to lose. Luckily, Obama has already responded to people like you. "By attacking the symbols, and in extreme cases, the very idea, of America itself - by burning flags; by blaming America for all that was wrong with the world....Most Americans never bought into these simplistic world-views - these caricatures of left and right. Most Americans understood that dissent does not make one unpatriotic, and that there is nothing smart or sophisticated about a cynical disregard for America's traditions and institutions."

josh · 1 year ago

zzz zzzz, rehashed, done before, doesn't even have a hint of shock value.

HED · 1 year ago

I agree with Marcello. This is pretty sick.

pk · 1 year ago

You can be a patriot, without being a chauvinist. It is good to have a great respect for one's country.

Proud · 1 year ago

You can leave any time, my friend. I'll buy your plane ticket--first class anywhere you'd like.

Joe American · 1 year ago

wow, it's amazing that some one can see a situation in such a radically different light. I'm sure if the author were to live under a totalitarian regime such as Saddam Hussein's or maybe Burma's system of government, he might appreciate how precious liberty is. For someone who enjoys and even makes his living off of the rights of free speech and press he sure does sharply criticize the government institutions that guarantee and protect those rights. I would challenge him to show me one instance of an American citizen having less rights or protection under the law now than he did 8 years ago. In fact enemy combatants and terrorists have been given more rights and protection than they have ever had previously in the history of modern warfare.

KLE · 1 year ago

The US is the greatest country in the world because:

After saving Europe from domination in 1917 it took no land, reperations and asked only that countries band together to prevent another war

After saving Europe (again) from a amdman, it took no territory, exacted no tribute and rebuilt its enemies into welathy liberal democracies

During an era of supposed clashes of civilizations it has protect Muslims from Christians in Bosnia and Kosovo

It sends people and supplies to any country in the world that experiences natural disaters.

It takes in immigrants from the whole world ad allows them a chance to proser and become part of the fabric of the country. Compare the wealthy Arab suburbs in Michigan to the impoversihed banliues fo Paris.

Has created the most widely ethnically diverse polity that leaves peacefully together the vast majority of the time EVER IN THE HIOSTORY OF THE WORLD.

US citizens send more private money aborad to needy people than other governments send


As for the rest of our article, you conflate patriotism with nationalism which is stupid. Every basic solcial scientist distinguishes between the two.

You mock the "love my country because it is mine" idea, but do we not do this in families. Who really thinks that their dad is "World greatest Dad" that it says on the card. Who cares? he is my dad and that is enough.

FInally, if America sucks as much as ytou claim, why does everyone in the entire freakin developing world want to come here. because they think they will be abused, put in a ghetto and marginalized. No because their cousin came en years ago, got a job driving a cab, went to community college, started a business and now owns a home.

Thats a great country.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Why does everyone want to go to Las Vegas?


PS The History lesson above is jingoistic at best.

If only you were a critical thinker and could use those skills, then perhaps you could help make your country that great country about which you dream.

brew7676 · 1 year ago

This guy doesn't know the difference between US Nationalism and the Nationalism that we saw in Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.

In addition, anyone can spin an article with useless facts and make us look like a greedy nation. How come he only mentions what the US consumes and not what is produces. And if he hates it here so much then why doesn't he just take his impressive skills, six figure salary, and upper middle class lifestyle and move to a more social country??

AMR1960 · 1 year ago

It's tragic that such vapid test-tube thinking is given any purchase in the real world. Using Canada as an example, without admitng that their self-indulgent brand of democracy is only possible because of the US military and the patriots that serve in it goes to point on how clueless progressives can be...

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

It seems that you and everyone must believe that the US Military makes all things possible. Rather a dangerous theme along the lines of might makes right.

Reez · 1 year ago

I am a proud progressive but I find this absolutely appalling. Nobody forces you to be patriotic - it is a choice freely made by those of us who love our country and what it stands for. You can nitpick and argue about whether Bush has made this country "more" or "less" great - but those of us who hold the American ideals dear will always consider it great and work to make it even greater.

H_evers · 1 year ago

Pathetic, self-indulgent, horse-manure! Progressive my left foot, progressing right back to the dark ages is more like it.

alano · 1 year ago

And it remains an utter mystery as to why conservatives have the gall to label liberals unpatriotic...

Bob · 1 year ago

Thats certainly one opinion. I choose to love and express patriotism (honor, respect, and promise to carry on the best traits or Amercians who lived before me) to show appreciation for those countless souls who fought and did so entertainers (in older times we called them court jesters) would have the same freedoms as anyone else.

What is deserving of patriotism is not blind allegiance, not unquestioning faith, but a recognition, on one special day of the year, that this nation, more than any other, begets voluteeers to willing go and die so we might live in freedom. I do not, for the life of me, understand how that escapes an otherwise intelligent man such as Carlin. Try spewing this in China sometime, and I think the difference will become apparrent.

npsmith · 1 year ago

Am I correct in assuming that this person has never lived in any other country for an extended period of time in his (judging from the small-minded innocence) short life? Talking global, living local, thinking narrowly, collecting merely the statistics that suit him. A trivial, bigoted, entirely witless writer.

James · 1 year ago

Completely disgusting. There's a difference between patriotism and jingoism.

kellyJ · 1 year ago

Your welcome to leave and go to whatever other country you think befits your exaulted notions.
Of course printing the same things in those countries would be pretty bad for your health.

swiss citizen · 1 year ago

So....what is it you love? Apart from yourself?

Marcello · 1 year ago

Thanks for reminding me why I didn't renew my subscription to the Progressive.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

When you didn't renew, I bought five new ones (subscriptions) for our local schools. Thanks for the inspiration.

RH Potfry · 1 year ago

Thanks for including "Dr" in your name. It's so important that we all know that.

gary mueller · 1 year ago

Brilliant

jk5100 · 1 year ago

i dont mean any offense ... but we are as good as it gets .... you really are clueless my favorite prt ... if you dont like it ... try another country

Tom Johnson · 1 year ago

Thank You, Matt Rothschild

cd_ryan · 1 year ago

finally someone smart being honest enough not to repeat some unprovealbe superlative after another on behalf of this "best country on earth" but puts some thought behind theses phrases. by using these one-liners, one is able to justify just about every action born out of some interest from someone in power as gods will - just as long as its done by one of us against someone else - and yeah, right here we are at the other evil next to nationalism, religion. nationalism und religion have come way to close in this country.

Frank · 1 year ago

I actually am pissed that I wasted time reading this article. I am tired of you moon bat lefties claiming we are an empire...you crack me up. Keep it comming cause you are in the minority.

Spencer · 1 year ago

America is great for the simple reason that it enshrines liberty and freedom.
Just as I think you're completely wrong, I will still defend your right to voice that opinion.

Stupidity in government is not as much of a threat to our way of life, as is the vilification of our way of life. Mark Twain said it best, "loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it."
God Bless America.

Gray Young · 1 year ago

this is disgusting and quite a bit of the content is disrespectful to the many veterans and current military men and women who risk their lives every day to ensure your disgusting viewpoints are heard. you can sit in your ivory tower and patronize the rest of us who live in the real world and you will be laughed at as a silly liberal who hates out troops. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!! I hope you grow up one day and realize what the patriotic men and women of our country have afforded you.

Jeremy · 1 year ago

I pitty you.

John · 1 year ago

Rothschild should be deported. Get out of my country if you're not proud of, leftist scum. You are exactly what's wrong with this country, not nationalism!

cd_ryan · 1 year ago

deported wow... I guess associating that with a "jewish" name doenst even make you think? well, you may be one of the reasons why this "defeating the nazis and commies" argument isn't such a burner any more....

David · 1 year ago

I disagree that Patriotism leads to Nationalism. But Yup. That's *progressive*. That's the *Change* Obama and his henchmen will be forcing you to live under soon. Amercia has been great. But no more. Even if Obama loses, but gets 45% of the vote, we are no longer great. Almost half of the government-schooled Americans voting for this kind of attitude? I think I'll move to China.

Charlie · 1 year ago

I'm actually quite happy that 40 million Iraqis and Afghanis are on the road to freedom courtesy of our actions in the ME.

Like you, though, I'm effete enough to be chary of patriotism. I'm not quite as far gone as you, perhaps because I have a better grasp of history (Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot nationalists?)

Plus, I know one factor responsible for far more blood than those you cite... weakness. Would I rather live in a country with a bunch of enlightened whiners like you or with a bunch of rowdy, unenlightened flag wavers? "Oh-oh say can you see..."

Freedom1776 · 1 year ago

How do you rationalize continuing to reside in The US feeling and believing that this the most evil country on Earth. Wouldn't you be happier in a place like Iran where a blog like yours that attacked the mullahs would lead to your execution or amputation of an arm and a foot on opposite sides of your body. Perhaps you should go to China where such an internet attack on the country would land you in jail . There are many other nations where you could live that share next to nothing with the US where you would feel much more comfortable. There are many countries in Africa there you could avoid all guilt about consumption by starving. In Burma or Equatorial Guinea you could escape your anxiety about eroding civil liberties by having none to erode. Perhaps you would be more comfortable in a place like France that owes the survival of its democracy to Americans like my father who willingly risked all or in fact died in defense of American values. Your continued life here is obviously an internal contradiction so intense that only your self destruction will resolve it, unless you pick yourself up and move to a place more hospitable to your spiritual state. Do yourself a favor and leave this imperfect place post haste. I will remain behind and try to fix what is wrong with love for my country and its people. Lonf live the FIRST AMENDMENT the most important document in the world.

David H. Miller · 1 year ago

Matt,

I’m a flag-waving red-white-and-blue American patriot *because* I support the principles enunciated by Jefferson in the Declaration, by Washington in his Farewell Address, by Jefferson in his First Inaugural, and by J. Q. Adams when he declared that America “goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”

Let us not cede the word “patriot” to the madmen who control the current Administration. There are good men and women of both parties, true patriots, who want an end to this madness: even within the GOP, there is Presidential candidate Ron Paul, who opposed this war from the very beginning. Paul Craig Roberts, a high Treasury official under Reagan, has called for impeachment of Bush-Cheney because of their war crimes. And of course, Reagan’s former Navy Secretary, Jim Webb, switched parties and is now the Democratic Senator from Virginia because of this needless war.

Peter Beinart, on the other hand, backed the war in the beginning and is now opportunistically opposing it: In my book, Beinart will never be anything but a traitor to his country.

True patriots want their country to do what is right. Bush, Cheney, Beinart et al, are men who so little love their country that they will sell it out for the prizes of fame and power.

Dave Miller in Sacramento

cd_ryan · 1 year ago

yeah, thats a good point

no one questions the respect for achievements and moral values of this nations - but patriotism in the meaning of an "excitement for my country" has been corrupted, sprinkled with religious references and sold as an antidote for a war to come... right from the beginning, this was about believing in our leader, either for or against us (who does this look backwards, yes, to other countries who not supported this scam AND are pretty decent democracies with higher standards of income and so on than the US) waving the flags, greeting the war or elsewhere you are not supporting the troops - un-american, un-patriotic, luckily we had the patriot act!!

adam · 1 year ago

You ron paul supporters are seriously nuts. Like, completely.

graham · 1 year ago

What a steaming pile of santorum.

Jerry Lundergaard · 1 year ago

I love America because with a combination of a H.S. diploma, a little hard work, and some smart choices, I have a decent house on a couple of wooded acres across from a cornfield in beautiful, if hopelessly Progressive Vermont. Because of Right #2 everyone has a gun or two which creates an utter absence of crime. Heck, if Democrats hadn't raised the price of a pack of American Spirit blues to $ 4,300, I might even have a freakin' pool. If every Democrat was this up- front about his hatred for our country they would never win an election and the U.S.A. would be even greater than it is today. I hope Mr. Rothschild tells all his friends about his new strategery.

Jeremy · 1 year ago

People should take pride in the place they reside, whether its their nation, their city or town, or just their neighborhood. Having pride in a place gives one the drive to improve it. Its helps make places different from other places, giving locales their own unique flavor and character.

True, too much pride, or unquestioned pride, can lead to great evil, but great evil also comes from people who think they have all the answers and anyone who disgrees with them is holding back "progress".

Pride coupled with a healthy dose of questioning authority, that will do for me. I think thats how most sane, rational people feel.

letssalsa · 1 year ago

Yes, I am proud of the place I reside in. I am proud of the wealth I inherited from my parents. I am proud of the color of my skin. I am also proud of the language I speak. I am proud of my ethnicity. I am proud of my accent. I am also proud of my country. I am proud of all these things because I did nothing to acquire them. They were given to me by accident of my birth. I do not like to acquire anything myself, because I am lazy. and I am proud of it.

Jeremy · 1 year ago

If I had a fortune to leave to my child, Id rather leave it to a kid who appreciated the work it took to build it and wanted to do something constructive with it, than leave it to a apathetic and selfish brat who didnt care what I went through, but took the money anyway.

Roman · 1 year ago

How odd. In your list of NATIONS who have wreaked havoc and caused mayhem upon innocent people, you conveniently left out Israel.

Isn't that right Mr. ROTHSCHILD?

Zoo2 · 1 year ago

America

Love It or Leave It

katerbecker · 1 year ago

Back in my days at Oberlin College I shared many of your opinions. I figured that we had just had the advantage of having been a bunch of greedy white imperialists who built a nation on exploiting others, and were no different today. Then I dropped out of college and started working in the "real world." I carried these feelings for a while, that patriotic people are simple-minded and sheeplike and that our greatness had to be measured greatly against our faults and that the rich were nothing more than greedy opportunist criminals who never got their due.. But the longer I worked, the longer world events unfolded and the longer I've lived and experienced beginning a marriage and family I no longer hold any of those ideas. I have learned that people who never take risks, people who never go for it, people who never love, whether love their country, their fellow man or another person, are so disappointed because there is nothing ventured, nothing gained. Our country is a great one, yes, it is the greatest country on earth and your arguments are tired. We are a nation that has failed (and ventured) greatly and has learned great lessons from those failings and will continue to do so.
One of the most moving moments in my life was attending a "pow-wow" in Cherokee, NC. Do you know how seriously Native Americans there took Patriotism for AMERICA? There were veterans groups, and an especially moving tribute to fallen warriors. There was a mother who had lost her son while he was serving our nation and she danced a special memorial dance on behalf of all mothers who lose their sons and daughters to war. The American flag was treated with the utmost respect. If you have a chance to watch "Flags of Our Fathers" or "Letters from Iwo Jima" or "United 93" you would have to have a heart of stone not feel pride and patriotism for those that gave their lives so that you can freely write such an immature, cynical and elitist piece of editorial garbage.
You take for granted what you have in this country. This is the only western nation where freedom of speech is guaranteed. Canadians scoff at the idea of free speech, calling it an "American" idea. Shouldn't that just make you a little bit proud of your country?
The notion that throwing money at poverty will solve it is ridiculous. Look at what the world has been doing for the last 50 years in Africa, and problems have only gotten worse. Yes, we need to help our fellow men, and Americans do that through private charities more than any other nation on earth. (Another reason to be proud of America, by the way.) But until the people in Africa stand up for themselves and get rid of the tyrants, they will remain a tumultuous mess where the most unspeakable tragedies happen on a regular basis. I would be all for our troops (as well as the rest of the free world's armies) standing by their sides to help them achieve this goal and become a more self-sustaining continent.

Ryan · 1 year ago

Wow. I didn't realize we'd lost so many civi liberties in the past 7 years..... What an insightful article..........

Cogs · 1 year ago

I'm sure over the years many told him to leave the country. I guess he took their advice!

Steve · 1 year ago

Herein you call me mad, puerile, silly, childish, ignorant, parochial, idolatrous, greedy, foolish, and infer that I am a racist and a bigot, I remain devoted to my country and those who live therein. Such devotion is the definition of patriotism. You can label me what you will, I will continue to serve and work at rebuilding it and improving it. Chastise me for caring and I shrug my shoulders and care anyway. I admit it, I do chose to serve in and for it and serve those who live there in. I have come to understand that service leads to love. I guess I am even serving and loving you. Your preaching is harsh but unpersausive.

JBW · 1 year ago

We were never a truly great country. Sure, Bush and Cheney have reopened the Gulags (I'm so hoping they aren't reading this as I fear being whisked away for using the free speech rights they've taken away. Thank God for the anonymity of the internet or jackbooted Republicans would be at my door arresting me at any moment...at least I hope they can't trace this) but didn't our own great Progressive president FDR "detain" certain peoples for the mere fact of their Japanese or German ethnicities? Gad, and we thought Progressives at least got it! To think that even the great FDR went even further than the criminal Bush/Cheney cabal is enough to make me want to puke and move to Norway or Denmark or Canada where the people are happier and the government actually cares about them enough to provide them with freedom and an economic safety net (freedom excepting the "hate speech" or Holocaust denial laws which kind of impose a little bit of free speech restriction which, after all, is a tiny imposition when the government helps them out financially)! How dare we be patriotic when this nation (I hesitate to say "my nation") goes about trying to impose our ideals on countries like Iraq where they were happy with their duly elected president, Saddam Hussein, and tries to impose a so-called superior western ideal like democracy. Who are we to question the 98% of Iraqi citizens that elected him time after time after time? Who are we to station thousands of troops all over the world in our weak attempts to retain an aura of imperial superiority? We should have left Europe after our intervention in their affairs after WWII even if we should have even intervened to begin with since it was a squabble between Europe of which we weren't a part! Europe was able enough to take care of itself and didn't need our murderous, meddling soldiers there in an attempt to thwart some imagined invasion by the Soviet Union by the neo-cons and McCarthyites of that time. After all, the USSR was a peaceful nation that only sought equality for all people and would never have sought to impose their economic, political, and philosophical ideals on any nation not seeking their help! The Estonians, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Latvians, Lithuanians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Romanians, Albanians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Ossetians, Kazakhs, Tatars, Tibetans, Moldavans, NOrth Koreans, Cambodians, Cubans, East Germans, et al, all welcomed the help of their saviors and the equality they brought! If it weren't for the meddling of our evil nation the peoples of Europe and much of the world would now be living lives of blissful equality where the rich oligarchs and plutocrats were now dead and part of the mists of the unhappy past. No, I'm not a patriot either! Well said!

Joel · 1 year ago

I have lived in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Germany, and several balkian countries. In all the places I have lived, the people there love thier country. the difference is in the attitude, we americans to a much greater degree do not accept the status quo. We want to improve our country. We also like to share it with others.
Joel

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

"Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons." - Bertrand Russell

cfoss · 1 year ago

I think that is a very narrow view, Dr.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Ah, but very droll

cfoss · 1 year ago

Sorry, Dr., I tend to take things at face value.

Marco · 1 year ago

Breathes there the man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored , and unsung.

-Sir Walter Scott

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17.

Think4urself · 1 year ago

My fellow Americans,

Is it still possible for us to be “fellow”. I still hang on to that small hope of mine that it is. Please tell me - does it make our nation (or world) stronger if we bicker, or if we hear one another's view and actually listen? What good is this freedom of speech if all we are going to use it for is to launch insults at each other?
Liberal Scum? Warmongering Barbarians?
It pains me deeply that right now I do not feel as if we are the United States of America. We are the Blue and Red states of America, each side just as narcissistic, hypocritical, and self righteous as the other.
Matthew’s point that blind nationalism was used to justify some of humanity’s most obscene atrocities should be well taken. When our popular mindset was summed up in the words “we’ll stick a boot up your as$, it’s the American way!” then shouldn’t that trigger in our minds that we ought to do some self examination so that we don’t find ourselves walking down the same dark path that other nationalists have taken? We would commit genocide on millions of innocents if we really did “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” as McCain once joked to the tune of the Beach Boys. Are any of us so naïve as to think ourselves immune to doing wicked things just because we’re the country that founded democracy? Because we are militarily the most powerful country on earth, we must be sober in our actions. If we let nationalism guide our policy, we can end up committing dreadful crimes that we regret for decades, because unlike Nazi’s and Communists, we Americans have high respect for life and we do have a conscience (even though our politicians and pundits are often quite shameless). I agree with him that being #1 in the world is not something that every country can do, and by many measures we are not #1 – education for example. There’s plenty of room for us to improve as a country. It is a good thing that other countries are stepping up to the plate and challenging our place in the world. We don’t always have to be the best at everything, and it is the nature of competition that no one stays on top forever. That’s fine. Competition is what makes not just America strong, but humanity strong.
I don’t agree with everything Matthew is saying, however. His tone is definitely elitist, smug, and disrespectful to those of us who do honor the United States and what it stands for and want to celebrate its founding. Martin, for the most part your comments were thoughtful and fair so rather than make them again I will just refer people to read your post. But I will also add that to me it doesn’t really matter if your assertion that we are the best country in the world is true or not. Who really cares if we are “the best”? That is a very moot thing for the average person like me, leave that kind of pride to imperialists who want to dominate everyone else. What ought to matter to us is if our children have good educations, if we have good health, if our justice system defends us from criminals, our armies defend us from harm, and if we have the opportunity to live well and advance ourselves. What ought to matter more than being better than others is being the best that we can be. That means taking ideas that other people have and listening to them, considering them, and where beneficial adopting them, even if we don’t agree with all of the perspectives of the people that came up with those ideas. It also means not tearing each other down with this partisan foolishness and “we’re better than you” mentalities. Thank you for your time, fellow American.

meshuginna · 1 year ago

Thank you for a well-measured response.

MV · 1 year ago

Wow! As a Canadian looking at this from the outside, I disagree with the article's author on many points while I agree with him to some extent...But reading the reaction from most readers would seem to prove him right indeed, the reason so many people around the world hate America has just been put on display by the comments most readers posted....America is a great country, just like many others....Most Canadians also foolishly think they live in the best country in the world, just like the French, the Swiss, the British and so on....who's right? No one is, I would rather be an entrepreneur in the US but would probably rather be sick and old in France (the best healthcare system in the world according to the World Health Organization) America is a great country just like many others, it has brought a lot of good around the world over the years but has not been perfect either, I am disapointed that many Americans are refusing to acknowledge this. For that, they are indeed, like many citizens of other countries: ignorant and very dangerous...

herzliebster · 1 year ago

People LOVE their country because it is HOME: it's where they hear their native language spoken with the accent they are accustomed to, and share customs and traditions and culture and food. This is natural and innocent and appropriate.

People are PROUD of their country (or not) because it does or does not represent admirable ideals and behave admirably as a society and polity.

I wish Michelle Obama had made this distinction; I wish more Americans realized that loving your country based simply on its being HOME, without having to justify it on abstract principles, is a perfectly fine place to start, though it's better not to stay there too long.

We have much less to be proud of now than we did eight years ago, but it's simplistic and puerile to whine that we are all bad. Whoever referred to "the perfect being the enemy of the good" in a previous post was right on.

David · 1 year ago

Why do we say God Bless America? Why shouldn't God bless good people in all lands? Should God not bless North Korea because most of the nation is imprisoned and brainwashed? Wonder what it sounds like to outsiders??

pensando · 1 year ago

Type your comment here.80% percent of the fireworks that will be exploded on the 4th are made in China. The local grocery store has a special on American flags(right next to the hot dog buns) that were made in China. Had not the events of 9/11, as some have contended, been the end of the age of irony ,I may be inclined to suggest otherwise.As we wave our Chinese made American flags and set off our illegal Chinese made fireworks to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of America, I will acknowledge the greatness of the country that I was lucky enough to have been born. And I will pity those who are willing to accept everything that their rulers do , however disgusting it may be, simply because they were born in the same country.

CD · 1 year ago

Agree. I can't stand liberals who claim that 'dissent is patriotic.' A patriot loves, supports, and defends a country without reflection or conscience. Count me out. In fact patriotism is one of the crudest forms of moral relativism. Every moral abomination (carpet bombing, torture, war, aggression, etc) is defended when committed by the US but condemned when committed by evildoers (Iran, Iraq). For example chemical weapons are rationalized when used against the Vietnamese countryside but condemned when Sadaam used them against the Kurds. Morality is relative to the nation you love. Patriotism is for those who believe in "just following orders" and "Support America, right or wrong." I have no problem defending this country from foreign occupiers or existential threats but I will not blindly "fight for freedom" or condone an immoral war on a country that was not responsible for 9/11. I will not check my intelligence, morality, or conscience at the door. For all OUR talk about morals, truth, and family values, WE only have one answer to t he laundry list of crimes committed by our government....Love it or leave it...Were better than (X) country. While I love America and most of my fellow Americans I will not defend the indefensible

Internationalist · 1 year ago

Well said. I think the hatred you've received in response is a good indication of what part of the mind the emotion of patriotism springs from. It's a little sad that so many people don't seem to be ready for internationalism yet, for it is the hope of our species, homo sapiens.

Country of citizenship is not a factor in determining any person's moral worth.

Jeremy · 1 year ago

In the words of Ghandi, "You cant be an internationalist without being a Nationlist."

Internationalist · 1 year ago

Hello Jeremy

Thanks for your reply. You use the reverse of the ad hominem - "Ghandi said it so it must be right". But, assuming that quotation meant what you imply it does mean (i.e., not a mere play on the fact that the word internationalist includes the word nationalist), it is a non sequitur par excellence. It has the same meaning as

"You can't be a man without being a woman"

or

"You can't be tolerant without being a bigot"

Nationalism is putting the interests of "people of your nation" (a concept impossible to define rationally, but that's a point for another day) above those of people of other nations. Internationalism is judging people's moral worth without regard to their nationality. The two concepts are, by definition, diametrically opposed.

MDK · 1 year ago

The article contained errors, but the reaction to this article has been ludicrous. For Americans, the defining test of patriotism should be whether or not they support the Constitution of the United States. Right wingers who would betray the Constitution in the name of national security or political expediency may be nationalistic, but they are certainly not true patriots. For example, people who support Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld and their policies are either misinformed or just too stupid to understand what patriotism means in a constitutional republic.

Founding Father · 1 year ago

Patriotism not only the last refuge of scoundrels, it's the first refuge of idiots. Patriotism is where the uneducated go when they won't take the time to understand the issues at Unchecked by the more reasonable in society, patriotism leads to fascism.

malyoung · 1 year ago

Good article. Especially as it elicited such a jingoistic response. People who claim that their patriotism is based on superior American values are fooling themselves. Patriotism is about selecting the qualities of your tribe which you believe are admirable and then attributing these qualities to yourself. It is a device to make insecure people feel better about themselves. In other words, it is a symptom of moral weakness.

Kevin E. · 1 year ago

Mr. Rothschild asks intelligent and fair questions, which most of his critics in these comments ignore and certainly seem to have no answers for. I have to paraphrase Gandhi on democracy: "What do you think of America? It would be a good idea." But we're a long, long way from living up to our best self, and the first step towards doing that is to admit our flaws. Every other industrialized country guarantees health care for its citizens--how can you critics defend the fact that we don't? Or that we have garrisons in 110 countries and spend half our discretionary budget on defense--at the same time our infant mortality statistics are down with many third world countries? Think, you critics of Rothschild, think! And more important, act. Do something to make a better world, which is part of the best of American ideals; our insane materialism, which leads to all these other sins and crimes, is part of the worst. Dick Cheney! Are you kidding? Are you defending that monster? Wake up! Love your neighbor! You claim to follow Christ, and you worship Mammon! Get off your computer and your idiotic defensive ranting, and help a child, as Christ asks you to! The self is a dead end! Think!!!

Chris Hayward · 1 year ago

Thank you for this article. I love Christopher Hitchens, but he gets it wrong when he says religion is the most dangerous force in the world. In the past he would have been correct, but for the last 150 years, it is unequivocally nationalism. This whole flagpin controversy, and how much it has affected the opinions of many people, just shows how far we need to have a reasonable populace.

CCS · 1 year ago

Mr. Rothschild: What kind of response did you expect? The overwhelming responses illustrates the power of nationalism. Most of these ill-formed commentators forget that DISSENT (PAINE) and TYRANNY of the MAJORITY (Federalist Papers) are the pillars of "our values. When these patriotic sheep die off, maybe we all have a chance. One Love.

Jon · 1 year ago

wow, i guess a conservative blog linked this article to their entire base, judging from the comments.

Matthew - you were right on, i could not have said it better. Why must we always insist that we're the greatest nation in history? Why must we insist that everyone bow down to the country as if it is a god-like figure? I've been to about many other western nations in my lifetime and NONE of them carry the same arrogant attitude that we do. What's wrong with Canada? Belgium? Germany? The Netherlands are a whole lot freer than we are!

Point is, be proud of who you are and where you come from... but do not resort to blind nationalism by insisting that we're always the "best"

maheshvk · 1 year ago

First to defend Matthew:
I think I read somewhere that ""We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..." This applies to you not unless you are native American Indian, African American, Iraqi, Iranian, Phillipino, Haitian, Grenadan, Mexican and ...... (name your country). Then the Americans and British have a right to rule you or kill as many of you as they want. Iraqi people have no rights because they are not created "equal" to us. They better do what we tell them.

I also read that the Bill of Rights protects the freedoms of speech, press, and religion; the right to keep and bear arms; the freedom of assembly; the freedom to petition; and prohibits unreasonable search and seizure; cruel and unusual punishment; and compelled self-incrimination. The Bill of Rights also prohibits Congress from making any law respecting establishment of religion and prohibits the Federal Government from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
This applies to you not unless you are a Muslim. In that case you better not run for an elected office in USA.

We as Americans have definitely lost a lot of civil liberties in the last 7 1/2 years that were part of the original Constitution. We also have lost our moral compass when we torture people (it puts us in the same league as terrorists), attack countries that have not threatened us, keep people indefinitely in GITMO, tolerate prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib, rendition people to other countries to torture for us - all in name of Security.

Now taking a little different view:
Without a doubt, American experiment is the greatest society organizing experience in the history of mankind.

Concept of Nation-State that led to rise of nationalism and patriotism is debatable in a muti-ethnic, multi-religion society that America is today. In Europe when the concept of Nation-State" originated, the society was fairly homogeneous and Christian. It worked well until various divisions of Christianity and religious persecution that resulted in a lot of Euorpeans coming to United States. It did not work for the tribal and feudal part of the world - where majority of people lived at that time and they still do. UK, Spain and France basically subdivided the world land mass and drew artificial boundaries that are called "Countries" or "Nations" today. I am not saying whether that was good or bad, just that it happened. And it did not come from indigenous peoples. It was forced upon them by guns. That is probably one of the reasons that most of the nations do not work as well as USA does where the democracy and fabric holding the society together was "internally driven" by the people who occupied this land mass.

We as American still enjoy more freedoms than any place else on this earth. And, we should be thankful for that. Being patriotic does not mean that you can not criticize what is wrong. As a matter of fact, a true Patriot tries to improve the situation and right the wrong. You do not have to hide behind the flag and servitude of the Government to be a true patriot. Remember Patric Henry "Give me liberty or give me death".

America is a great nation today for its people. But the concept of nation-state may have gone past its usefulness in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society. However , the values enshrined in the American experience - the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights are and will forever remain a shining light for its people and rest of the world to follow.
I

dagsch · 1 year ago

To those of you who do think America is THE GREATEST... I suggest you travel... obviously it is better than Mexico... which is as far as most of you America ONLY lot ever dare to go... but not seeing anything else helps you believe you are part of THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH... and in truth you just want to be part of that greatness, no matter what madmen you support in their quest for GREATNESS!

andy · 1 year ago

Wow. The author of this article really is engaging in some self-loathing. He should spend a week in Iraq amongst the people there, and ask them what things were like under Saddam, and then maybe he'll realize how truly great our country is.

wallinski · 1 year ago

We're all very proud that in this country we "allow" commentary like Mr. Rothschilds'. Have you all forgotten that rights are not conferred upon us by our government or our neighbors. We are born with them. It's amazing how the most "patriotic" among us always seem to be the least likely to understand this, the most likely to think we should somehow be grateful (to them) for their forebearence. Methink they doth protest too much.

lajgskji · 1 year ago

Matthew Rothschild:

Please leave MY country...you ARE ANTI-AMERICAN and anti-patriotic. No one forced me to voluntarily risk my life defending this country and its founding principals (which you know or care NOTHING FOR or of).

You are a socialist, Marxist, Dim-liberal that hates America, its traditions, and all it stands for...what's new? You leftists have been trying to destroy this country for over 40 years instead of moving to the former USSR or Europe where they love socialism, are moving toward it, or trying to reinstitute it.

Quit trying to destroy MY country...its not yours...you never put your life on the line to protect it and you don't love it...so it indeed is not yours...please leave...Canada, Europe, or Cuba would be glad to have you...you can be taxed at a rate you have always dreamed about (80-90%) and the government can regulate everything about your life from when you take a shit to how many sheets of toilet tissue you can use to wipe your ass depending on your global warming foot print.

Carry you ass!


LB
Combat Veteran - USMC
Katy, TX

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

It’s people like Matt that allow you the freedom to speak freely. If it weren't for Matt and the rest of us, the U S Marines would have no meaning at all. Thank Matt for working hard defending your civil liberty.

PS It's not your country, it's our country and you are welcome to argue about it.

yankeeoppressor · 1 year ago

Doctor of what?
How long would the Constitution and your rights last without somebody willing to defend it?
You need to get your money back from whatever institution granted you your degree.
Cheers!

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

"How long would the Constitution and your rights last without somebody willing to defend it?"

That seems to be the reason that Matt spends everyday at the Progressive. He is defending the Constitution. We thank Matt for doing the heavy lifting. Bravo Matt!

yankeeoppressor · 1 year ago

I would have to disagree...a journalist can only draw attention to an issue.
Adams, Jefferson, and the other framers wrote the Constitution. They, along
with the other signers would have been hung for treason if PATRIOTS, bound
by their convictions did not pay the price with blood. No amount of eloquent
words or snappy phrases can change that fact. This like some of your other
comments are internet equivalent of farting then leaving the room.
If you can read this-thank a teacher.
If you are reading this in English, thank a SOLDIER.
cheers-

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Once against you have it backwards with this self-indulgent twaddle about your soldier.

At the Progressive, Matt is defending the Constitution. We thank Matt for doing the heavy lifting. Bravo Matt!

yankeeoppressor · 1 year ago

Forgive me for assuming we could have an intelligent conversation regarding
the Constitution.
Once again you make a statement and show no substance.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not
your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you.
May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were
our countrymen."- Samuel Adams
Self indulgent twaddle indeed.

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

"Self indulgent twaddle indeed." Yes that's right.

I do forgive you.

At the Progressive, Matt is defending the Constitution. We thank Matt for doing the heavy lifting. Bravo Matt!

yankeeoppressor · 1 year ago

Doctor of what?

yankeeoppressor · 1 year ago

So tell me...how many journalists have been incarcerated, murdered, or
denied their civil rights by this government for something that they have
written? I could come up with a short list of those that SHOULD HAVE BEEN
prosecuted, but the list of those tortured, incarcerated, or murdered by the
US Government is nonexistent. How does this protect the Constitution?
Perhaps you confuse exercising a right with protecting one?

wallinski · 1 year ago

Thanks for your service you ignorant half wit.

yankeeoppressor · 1 year ago

Boy....it sure does take balls it insult someone via the internet-
Would you have the courage to say that to that Marine up close and personal?
Doubt it-
Cheers

wallinski · 1 year ago

If your question is do I want to fight: then no. Maybe name calling
isn't the right course for a discussion site either, but I responded that
way because that's what I thought you were doing. So, what I should have
said is this: Your service to this country, while laudable has no bearing
on the validity of your argument, nor does it mitigate your belligerence.

wallinski · 1 year ago

Ok yankeeoppresor, I'm new to this: just figured out you are not the
origonal poster I responded to. As to your question: What does that have
to do with anything? Seriously, I'm curious.

yankeeoppressor · 1 year ago

Wallinski-
My point is just what I said...you called JB an "ignorant half wit" rather than respond intellectually. I am not picking on you for your stance...it was just a matter of convenience. Quite a few "Patriots" are guilty of the same. "Your service to this country, while laudable has no bearing on the validity of your argument, nor does it mitigate your belligerence." Is very well said.
Cheers-
Y.O>

yankeeoppressor · 1 year ago

LB-
Thank you for your service.
Cheers!
Y.O.

Britt · 1 year ago

We ARE the greatest country because if it were not for us many nations in the world would now be speaking Russian, Chinese, or some other imperial language. Now, many nations now choose.....CHOOSE to speak English.

We make mistakes. We make bad mistakes. But, would you rather the Russians or the Chinese be the lone superpower?

You seem to dislike nationalism. What is the better alternative???

EC · 1 year ago

I never thought that so many computer literate people could miss the point by such a "country" mile. This argument is on the same playing field as the "flag pin" dispute, and in both instances the point has been missed entirely. Wearing a flag pin makes you no more American than having a Bible on your coffee table makes you a Christian......thumping your chest and loudly proclaiming yourself to be "patriotic" doesn't make it so, it just means you know how to be loud, and you measure your patriotism by your loudness. A loud puppet is still, after all, a puppet.

quincyscott · 1 year ago

The voice of reason has a lonely time of it here in America. You may have to wear skins and eat locusts to say such things, but a few of us are grateful for your words. Keep at it, brother.

Todd · 1 year ago

Matthew,

Just wanted to say, good article. I completely agree and never understood how being American made me the "best" or "better" than anyone else. I like this country and I like living here, but that's as far as it goes. The superiority complex that has taken over America is exactly the reason why so many around the world dislike us (and im not just talking about the Middle East). Anyway, good article.

Deane · 1 year ago

You are an ungrateful, spoiled brat child. patriotism is "love of country" because of thankfulness. Thankfulness that springs up out of the fullness of one's heart. It is not "indoctrinated". But if one does not believe in God then there is no one to be thankful to. It's all of a piece: arrogance, to think we have the power to change the climate, to stop the sun from shining. Confusion: seeing evil for good and good for evil, thereby not understanding that heinous tyrants like Robert Mugabe, Stalin, Pol Pot are not like Harry Truman, George Bush or John Kennedy. Not being able to see the difference reveals a deep flaw in your thinking. I will be thankful until the day i die, cherishing this country above all others because it is here that God has placed me. I will not look a gift horse in the mouth or bite the hand that feeds me. You may consider me stupid because i believe in a gracious, kind and loving God but i will put the quality of my life next to anyone's and know there is nothing and no one who can make me unhappy or dim my view of our wonderful country. Perfect? No, but the best in the world! yes, it is! Must one believe in God to be patriotic? No. One only has to look around at the richness, the freedom, the safety and security of this country to appreciate what others have sacrificed their lives for. Anything less than patriotism is disgusting arrogance. But that's synonymous with Liberalism these days, isn't it?

Mark · 1 year ago

This is the same stuff I heard in college 30 years ago. If you don't love your country, leave. Go back to Europe.

Joe Lammers · 1 year ago

Some of your comments actually hit the target, but for the most part they don't. A few examples: Giving more foreign aid to Africa will only further enrich corrupt plutocracies, not help the people who need it. Arguably much of the aid already given has made things worse for the average person there. Also, Canada's civil liberties aren't looking too good right now, they are prosecuting Mark Steyn and others for what they've written. So much for free speech in Canada. Implicit in much of your argument is a call for massive government redistribution of wealth. This has the long term effect of impoverishing everyone. Socialism (what you are actually calling for) has a nearly 100% failure rate. I always find it incrediable that so many academics and intellectuals still advocate it.

DDecker · 1 year ago

This is a spoiled mind that not only fails to understand why patriotism is a good and important thing, but why sacrifice is a virtue. Because freedom is not free. And only an intellectual failure such as this ungrateful author is incapable of recognizing that. How sad.

dave · 1 year ago

Matthew, thousands have died in Iraq so millions could be saved from an evil tyrant. Come on man! Or is an arab life just not worth the effort for you? Americans can be patriotic because we have liberated the world and served as a beacon of freedom and hope.

Maybe you don't think so but ask any of the thousands of Africans, Latin Americans and Europeans streaming into this country every day. They can't all be wrong.

paul nemeth · 1 year ago

I like Al Franken's take on this subject the best: Proponents of the "patriotism" outlined above love their country the way a five-year-old loves their mommy and daddy, and honest, enlightened people love their country the way an adult loves their parents. To a five-year old, Mommy and Daddy are God, and anybody who criticizes them is wrong, and their "patriotism" reflects this. Intelligent people can love their country the way an adult loves their parents: honoring and respecting what's great about them while still acknowledging their mistakes, and helping them with shortcomings.

wrnhart · 1 year ago

Sad, but true. I didn’t think anyone had the guts to say some of these things anymore and I doubt you made many friends with this. The truth is very seldom welcomed with open arms.
However giving a greater portion of our wealth to help third-world nations, though helping is not a bad idea in and of itself, giving more aid would not make us any safer. The 800 pound gorilla in the room is again religion. As an example, consider this; there will never be any peace in the Middle East for the simple reason that BOTH sides firmly believe that God conferred upon them certain rights. The right to the Middle East. It is theirs by divine right. This doesn’t leave any room for compromise. Thus the Middle East will never have peace until one side or the other either dies out or sees beyond religion. The second is as unlikely to happen as the first since both sides define themselves by their religions. In other words, people would have to deny their own existence to have peace. And it is this way on both sides. Any Arab or Jewish leader who tries to alter the course will be killed. Sad, but true.
But anytime you help someone it cannot be totally bad.

ezeques · 1 year ago

Excellent article and comment.

>The right to the Middle East. It is theirs by divine right.

This should read: The right to the Middle East. It is theirs by divine right and not by science and reason.

soballen · 1 year ago

I have a few questions. While the United States consumes on quarter of the worlds resources, it also produces on quarter of the worlds goods. How is that greedy and wasteful? And let's not forget about foreign aid and American charity. Also, the top 1 percent of income earners have earned 34 percent of the wealth, but pay over 40 percent of income tax revenues. Oh the horror.. How about equal taxation? If the libs are so compassionate, why do they always reduce people to nothing more than economical units? If the United States is an empire, why is gas so expensive? Wouldn't we just take the oil rather than pay market value for it? Why is it only libs treat corporations like individuals? The author is the source of his complaint.

TLM · 1 year ago

Oh yes. What a miserable litany of misdeeds our country has committed throughout its terrible history. I feel so unpatriotic. I wish the world would just do away with all the "isms" of history, do away with all national boundaries which lead to a false sense of pride and which by themselves lead us into competition and conflict, so that we may live in peace and harmony and the people of our planet can procreate themselves into non-existence. How pathetically trite.

Someone once said, "every Ship of State sails on a river of darkness." The question is how deep run the waters and in which direction does it sail.

Rodney · 1 year ago

You should have been born in Cuba or North Korea that is what you deserve!

Citizen Quain · 1 year ago

Type your comment here.If you can find i,t check out an essay by Mark Twain entitled "As Regards Patriotism. In it Mr. Twain refers to the average American's patriotism as "...a shop-worn product procured at second hand." He also explains how the media fans the flames of this patriotism to incite war. "Sometimes at the beginning of an insane and shabby political upheaval, he is strongly moved to revolt, but he doesn't do it-he knows better. He knows that his maker would find it out-the maker of his patriotism, the windy and incoherent six-dollar sub-editor of his village newspaper-and would bray out in print and call him a Traitor. And that is why, explains Mr. Twain, "nine-tenths of the patriots...in America turned traitor to keep from being called traitor." Will we ever learn?

Pradip Malde · 1 year ago

Speaking with a clear voice! Thank you thank you.

MarkJ · 1 year ago

I would like to expand on just one remark in your article. Educators are now required to teach the three R's and a P in the schools, reading, writing, arithmetic and Patriotism. One of the most aggressive groups for the push to war with Iraq were those that teach our youngest children in our schools.

Congratulations Mr. Mathews, this is one of the best articles I have read in a long time.

forward clarity · 1 year ago

why would so many dinosaurs read and comment on this web site is the fox news web site down or do they miss jesse helms already..

Uncle Sam · 1 year ago

Some of you patriots come off as brain washed if you ask me. Now I don't agree with everything Matthew wrote, and I do believe U.S is one of the best countries in the world. Do you realize how Muslims are treated in the USA? Why do they hate Americans? Do you even know what life is there , why do most Muslims want the U.S to get out of their country?

This isn't the land of the free, unless you're rich. Most immigrants are treated very badly here they want to save up and move back to their country. With people like you scum telling folks to leave your country why not try to be a better representative of your nation and make others feel welcome. No wonder why some many countries dislike the U.S.

You patriots are what make this country good or bad try your best to make a change instead of insulting begin help or educating others that your are not money hunger creatures. When it comes down to it will your country support you? Who really cares about your life?

Instead of helping out Africa why don't we start helping out our homeless children,and people. Did you know in this country people yell at you to get a job your lazy homeless bum when in fact almost all employers require a place of residence and someone who doesn't smell bad.

How can you say we are better than everyone else when
"We Are All One"

Gringo · 1 year ago

Do you realize how Muslims are treated in the USA?

Last I checked, Muslims in the US. had an income higher than the average American. Muslims in the US are treated much better than non-Muslims are treated in Muslim countries ,for starters. Does the US ban the Koran, as Saudi Arabia does the Bible? Are Muslims beheaded here, the way that Christians or Jews have been in Indonesia and Pakistan? Muslims have the freedom to worship as they see fit in this country. Try being a Sunni in Iran, or a Shiite in Saudi Arabia. Or a Sufi , for that matter. Try being a Bahai in Iran. That there hasn’t been an attack in this country since 9/11 indicates that there have been 1) a fair amount of Muslims in the US reporting on suspicious activity, or 2) a certain amount of satisfaction with how they are treated in the US.

Of course, if you wish to kowtow to the Wahabi-funded C.A.I.R., or are of the opinion that Muslim cabbies should have the right to refuse to transport someone who is carrying alcoholic beverages, you would have a different point of view.

Most immigrants are treated very badly here they want to save up and move back to their country

I know quite a few home-owning immigrants in my neighborhood: now US citizens. I bought my place from an immigrant. He has no intentions whatsoever of moving back. Treated very badly here? There has always been a certain proportion of immigrants who moved back. I read somewhere that about a third of immigrants from Italy from the late 1800s moved back to Italy. If immigrants are treated so badly here, then why do they keep coming here, legally or otherwise?

BTW, to call people “scum” who disagree with your point of view is NOT going to help convince others of your point of view.

For anyone who believes that the US is the “great sinner,” I very strongly suggest that said person work overseas several years. I did. From the other side , the US looks pretty good. No, the US isn’t perfect, but compared to what is out there, we do not suffer by comparison. Not at all. Andate vos, pues.

Tim · 1 year ago

"'My country, right or wrong,' is a thing that no patriot would think of saying. It is like saying, 'My mother, drunk or sober.'"

The principles (separation of powers, individual liberties, government under law, etc.) that make us great are worth fighting for in order to preserve. Being willing to accept losses of these principles (or to praise those who damage them, or to condemn as traitors those who want to preserve them even if it means criticizing a Leader) seems to miss the point of being "patriotic."

OSoccer · 1 year ago

Mathew Rothschild, You scribbled a hideous screed. The real reason you're not patriotic toward America is because you have never sacrificed in its defense. I think that you have been so protected by the institutions of freedom that have evolved in America since its founding 232 years ago that you take them for granted. You seem to be unable or willfully disinterested in appreciating the enormous cost of blood, sweat and tears poured out by countless numbers of our forbearers against tyrants. Please volunteer to live for a year as an ordinary, anonymous, person in an oppressive, socialist police state (China, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Zimbabwe come to mind), and then try to persistently protest against its tyrannical, vicious human rights abuses. You will get 20 years in a gulag for merely opening your mouth to retell a regime mocking joke. As for me: bring on the proud, majestic, Liberty Day parades in honor of the birth of the greatest nation in the history of the world, the first representative democracy founded on a recognition and respect of each person's God-given freedoms and responsibilities; and spare me your puerile (i.e., infantile) tripe!

Joewalkerz · 1 year ago

Patriotism was invented by governments to make the people into sheep.

Mike M · 1 year ago

What a sad and predictable laundry list of complaints and whining from another leftist trying to be too cool for his country. The whole premise of the article is fatally flawed because it is written by someone who can not begin to comprehend the concepts he is trying to discuss.

Patriotism is not about bragging or feeling superior, it is about giving thanks and appreciation to the country which has given us unprecedented freedom and opportunity. How unfortunate that this bitter, petty, liberal can only lash out at America.

Sorry, Matthew, but trying to blame "patriotism" for the Iraq War is a bit out of your leauge. "Love of America" hasn't even shown up on the ripest of the moonbat's list of possible war justifications. The Cuban Missile Crisis is even funnier. You realize that it was largely engineered by your "progressive" hero Che, right? America peacefully disarmed the crisis that was started by a bunch of bloodthirsty leftists.

It's cliched to say so, but methinks thou dost protest too much. The guilt and loathing are slathered on a bit too thick to be taken seriously...especially when pockmarked with so many historical innacuracies. But the existence of this article is proof of America's greatness. You have the freedom to speak out against the country and the government. Try it in China and you'll get run over by tanks like in Tienannmen Square. Try it in Sudan or one of the many other African dictatorships and the government will send death squads to your house. Try it in Canada and you might get prosecuted by their "Human Rights Commissions" like Mark Stein.

I fight against what you say, but I defend your right to say it. America is one of the only countries on Earth that gives you that right, and that's only one of the reasons that it is worthy of love and respect. That's why every year, million of immigrants flee their countries to come here to seek a better life.

Moderate Guy · 1 year ago

I always love how liberals trot out that wealthiest 1 percent. Yeah, how dare we reward innovation and hard work. How dare we respect property rights. Let's force equality on everyone so we can all be rich, and all the work we have to do is fill out a ballot.

Franklin was right when he said:
"When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."

Spartacus Jones · 1 year ago

This is brilliantly right on point.
I'm envious. Sir. I wish I'd written it myself.

SJ

yankeeoppressor · 1 year ago

Matt-
Your comments are old and recycled. Only someone intellectually bankrupt would actually believe them. Either that or some college kid... My favorite is the "empire" shtick. Do your homework and find out why our troops are overseas. It is because of a war. Empire...sure. We tell the Germans, Italians, Japanese, and Koreans what to do- and the annual tribute payments help balance the budget....right.
My other favorite is the Bush and Company violated the Constitution. I will play into your fantasy. Suppose the president was guilty of that screed. The Speaker of the House would be duty-bound to act and present articles of impeachment. Not to do so would be a dereliction of duty. Where are they? Oh yes, I almost forgot....the last thing the Congress did was to pass the "Primate Protection Act" or something of equal nonsense.
Tell me why you hate your country...is it because you grew up protected from the evil in this world? Is it because your over indulgent parents gave you everything including a college education? Have you ever had to work for anything in you life? Probably not.
Matt, there are some things worth fighting for. To protect family, home, and way of life are but a few. The job that you enjoy now was bought and paid for in blood. Not the blood of the activist, radical college professor, or ACLU lawyer Better men than you or I paid the price with their lives.
I wore the uniform of the United States for over 26 years to protect YOUR right to be ignorant. You don't even have to thank me Matt. It was an honor. But you don't know what that means either.

ProudMarineDad · 1 year ago

Moron.

Until you (or someone you value) stand in someone else's place in defense of your family, friends, neighbors, and yes - even your many political enemies - you will never know what patriotism means. And yet it doesn't matter, because others do. As a result, you are irrelevant on this and other civil liberties.

As long as there are many in this country who believe in individual and corporate sacrifice on behalf of the liberties you value so much - and also those you don't apparently value at all - you will remain free to question their patriotism.

But that doesn't make you any less a moron.

tim5700 · 1 year ago

Your view of the US is warped & bitter, the glass will always be half empty. You named a series of bad things, Nazis, Imperial Japan, etc. The US is what stopped those things. You say that we need to give more of our resources to Africa et al. It doesn't matter how much we give, there are always bad men (Mugabe) to take the money and resources out of where it is intended. See Mogadishu. At some point they will need to stand up and take care of themselves.

We are the greatest nation.

Our 10,000 nuclear weapons? Yes, because with those we faced down the USSR who with their thousands of nuclear warheads would have spread their totalitarian regime across the globe.

Our troops stationed in 120 countries? Most those troops stationed at embassies, stations of diplomacy, meaning that we have peaceful relations with most countries and are there invitation, that makes us great.

We consume more resources because we are more productive & industrious. This adds to our wealth which we (both government and private citizens) are more generous with.

The distribution of our wealth demonstrates that we are MORE equal. Before the birth of this nation the distribution of wealth was the one man (king) controlled all of the wealth while everyone else had nothing and the trend continues to this day in other totalitarian states. In the United States, anyone and everyone has the opportunity become wealthy. That makes us great.

Corporations represent democracy and freedom. Corporations are embodied by many people (often times the people who work there) taking ownership of a company and sharing its profits among themselves (ironically this is what socialism purports to do but fails at.)

Our infant mortality rate is worse than you think and is a strike against the "great" column, I call it abortion.

At Abu Graib, we put a stop to it once it came out that is more than can be said for others. At Guantanamo, the prisoners have it better than our own prisoners. So much so that the bad stories have to made up (Koran flushing anyone?)

For all of the babble about Bush/Cheney assaulting rights and liberties? Exactly which of your rights have been violated by Bush/Cheney? Compare that to the recent fight we just had in the Supreme Court where so called "Progressives" tried to literally remove an amendment from the Constitution. But the people won that one, the Constitution won that one and that makes us great.

The United States of America, whether you love or whether you hate, it's the best thing going today.

SoldiersDad · 1 year ago

As a dinosaur...I'll just say

Ohh...yes...America the Ugly

it's so ugly that the majority of the Former Soviet Unions has been banging on Nato's door for 20 years...screaming "Please let me in"

Yes...America the Ugly...the place where people who have never known true hunger or true oppression scream endlessly how they are hungry and oppressed.

The UN defines poverty as living on less than $2/day or roughly $700 a year...if you are lucky enough to have been born "American" your government will insure you never know such poverty. A 'right' 2/3rds of the worlds inhabitants do not have.

Oh yes...and oppressed...one can walk pass a police station holding a sign proclaiming the evilness of America's leaders and not fear of arrest. A freedom 2/3rds of the worlds inhabitants do not have.

Yes..lets put patriotism on the shelf....if we need flags and fireworks and martial music to remind us what we have then we don't deserve to have it.

QT · 1 year ago

Everyone everywhere suffers because of the "powers that be". Rights that we as Americans have or any other country aren't God-given. Rights that are given to us are man-made and can be taken just as easily. If anyone is suffering (going against what it is to be in a happy and peaceful state), shouldn't we speak and act on it? No I'm not patriotic even since I was a kid singing the Star Spangled Banner, but that's my chose not a "right", it doesn't mean I hate America nor would I want to live in these countries everyone posting here is talking about. Simply because everyone in every country has problems. To fix this it starts with you and in your home and in your community.

JNC · 1 year ago

Our country seems done for. too many ignorant people. These so called conservatives are just the opposite. They waste, lie, corrupt, hate, pollute, kill, tear up our constitution. Also they destroy our currency. The only thing that they conserve is their ignorance. I hope they just all disappear.

dnphsmith · 1 year ago

I finds it sad to read the dozens of vicious, vile and vituperative responses to Matt’s well-reasoned argument.
One hundred and seventeen years ago, Henry Adams began his multi-volume A History of the United States by examining the intellectual challenges faced by his great-grandfather’s – President John Adams’s – generation. Could this new polity of theirs “create and maintain in the mass of mankind those habits of mind which had hitherto belonged to men of science alone. Could it produce, or was it compatible with, the differentiation of a higher variety of the human race? Nothing less than this was necessary for its complete success.” (Vol. I, p. 184)
Sorry to say, Henry, if these thoughtless and emotional responses are today’s rational discourse, we haven’t made it even close to “complete success.” Ad hominem attacks are not arguments, they are a classically fallacious response to argument. “Shut up!” he reasoned; “Go to Cuba!” she rationally asserted; “Nah, nah, you’re not only wrong but your stupid!” he countered to a point supported by clear evidence.
Mike Wallace, in a 1958 interview with Adlai Stevenson said:"An old political axiom says, 'People get the kind of government they deserve.'” This axiom is often attributed to Stevenson, but the source doesn't matter. What does matter is that the puerile rants against a thoughtful musing on patriotism demonstrate the truth of the axiom: we got the government we deserved in 2000 and 2004. One can only hope that we don't deserve McCain.

Gringo · 1 year ago

> "A thoughtful musing on patriotism" hardly shows its thoughtfulness by claiming that nationalism shares blame for the Gulags of Communism. Rather it shows a tendency to throw everything including the kitchen sink at the target of "patriotism" in the hope that some will stick. While that may be a good rhetorical tactic, it shows neither knowledge nor reasoning on the author's part.

If your country is so besmirched in your eyes, I would ask you: can you find a better one? What I find rather insulting from a lot of liberals is the implicit assumption that the U.S .is so horrible UNLESS the U.S. does EXACTLY what liberals say it should do. This is one reason why non-liberals, conservatives included, get up in arms when liberals start with the "oh so bad" litany.

You accuse those who disagree with you of being uncivil, but at the same time, you also participate in incivility towards those who disagree with you: vicious, vile and vituperative,..puerile rants. Physician, heal thyself.

Certainly your smug and self-righteous tone will do little to convince me. Since Ike and Adlai, and perhaps before, Liberals paint themselves as so superior to those knuckle-dragging behemoths that disagree with them : "vicious, vile and vituperative,..puerile rants," as you state. BTW, I used to be a liberal, until I tested my liberal beliefs with the reality of the world.

Perhaps the problem is that liberals are not used to having their ideas challenged, associating only with like-minded, and thus react as you did when you come into contact with people who disagree with them. From an early age, I was used to dealing in a civil manner with people with whom I disagreed on some issue, as I did not see eye to eye with my beloved grandmother on religion and Civil Rights. While we did not hide our disagreements, neither did we hide our regard for each other.

Liberals need some practice in that. Really.

Marcello · 1 year ago

The reason that you're seeing so many " vicious, vile and vituperative responses" to this essay is because the Progressive has chosen the worst of the worst to represent the opposition. The Progressive doesn't want you to know that their own readership is getting fed up with their knee-jerk America-bashing. It's an embarrassing anachronism, it does nothing to promote social justice and does everything to make the left look like fools. It's time for a new generation of progressives to take over. We need a fresh perspective and real results, not endless whining and outdated cliches.

wrnhart · 1 year ago

I’ve thought of the axiom you mentioned many times over recent years. The negative part of this is that all of us don’t deserve a given government, just the majority. By the reasoning of some of these people the minority should adopt the views of the majority without question. Dissent is unacceptable, much less protest or thoughtful reasoning! By the reasoning of these people, the country itself wouldn’t exist since a minority was in active rebellion when this country was formed.

If quotes are used, I always liked Ambrose Bierce:
PATRIOT, n. One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to
those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.

PATRIOTISM, n. Combustible rubbish read to the torch of any one
ambitious to illuminate his name.
In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the
last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened
but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first.

Or since one of the people meantioned Germany, how about this:
"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Hermann Goering

When they came for the communists, I was silent, because I was not a communist;
When they came for the socialists, I was silent, because I was not a socialist;
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not protest, because I was not a trade unionist;
When they came for the Jews, I did not protest, because I was not a Jew;
When they came for me, there was no one left to protest on my behalf.
Martin Niemöller

But how about something totally unique: we think for ourselves instead of parroting the words of our "leaders". I keep thinking of a phrase used by a columnist I read. He called it the "dumbing down of America". If you truly patriotic, you will want what is best for the people of the country, because they are the country. Jefferson (remember him) thought it was the duty of a person to rebel against a government which had ceased to represent them. And now everyone seems to want walk in lockstep and goosestep into the sunset. By any sane definition, the government we now have is Fascist By definition.

Aaron · 1 year ago

Matt, I would ask that you leave America if you don't like its patriotic supporters. It was the patriots that made that country what it is. Your family has made it clear what you think of America and their actions have long been clear in that respect.

Just leave, and don't come back, becuase it is the patriots that always kept America free.

James McMillin · 1 year ago

The National Security Presidential Directive 51 (giving the Executive responsibility for ensuring constitutional government IN AN EMERGENCY) is the one item that will virtually insure we will NOT have an election in November and possibly for years to come because this president is not likely to give up his little kingdom.

Do NOT be surprised when GWB declares a state of emergency in which it is SIMPLY TOO DANGEROUS to have a transition in government or hand over governing to an "inexperienced" new administration in the midst of a 'national emergency' such as the bombing of Iran by Israel and OUR NEED to support them or the U.S. Navy attempting to keep Iran from blocking the shipping lanes in the Straights of Hormuz and the rest of the Middle Eastern nations opt in to defend Iran against the "freedom fighters" who have been occupying their neighbor Iraq for five years... FIVE YEARS SINCE "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" !!!!

Do NOT be surprised that Cheney/Bush ensconce themselves in another undetermined length of time in office. If you THINK this is outrageously impossible, you have NOT been paying attention to the more than 1,000 signing statements the administration has quietly used to change every piece of legislation he chooses to make it what they want, NOT what the representatives of the people have tried to enact.

PAY ATTENTION - QUESTION AUTHORITY - THAT IS PATRIOTISM AS WELL.

goodshepherd · 1 year ago

Some great conspiracy writing! However you are late to the party since this piece of Hate Bush Derangement Conspiracy Syndorme has already been expressed and has been rehased ad infinitum. I know, I know, I see all of the bumper stickers on the cars of the "intellectually elite" in our town who believe that the rest of the unwashed masses that live and suffer outside of their ivory towers are totally incoherent and unable to understand that The Great Satan Bush and the False Prophet Cheney have come to set up their everlasting kingdom on earth.
My advice is this: Get a big brown paper bag, breath in and out until you able to no longer quiver with rage.

Sara Nacht · 1 year ago

Let's all be patriotic to Israel instead, Rothschild

Hsunav · 1 year ago

I don't get patriotism. I can't get my head around it. I don't get being proud of your country. It's just like I don't get revheads. Okay, you got a cool car - did you have anything to do with its engineering, aesthetics or design? Nah, it's just a cool car.

I live in Australia. I've researched the history of this country. I'm fairly impressed with its constitution and its parliamentary process. I enjoy living in a country with fairly Western liberal ideals (compared to other countries)

I don't love my country. I don't think it's the greatest nation on Earth. I'd never leave or give up my citizenship though, but my reasoning goes along the lines of the adage: 'Home, Sweet Home'.

I know that no country is perfect. But I'm not an antipatriot because my country has made mistakes in the past, or the current government is incompetent. I'm an antipatriot because I don't get the "love" of ones country, like how you would love another person.

My country is a cool car. It's been brilliantly engineered and looks beautiful. And I would do everything possible to keep it running smoothly.

But I would never wave it's flag.

Mike Devx · 1 year ago

How thoroughly one-sided this article is!

There have always been problems with American exceptionalism. We keep on finding ways to succeed, and to do amazing wonderful things.

This fellow seeks to criticize everything that MIGHT be wrong with America. Surely he is correct about some of the problems he identifies, but the idea that they disqualify us from being great is a pure joke.

And he leaves off a vast number of liberal idiocies that also threaten our greatness, preferring to focus solely on the potential risks on the conservative side. Such one-sidedness makes this fellow utterly irrelevant.

Sir, you can be a Patriot and still understand that we continue to reach for perfection, and always will have to reach; we'll never arrive. The fact that we continue to reach is amazing and admirable. You find our people and our nation itself steeped in hypocrisy. The truth is, we are far closer in action to our ideals than any other (powerful) country on the face of this earth and even throughout history.

Not at all perfect, but engaged in the unending pursuit towards perfection. I love this country. It is magnificent throughout all of history, and this is the best time on earth to be alive, solely because I am fortunate enough to have been born here, and to live here, in this great time.

sejucot · 1 year ago

Get some patriotism about you. I serve everyday in the United States Navy. To protect your freedoms and your rights. All that I ask in return is your respect and the respect of your country. If we didn't win in WWiI you would be learning German History and speakin german under the rule of Adolf Hitler and learning things about him. Grow some fucking balls and become of a supporter of the country you grew up in. The country that allows you to do what you do everyday instead of some communist bastard that says you're going to be a construction worker since you were born. You've honestly never sat down and thought of all the soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors that have sacrificed their lives to allow you to post this message. I don't even know why i'm bothering because obviosouly you can't accept the fact that you're an american and that you are taking advantage of that in which millions before us have sacrificed to protect but do you want to do your part no. So why don't you grow up let your balls drop and try and make a difference in the world. All of you that commented on this saying yay what a bright way to look at things. Fuck off as well and take a moment to realize what everyone has done for you. We stick our lives on the line so that you can post this, we stick our lives on the line so that you can wake up every morning and go to work or enjoy your day off. Fuck all that are non patriot bitches. I fly a flag in front of my house everyday in rememberence of those that sacrificed their lives so I could fly that flag. You non conformist bitches need to wake up and lean respect for those that have done that. Have gone the way to sacrifice their lives their families to give you the freedoms you enjoy today

jay · 1 year ago

Ahem. Excuse me. Have any of you read "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"?

It amazes me that these conversations can even take place. We are colonizers and occupiers and the original inhabitants of this land, who did very well for thousands of years, have to suffer through not only the pain of the genocide we committed upon them, but our self-congratulatory frenzy as the world's champions of freedom and democracy, two words that have entirely lost their meaning.

My culture is a disease. The best I can hope for is remission. If I could leave this stolen land, I would; but I don't belong anywhere else. True patriots, good on ya. Violent, angry defenders of the world-fuckers (who would as soon fuck you as anyone else), good on ya. Some day, a real rain will come.

Gringo · 1 year ago

We are colonizers and occupiers...My culture is a disease. The best I can hope for is remission. If I could leave this stolen land, I would; but I don't belong anywhere else.

I feel sorry for you. Such self-hatred is self destructive. Very simple solution: go back to a country from where your ancestors immigrated. It's that simple. Some Russians whose ancestors moved from Germany over 200 years ago have immigrated to Germany. It can be done.

If you do not, you are simply taking a morally inconsistent stand. If you are ashamed of being a colonizer and occupier, if you feel guilt for that, there is a simple solution: leave. Otherwise, you are no better than the evil occupiers and colonizers that you so decry.

Please go to a place that you can be proud of.

If someone who owns slaves feels guilty about owning slaves, one can get rid of the guilt by freeing the slaves one owns. If one feels guilty for being a colonizer or occupier, then get rid of the guilt by no longer being a colonizer and occupier. To the degree that you feel guilty about being a colonist and occupier, but remain in this country, you come across as a preening pretentious blowhard, not someone to take seriously. If you REALLY felt guilty about being a colonist and an occupier, you would stop being a colonist and an occupier, and LEAVE.

As the saying goes, either perform your bodily function or get off the pot.

BTW, part of my ancestry is Indian. Half of my parents' siblings married people with 1/8 Indian ancestry. Two of my seven cousins married people with Indian ancestry. My brother's wife has Indian ancestry. Some of my ancestors on the frontier were attacked by Indians. It's not that simple.

Cossack · 1 year ago

"The bloody battles in Serbia and Bosnia and Croatia in the 1990s fed off the injured pride of competing patriotisms and all their nourished grievances."

Hmmmm, so I guess Jews worldwide need to get off the "Holocaust"; "Never again" train, stop the self-pity party, stop the reflexive adoration/justification for Israel's misdeeds, eh?

Your casual, flippant remark shows that you totally lack any historical perspective in your 'analysis'. You seem to be totally ignorant of the fact that over 1,000,000 Serbs died at the hands of the Nazis and their oh so willing executioners, the Croat Ustasha and the Croatian and Muslim SS units.

Pick up an unbiased history book now and again!

yankeeoppressor · 1 year ago

Jay-
I have read it many times. Read your history books...stronger cultures displace or assimilate the weak. Like it or not, that is the way of the world. If not the English, it would have been the Spanish or the French. What is your point?

Jerry · 1 year ago

This type comment is truly the product of the comfortable well off who have been afforded their time to contemplate and write such bilge by the sacrifice and work of those who went before them.

What amazes me is this type of what - comment, philosophy, view - assumes the alternative to the current evil system of large stable countries is a wonderful borderless, bliss where everyone lives in harmony and where everyone loves one another world wide. You don't have to study history much to see that this would not be the case in borderless world. Look at the middle ages a time of very weak countries and powers. People lived in serfdom and in constant threat of being overrun by the next wave of marauders. No freedom, no way to reach for higher goals for oneself or for one's children and certainly no peace. Look at Africa a place of weak countries and blurred borders. Warlords rule and starve and kill those who disagree with them. I hate to break to Mr. Roschhild but human nature is weak and lends itself to take advantage - that is what is truly special about this country - the framers knew this and created a country - the first in history to deal with and check this weakness. Allowing one to better oneself and maybe as Mike Divx points out to attain a more perfected society. A society that can only be reached through the U.S. and models like her - not by tearing her down which takes us backward. That is what is so special about this country Mr. Rothschild. That is what we celebrate on the 4th of July. If you can't wake up and appreciate that and be glad for the patriotism that has purchased you peace, you have no business editing anything.

nofreelunch · 1 year ago

One of the fundamental differences between liberals and conservatives, perhaps the most important one politically, is what they think (or how they feel) about the United States. Conservatives think the U.S. is a great country. Liberals think it is a deeply flawed, but redeemable, country. Whackos think it is hopelessly bad and should be destroyed or remade.

apogee · 1 year ago

Patriotism is intellectual rubbish—the lowest form of it.

Patriotism has been the sole enabling principle for racists, nationalists, and for hate-mongering malevolents of every stripe, all through human history.

It cannot be intellectually justified -- it is itself something that is used to justify crimes against other human beings; and it is the only thing that has ever been used to justify such crimes.
So… assessed solely by the effects that it has had when used as a fundamental principle, patriotism must be adjudged to be the lowest form of intellectual rubbish.

As to the claim adduced by some that patriotism is a kind of “love,” that is simply a linguistic error: you are expected, you are required--by those in charge--to have this "love." That's like expecting, or requiring that you love broccoli or okra. It cannot be done. Love cannot be coerced. It is a linguistic error to give the name "love" to something whose very nature it is to be a command issuing from those with power over you.

Allow me to conclude on just one quote and just one link:
"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them!"
- Albert Einstein

http://johnmccarthy90066.tripod.com/id431.html

RS · 1 year ago

Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the history of the 20th century would know that the Soviets slaughtered millions of their own people in the name of -- get this -- equality. Therefore, according to your logic, equality also "must be adjudged to be" the lowest form of intellectual rubbish.

Personally, I'd say that any kind of rigid dogma, such as yours or Rothschild's, should be consigned to the dustbins of history. I'll leave it up to you and Rothschild to argue over which rigid dogma should be deemed "lowest".

Hsunav · 1 year ago

Uh...no. You're confusing the dictionary definition of communism with Stalin's democide of the USSR.

RS · 1 year ago

Stalin's democide of the USSR was done in the name of equality.

jayrayspicer · 1 year ago

No, Stalin killed in order to consolidate and retain power. Not really sure how equality or anything else enters into it.

RS · 1 year ago

We'll never know what motivated Stalin. But we do know that he publicly justified his actions by claiming to be creating an egalitarian worker's state. In other words, Stalin -- and every other Soviet leader -- was slaughtering his people in the name of equality.

CDWard · 1 year ago

Great article Mr. Rothschild. It's amusing seeing all the commentors who claim we have freedom of speech in this country and then immediately ask you to leave for daring to criticize it.

apogee · 1 year ago

I have been trying to figure out here whether RS fancies himself as vaguely familiar with history, or vaguely familiar with logic.

Let me confine my remarks to the vague historian (perhaps some eager third-grader reading this may take on the vague logician).

Mr/Ms RS--do you mean that in the Soviet Union one was not imprisoned on suspicions of “lack of patriotism?” Do you mean that ordinary citizens there were not expected to spy on their neighbors and denounce them for this lack? Do you mean that the Soviet media did not make any efforts to instill flag-waving patriotism in its citizenry? Do you really mean to assert that the Soviet Union was that radically different from all those other hoodlum dictatorships of the 20th Century?

I hope that you may have a chance to check with your vague history sources, and that you will be kind enough to take the trouble to get back to us on this. In the meantime, while you’re checking, here’s a quote from another recent essay (William Blum) on the joys of patriotism.


“The Japanese pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor were being patriotic. The German people who supported Hitler and his conquests were being patriotic, fighting for the Fatherland. All the Latin American military dictators who overthrew democratically-elected governments and routinely tortured people were being patriotic -- saving their beloved country from ‘communism.’
General Augusto Pinochet of Chile: ‘I would like to be remembered as a man who served his country.’[1]
P.W. Botha, former president of apartheid South Africa: ‘I am not going to repent. I am not going to ask for favours. What I did, I did for my country.’ [2]
Pol Pot, mass murderer of Cambodia: ‘I want you to know that everything I did, I did for my country.’ [3]
Tony Blair, former British prime minister, defending his role in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis: “I did what I thought was right for our country.’ [4]”

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article...

DCA · 1 year ago

Thank you Matthew Rothschild for such a great article. You are courageous particularly with Bush/Cheney in charge and a Congress which has given up its checks and balance power.

Yes, we are a great country but we have a long, long way to go. As you accurately state we are well down on the list of benchmarks regarding the health and welfare of our citizens. And, I would guess that most Americans are not aware of this.

We as a country are more talk than action. Although the action we have taken over the past few years have put us and the rest of the world in jeopardy...in harms way. If we, and this administration in specific, focused more on the welfare of our fellow citizens and less on nation-building and expanding the US empire we could be considered the greatest nation. We are far from that now.

Thanks for sparking such a necessary debate in this country.

Shea McLeod · 1 year ago

I love your work Matthew Rothschild, and how dare the hate mongers email you with threats, racism, and removal -- you are far too entrenched to buckle now [smile]. The world community requires transparency, authority and the freedom of the press must lead that campaign. I regard the Progressive as a credible, balanced and forward-thinking news outlet that invites the critical thinker to every party. God bless, protect and preserve you all as you watch and interpret socio-political realities that inform and inspire us not to roll over. For those of us who share histories of oppression, we too understand that hate is now an America vice, a propensity that has now loomed into a full fledged addiction, and not you, the Progressive or any truth seekers are responsible to provide treatment.

So, for the spirit of your ancestors globally, and for the struggle of all people who demand that what was said and what was meant line up don't entertain stopping, America just wouldn't be the same without your voice, for this is your gifting, and enlightenment is on your mantel -- you were born to do this! I can't wait for your next thought.

Courage,
Shea McLeod
Markham, ON

duckfubya · 1 year ago

While I'm in total agreement with what was written, I have a slightly different perspective. I fly my American flag day and night (illuminated, as per proper flag etiquette) in a neighborhood rife with Right Wing Republicans. I'm the local Democratic precinct chair, and we typicallly have 49 Democratic votes to 350 Republican votes in this precinct. MY flag is there to signify what this country SHOULD be, not what it IS. It is there to prove that every day I am working hard to try to ACHIEVE the promise of America, not the reality. To me, the flag shows my bonafides in the struggle to realize the dream of a country I can truly be proud of again. It will take backbreaking work to overcome the spinelessness of my own Democratic representatives in Congress, along with the true enemies of freedom, the Republicans, who have now proven that they have NO ability to govern (see Katrina, Iraq, etc. ad nauseum). Any party that elects people who "hate government" and then appoints them to agencies as a self-fulfilling prophecy to run them into the ground can and MUST be thrown out of office. Then the real work begins, by re-educting elected Democrats as to whom they owe their allegiance. NOT the flag, but WE the people. Clean elections are the only possible cure for the current disease that is America's elected officials. Support Clean Election laws, and you will find that your representative no longer has to spend more time raising money for reelection, instead of doing the work he was elected to do by YOU. YOU will become his only constituent, not the lobbyists and the PACs. It is being successfully done on a statewide basis in 11 states. It MUST become Federal policy as well, or the whole ball game is OVER. As far as anyone who could be deluded into being "patriotic" about THIS administration, I'm afraid there's no hope for them. There is only hope for America, and only if YOU take an active stand on Clean Election Laws.

Gringo · 1 year ago

(from American Thinker website)
We're Oh So... (a poem)
Russ Vaughn
We’re hip, we’re cool and oh so arty;
We’re Democrats, the smarter party.
We’re sophisticated unlike you;
We understand merci beaucoup.
We’re urbane while you’re provincial;
We’re worldly-wise, so existential.
We’re cultured, complex, so refined;
We’ve left you ignorant serfs behind.
We’re witty authors of clever puns,
While you clods cling to God and guns.
Were you not so closed and clannish,
We’d have you peons speaking Spanish.
We say all this with knowing smirks;
We’re Democrats, you red-state jerks.

Jay Bee · 1 year ago

Amen, Matt. I'm thankful to be an American, but I'm not particulary proud of America. Our contry has such promise and potential. Hopefully someday it will be fully realized. I'm proud of several Americans, and I count you as one of them. Nice work!

Capt. David B. Caudle · 1 year ago

Mr. Rothschild,
I read your "Why I am not patriotic" article in my local newspaper here in Georgia. It is one of the most disgusting and vile pieces of leftist tripe that I've ever read. No, we're not born with patriotism. We're not born with anything. Neither were you born hating your own country. That too, is a learned behavior.
For arguments sake, could it be possible that your professors in journalism school, who are the leftover hippies from the 60s, were wrong when they taught you how evil and oppressive your country is? How they made the insane comparison of this great nation to that of the Pol Pots, the Hitlers and the Mussolinis? How when this great country fought and defeated these evil despots to save the literal asses of the Europeans that we really were the oppressors and that these good men were just trying to liberate the people from the oppressiveness of democracy? While you do give a little credence to nationalism when "harnessing the group" your implied comparisons of our country and national pride to these regimes are not just wrong, but moronic. I'll remind you that you are blessed to be living in this great country of ours that has those F-16s, F18s and F22s fouling natures skies so that you can write your idiotic nonsense and not be beheaded or imprisoned for doing so.

Mr. Rothschild, your inability to understand the greatness of this country is profound. Your views, while widely fostered and accepted in leftist liberal circles are gibberish and nonsense to the majority in this country. Your claim about our rights and liberties being systematically assaulted is pure nonsense for none of my liberties nor my rights have been denied to me or you for that matter. You cannot point to or cite one systemic abuse of anyones rights. You cannot point to anywhere in the history of this great country that we have used our military might for empirical gain. You cannot cite one instance where this country has oppressed, beheaded, burned or raped a people or pillaged any country on the face of this earth because of political or religious differences. I'll remind you as to what I can point to as direct evidence of a "enemy within" this country such as yourself and your comrades in arms. I can point to the fact that the ilk in your movement:
1. Stands on the floor of the congress and makes the same insane comparisons to Pol Pot etal... as you do.
2. Rushes to defend the so-called rights of the poor oppressed terrorist scum of the earth that would slit the throats of your family, even your dog if you have one, ear to ear and deep, before your very eyes, then do the same to you.
3. Tells the world that America has lost the war, the surge will not work, isn't working.
4. Tells the world that the Marines in Haditha killed those civilians in cold blood. What happen to the presumption of innocence that you leftist fight so hard for, for child rapist, murderers and the criminal element in this country? Oh, I forgot, this is the military. You hate them too.
5. Purposely lies to the American People that this war is illegal, get your facts straight Mr. Rothschild, it is not illegal. The lawfulness of this war is evidenced by the 1991 cease-fire agreement with Iraq, the 16 UN Resolutions (your favorite organization I'm sure) passed over the preceding 12 years before the war, the 17th unanimous Security Counsel Resolution 1441, the "Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of the United States Armed Forces Against Iraq" passed by the 108th Congress, of which your democrat leaders voted for because they didn't want to be seen as being weak on National Security.
6. The WMDs of which 500 tons of yellow cake uranium found in Iraq at the beginning of the war and was just recently moved HERE, Mr. Rothschild. No WMDs uh?
7. Leaks National Security secrets that aids and abets our enemies in a time of war.
8. Pays homage to Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.
9. Invites the despot leader of Iran to a major American university to speak and participate in a freedom that he denies his own people.
10. Jettisons the responsibility under the 1st Amendment of our Constitution to side with a political party to sway, manipulate, lie and undermine this country in a time of war.
11. Uses your 1st Amendment right to foster forged National Guard documents to manipulate the outcome of a Presidential election. I could go on and on and on citing examples of how your fellow travelers in the democrat party hate this nation, hates what it stands for and is working overtime to convince those of us that believe in the greatness of our country of just how evil and tyrannical we are as a nation. It's not working Mr. Rothschild.
Here are some vast differences between me as a conservative and you as a fascist liberal. If you've made it this far then perhaps you have the courage to read the rest.

It wasn't a conservative who is vested in the defeat of their own country at a time of war.
It wasn't a conservative who voted to send our troops into battle only to betray them.
It wasn't a conservative who said,"This war is lost".
It wasn't a conservative who said, "The surge is a failure".
It wasn't a conservative who publicly tried, convicted and sentenced our brave men in the Marines of the "Haditha murders".
It wasn't a conservative who on more than one occasion, leaked national security secrets to the New York Times.
It wasn't a conservative who says that they support our troops but withholds funding and support.
It wasn't a conservative who said that "if the surge works, well then, that is going to be a problem for us".
It wasn't a conservative who said, "We just killed the Patriot Act", with a smile on his face by the way.
It wasn't a conservative who wants to give terrorist scum Constitutional rights and make them an unsigned signatory to the Geneva Convention.
It wasn't a conservative who called General Petraeus a liar and a betrayer.
It wasn't a conservative who said the President is "unstable".
It wasn't a conservative who puts the welfare of terrorist over that of their fellow countrymen.
It wasn't a conservative who said the President is a liar and a loser to high school children.
It wasn't a conservative that stood on the senate floor as the majority leader and used the power of his office in an attempt to deprive Rush Limbaugh of his first amendment rights as a private citizen.
It wasn't a conservative who wants to give birth control to eleven year olds.
It wasn't a conservative who gave a habitual child rapist probation.
It wasn't a conservative who wants to give illegal aliens amnesty and drivers licenses.
It wasn't a conservative who won't let US drill for our own oil and keeps US dependent on foreign energy sources.
It wasn't a conservative who wants to legalize gay marriage.
It wasn't a conservative who wants to abort unborn children.
It wasn't a conservative who wants to abolish christianity from the public square.
It wasn't a conservative who wants to sit down and sing kumbaya with the enemies of the USA.
It wasn't a conservative who wants to raise our taxes.
It wasn't a conservative that buys, hook, line and sinker into the latest scam by the left, Global Warming.
It wasn't a conservative who wants to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.
It wasn't a conservative who said that "for the first time in history fire melts steel".
It wasn't a conservative who thinks that the Supreme Court is not liberal enough.
It wasn't a conservative who opposes voter ID cards.
It wasn't a conservative who went over to Syria to have a pow wow with Bassar Asyad.
It wasn't a conservative who threw a pie at Ann Coulter.
It wasn't a conservative who wouldn't let Jim Gilchrist speak at Columbia University but were all to happy to have Iran's AMADJIHAD speak.
It wasn't a conservative who would not let David Horowitz speak at Georgia Tech.
It wasn't a conservative who went overseas and bashed their own country in front of the whole world.
It wasn't a conservative who went down to Venezuela to bow at the feet of Hugo Chavez.
It wasn't a conservative who sat on a Vietcong anti-aircraft gun in support of the North Vietnamese.
It wasn't a conservative who puts out anti-American propagandist films.
It wasn't a conservative who said, "don't fear the terrorist, they are mothers and fathers too".
It wasn't a conservative who wants to take away our guns.
It wasn't a conservative who wants to nationalize healthcare.
It wasn't a conservative who........
Can you refute any of this? You may think so but in reality which is where I live, you cannot. All of the aforementioned is documented. Lie to yourself if you like.

I'll leave you with this quote from Cicero in 42 B.C. Mr. Rothschild,

"A nation can survive it's fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.
For the traitor appears not as a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear".
------Marcus Tullius Cicero
Roman orator, statesman 42 B.C.

He was speaking about you Mr. Rothschild.
Capt. David B. Caudle

Hx · 1 year ago

I'm certain that this is one of the stupidest articles I've ever read. Using genuine concern over fascism in America to push globalism is evil sir. National sovereignty will prevail - We are Americans FIRST. Don't like it? Get out

MoodyWench · 1 year ago

Thank you Matt, for having the courage to write what I so often feel. I don't think I have donned anything remotely resembling a flag or red/white and blue since Bush was first elected. I might have had a relapse after 9-11 but when I saw all the "Power of Pride" bumper stickers I felt nauseated. I guess all the "Christians" in the religious right forgot Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

I shudder to think how far we have fallen because of "Pride" and blind flag waving and acceptance of what comes out of the mouths of fear mongering Constitution destroyers like Dubya. Our blind "patriotism" and our thinking we are the best nation on earth is going to be the death of us. How can we even pretend to be a "moral beacon" when we torture prisoners and break our own laws? Yet if one of our own is tortured we would cry foul. I guess the right wingers have also forgotten the "Golden Rule". I can't help but think that with the latest goings on to destroy the Constitution that our Founding Fathers must be thinking "WTF??!!"

So thank you Matt, for saying what so many of us think and feel.

Mark Ward · 1 year ago

Couldn't agree more. As Burke said, patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.

Blue Max · 1 year ago

Burke didn't say "Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels"--Sam Johnson did. (A fact which gives added credence (as if needed...) to the old adage--attributed by many to Churchill--that, "If a man's not a liberal at twenty he has no heart, but if he's not a conservative by forty he has no mind."

Mark · 1 year ago

I completely agree with you, Matthew.

It's interesting that in the land of the so-called free, the folks who criticize you the most are the same ones who want to FORCE us into being patriotic, whatever that means. Actually, I know what patriotism means to many of them: Don't question authority, American lives are more valuable than the lives of non-Americans, and America is always right (even when we know what we're doing is wrong).

thomas · 1 year ago

Great article. Exactly what I've been thinking for years. Pay no attention to the warmongering barbarians, the hypocritical zealots, or the myopic martyrs who would rather die for false idols than face the truth about this country and her violent past.

American Nationalist · 1 year ago

Just the opinion of another leftist scum. It is always funny how the left tries to paint Nationalism as the major problem of the world, when in reality, it is and has always been internationalism ie, Jewish Communism and predatory capitalism that are responsible for the major woes that the world has faced. It was not nationalism that started world war 1. It was the international bankers and their drive to enslave nations to their debt based schemes that brought upon that war as it was their conditions that flourished post war that directly lead to world war 2 which was nothing but an extension of the first war. It was not not nationalism that lead Japan into Empire, but internationalism, the same as with the Jewish inspired Soviet Union and communist China whom both combined to cause the deaths of well over 100 million people on their own in the 20th century. Nationalism is real. Nationalism is country and race and nation, all real and substantial truths that free people and make them more prosperous. Internationalism, is blind multiculturalism, big government and empire. Fabricated false identities that can only enslave and retard freedom. America's problem today is not nationalism, but that it has crossed over into the real of internationalim. Anyone who cannot see that is either blind or has a bill of goods to sell. If the left doesn't like America today they have no one to blame but themselves, for it is they who have made the Empire what it is today, both international socialists and neoconservative leftists alike.

blueshift · 1 year ago

The comments I have read so far below simply prove the author's point, but make another: it seems the average American is not very literate about what America is. Like evangelical theology so closely held by millions of believers who have never actually raead the Bible for themselves, I read below the statements of those who are not aware of the origins of American principles and simply can't fathom that there are countries freer, better governed and cared for, and economically mightier. Countries who are at this moment eating the food off America's plate - gobbling up our assets and our companies despite our protestations of greatness.

vancefort · 1 year ago

I question the premise that patriotism is not a natural state of mankind. Unfortunately, patriotism, and its flip side, nationalism, appear present in most human organizations.

Steve · 1 year ago

Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.

Oscar Wilde

Ozzie V · 1 year ago

It looks like the KGB is alive and well in Washington,DC.

Clem · 1 year ago

Actually, The Progressive is in Madison.

Commenterlein · 1 year ago

Patriotism is simply a nicer word for tribalism, and equally irrational. Being proud of ones country makes as much sense as being proud of being white, tall, male, or any other accident of birth.

All the commenters above who keep talking about how life in the US is better than in (put in third-world hell-hole of your choice) miss the point badly. We should all be grateful that the US has better institutions and as a result more wealth than most other countries, and we should all try hard to retain and improve these institutions. But to go from there to some emotional and unconditional "love" of the US is just pure irrationality.

Imagine you are handed the greatest car in the world - should you "love" it, or should you just be happy that you have a great car and work on its upkeep?

Mike A · 1 year ago

Wrong. Patriotism is not tribalism. Tribalism is based on shared physical characteristics. Nor is it Nationalism which is based on physical location. Patriotism is based on shared ideals. Unconditional love of America is totally rational because it is the love of the ideals behind the country.

cilantroman · 1 year ago

Life as it is
People as they are
Societies as they are
Light as it is

Patriotism distorts

People as they are
Societies as they are
Light as it is

Thanks Matthew!

meshuginna · 1 year ago

Considering the viciousness of so many of these attacks, I have to admit that once again an Oscar Wilde epigram hits the proverbial nail on the head. I'm wondering if we could modify his "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance" to "To love one's country is the beginning of a lifelong romance -- a codependent one."

New Mexican · 1 year ago

Why is it the same people who claim that free speech makes America great keep telling people who disagree with them to leave? Conservatives, if dissent makes you uncomfortable, move to Iran.

Potfry · 1 year ago

Matthew-- my comment seems to have gotten lost-- or are you only accepting the ranting, hate-filled comments from conservatives so you can say, "See, I told you so?"

Dr. Zimmerman Robert · 1 year ago

Yes even in China and Korea, they have a 4th of July.

Bill Edwards · 1 year ago

I am a high school history teacher, and if you want to get to one of the main sources of this bland and blind patriotism and/or nationalism, take a look at any state-approved high school American History textbook. As long as our students are fed the "official" view of American history (the one which the government and military and corporations want them to believe), they will be led to believe that those in power are always right, and that every government and/or military action upon our own citizens and upon other nations is done out of pure benevolence. It is extremely naive to believe that the only objective our military has ever had in any conflict is to "protect our freedom" and bring it to the rest of the world (by force), but yet this is how it is spun in our textbooks, notwithstanding the current military operation. When you control the history that our kids are taught, and they are taught to never question the goodness of all things American, you get generations of "patriots" that give our government a blank check of support of whatever it wants to do, even if it destroys our own freedoms.
You can celebrate the ideals of our founders (whether or not they still exist in practice) and the positive things the people of our nation have accomplished, and still be able to call a spade a spade and say that our nation has done and is still doing bad things at home and abroad and vocally oppose such things. Sadly, patriotism has become a celebration of government and military power (and religion!), instead of a celebration of the spirit of the people which still believes in freedom, equality, and justice. Apparently, it is the mission of those in power to crush that spirit and replace it with unquestioned loyalty. Thankfully dissent is allowed...at least for now.

Two Dogs · 1 year ago

Thank goodness that you are a public school teacher and are not gunking up the works in the economy or in an actual education environment. I wish that public school teachers were not paid so well, they are clearly underqualified for even the simplest tasks.

The way that I know that you teach public school is that you hate the United States. No, you are not a patriot.

Brad · 1 year ago

Your absolutely ridiculous. I can't imagine how you read that, and think only... "He Hates America". You seem just as blind as the high school kids he`s talking about.

Is it too far fetched to believe that the authorities of any nation/organization may sometimes have their own agenda? One that does not directly represent or respect the will of their own people at large?

Could our national pursuit for worldwide democratic freedom be a simple front, under certain administrations?

Don't get me wrong, we as Americans are extremely fortunate. We do have the ability and freedom to criticize ourselves as a nation, and i think that is an absolute necessity. Without self criticism, there would be no improvement, nor any progression.

kazoolist · 1 year ago

How utterly unfortunate that someone with your spiteful view of America is teaching its history.

sfdocphil · 1 year ago

Sir (and I use the term loosely),
I am actually stunned, but not surprised, by your rant against not only patriotism, but also our country. Having served and retired from the military after serving almost 21 years, I find your presumptions and uninformed bile about as detestable as they come. I actually have to laugh when a Liberal or Progressive such as yourself, defends him or herself when someone questions their patriotism or love of their country. Your opinions while upsetting on not unusual to your ilk. You and most like you, have a disdain for this country and it's history that reveals itself not only in word, but in deed. Look at your current candidate for President.
It amazes me that people such as yourself, have no appreciation for the fact that you can write a retarded article like this and not be dragged into the street and shot for treason. The only reason you have that protection is because much better men and women than you, defended this country and your right to speak your mind, no matter how many people you offend with your nonsense. The problem with your form of political correctness is that you use it to protect and tolerate only your form of offense, while condemning and being intolerant of anything you disagree with. I thought "progressives" were the tolerant ones.
One of the reasons this is a great country is because people are entitled to disagree with an idiot like Matthew Rothschild and his type of "American". I am sure he has never been anywhere where he felt unsafe or unprotected because other people, his so-called "Imperialists", were providing an umbrella of protection for his hateful behind. I would like to see Mr. Rothschild survive in a place where there was true danger and nobody around to provide the safety net he enjoys, but doesn't appreciate.
Progessives would condemn this form of diarrhea of the mouth, if only they disagreed with you. My father would stand at your side and agree with you as well, but like you, he's never had to defend anything other than his own decaf latte and his backwards stances which mirror your own. The real issue is do you speak for yourself, or the greater Progressive movement? I think you are symptomatic of the greater mind and the rest of the moon-bat, Kool-aid drinkers you write for. Your progressive audience applauds you, however, the "Patriots", pity you for your anger, your stupidity and your poor sheltered and protected life.
Hope you enjoyed your 4th of July!! God Bless America!!!
Phil

Putnik · 1 year ago

"Phil"

I must take issue with much of what you said in your comment.

You said, "It amazes me that people such as yourself, have no appreciation for the fact that you can write a retarded article like this and not be dragged into the street and shot for treason. The only reason you have that protection is because much better men and women than you, defended this country and your right to speak your mind, no matter how many people you offend with your nonsense."

Let's examine your premise. "...The only reason you have that protection is because much better men and women than you, defended this country and your right to speak your mind, no matter how many people you offend with your nonsense." The last time this argument could in any wise be used was during WWII. Do you truly, honestly believe that the North Koreans, the North Vietnamese, the Panamanians, the Iraqis, the Serbs, the Afghanis and the Iraqis again were somehow preparing to mount a (successful) assault on the U.S., overturn the government and threaten "the American Way of Life"? Are you mad? The single largest real danger to "The American Way of Life" emanates from Washington, D.C. More of our rights have been illegally seized and abolished through actions from various administrations in D.C. than could ever be seized by any foreign power. I quote to you the words of a true American hero, Abraham Lincoln who said, "At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

So, Phil, if you truly want to abide by the oath you took to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States", when are you and those like minded going to march on Washington and defend our Constitution (which the present resident of the White House has deemed "just a damned piece of paper")?

a shaikh · 1 year ago

Respect Your Dad at the very least

Mr. Bob · 1 year ago

Best 4th of July article I've ever read! We need a revolution now.

Dick214 · 1 year ago

Matt,

I have at times questioned your credentials to be the editor of a magazine titled "The Progressive" and today as I read this I must say that you have redeemed yourself in my eyes. Patriotism always verges on jingoism, so much so that the difference is barely perceptible. This is readily witnessed by the many jingoistic responses you have received to your article. The replies are from people who are probably limousine liberals who either subscribe to The Progressive as dilettantes (if they subscribe at all) or who have never gone hungry in a well-fed country.

I agree with your appraisal and champion you as a Progressive.

Dick Hudson in Illinois (and by the way, in response to one of your detractors, I'm a veteran of the Korean War)

cfoss · 1 year ago

Dick214--I just don't think that the progressive movement will get anywhere with such a venom-filled opinion of the U.S. Everyone knows that we have problems--OK, big problems (especially under Bush and company)--but nobody on the other side will
listen to such a diatribe. You've got to start with the basic good--try freedoms and opportunity--then work on the problems.

Dare I say, "enjoy the holiday?" cfoss/by the way, a Vietnam vet