Continuing with the diary I started earlier in the week, regarding the "Political Compass" website, we come to the "test's" next statement.
Statement two:
I'd always support my country, whether it was right or wrong.
I disagree.
When I was growing up in the '60s, the "redneck" answer to war protestors was, "My country, right or wrong." However, that statement is easier to agree with than the one provided by Political Compass. This is the country of my birth, whether it is right or wrong on any position. There is simply nothing I can do about that. I was born and raised here. I'll be an American until my dying breath. But support is something else again.
The fact is that I do support my country, whether correct or in error. I pay taxes, I take part in the political system, I take part in its capitalistic structure by purchasing and selling. All those things I do which conservatives label as liberal endeavors are done, I feel, in support of my country. That is especially true when my country is taking an inappropriate turn to the right.
My disagreement comes largely from the feel of the call of the question, and how that statement is most often interpreted. In other words, "I support my country's position whether it is wrong or whether it is right." That I will not do. My country takes no position on anything. The people of the United States of America do, in the form of government action. These actions are most often linked to American majority opinion by those who vote, but in a republican form of government such is not always the case.
The hypocrisy of the right wing in this statement is often amazing to behold. It has effectively come to mean that when the right wing gets its way, the left wing is required to shut the hell up. I'd remind my jingoistic friends that the freedom to have an abortion is the official position of the US government, but I see the right wing attack this view at every turn. The right to carry one's own religious beliefs is constitutionally mandated, but the Christian right wing wants this nation declared a "Christian nation."
For my part, my values are my own. I do not hold to any state sponsored "values" unless I happen to agree with them. But even then, I do not approve of others being required to adopt these values, nor do I support government efforts to enforce such values. I also believe that it is healthiest for Americans to hold to that central philosophy. If that philosophy had been present in Germany while Adolph Hitler was rising to power, we may have never had WWII.
Please add your own views on these topics as this diary continues. Also, I fully recognize that this may not be the most interesting of diaries. However, being new to dKos, writing diaries, I've found, takes some practice, and this topic seemed suitable for that. It also allows me to get to know some of the members of dKos. The fact that I get about 12 hits on these per entry, is of no matter.