This is an essay I wrote for my school newspaper a month ago. You probably should know that my school runs rather conservative, which is why it's got a somewhat condescending tone. Enjoy :)
I've been bothered by an increasingly hateful, hostile attitude presented by conservatives toward those who note the numerous flaws of Bush policy and choose to speak up about it. I'm bothered that invoking the "unpatriotic traitor" card is becoming more and more accepted among conservatives as a way to sway public opinion. I'm bothered by the idea that "Dissenters are unpatriotic, neo-liberal Democrats who hate America."
Why? Because nothing could be further from the truth! So without further ado, let's discuss what true patriotism actually entails.
But first, let's continue to explore the GOP ideology on patriotism. The Republican party is transforming America into a country where dissent equals treason. According to this train of thought, the 52% of Americans who did not vote for George W. Bush in 2000 must be unpatriotic. Additionally, the 62% of Americans who feel the amount of casualities in Iraq is unacceptable are also treasonous. And let's not forget the unpatriotic 50% who say they under no circumstance want Bush re-elected in 2004. Wow! The majority of this country is unpatriotic according to Republican ideology, because they aren't "supporting the President!"
And what about those "evil Democrats" in Congress? They're apparently unpatriotic for doing what our elected officials are supposed to do; questioning our intentions in Iraq, questioning pre-war intelligence (which, as we all know, turned out to be completely flawed), as well as questioning our non-existent post-war procedure. Even more unpatriotic are the Republicans who are now questioning U.S. Iraq policy, or rather, the lack thereof. And how about the men and women in the armed services who doubt this administration's plan for the Middle East? What about former NATO Commander and Four-Star General Wesley Clark, who has criticized Bush's Operation Iraq Liberation (also known as OIL)? Are they all unpatriotic, too?
The truth behind patriotism has been denied and distorted by the right wing on the national level. By equating dissent with treason, the Republican Party has twisted the issue of Patriotism into a wedge issue that divides us by our beliefs instead of uniting us through our common goals. And once again, the leader of the "uniter, not divider" party has failed to seek higher truth. At least Bush follows the precedent he has set in many other situations by continuing his record of avoiding the moral good, which he raucously declares to value, and simply pretends he has nothing to do with it. Ha.
The preposterousness doesn't stop there, either. For a moment, let's recall the 2002 elections. Specifically, the Senate race in Georgia. Max Cleland, a Democrat who served in Vietnam and lost both legs and his right arm in a grenade detonation, lost the election to Saxby Chambliss, a Republican. Chambliss had the audacity to claim that Cleland was unpatriotic becaused he didn't affirm the Iraq war resolution during his campaign. Unlike Cleland, Chambliss never served a day defending his country in the uniform of the armed forces.
Interestingly enough, more of the current Senate Democrats (15 of 49) have served in the military than their Republican counterparts (14 of 51). Hmm... more dissenting, traitorous Democrats have served in uniform than the patriotic Republicans! Anyone else see blatant hypocrisy here?
While this is difficult for conservatives, for a brief moment, let's open a dictionary. According to Webster's Unabriged Dictionary...
Patriotism: Love of country; devotion to the welfare of one's country; the virtues and actions of a patriot; the passion that inspires one to serve one's country.
Patriotism has nothing to do with supporting a particular politician. Patriotism isn't believing everything you're told, it isn't blindly supporting policy that is morally skewed, and it certaintly isn't something that belongs to the Republican Party. Look to the United States Flag- that banner of stars and stripes belongs to every single one of us. It's not a campaign symbol reserved for those who have an "R" behind their name on the ballot.
Rather, patriotism is the feeling one gets when staring at the crimson and azure flag waving in the holiday wind on the Fourth of July. It's watching the Olympics and being proud of your country no matter who wins in the end. It's giving back to others in your community and supporting those who don't always recieve the best opportunities.
It's serving your country in a variety of ways, regardless to your political beliefs. It's loving one's country more than oneself. It's the willingness to sacrifice words and reputations, time and sweat, blood and sometimes even limbs and life in the defense of freedom. And even more, it's taking advantage of those freedoms to speak your mind, to protest the unjust, to support what is truly right. It's having opinion about something. Patriotism has nothing to do with politics or political affiliation. Patriotism is about people.
But for whatever reason, the Republican Party doesn't want the American people to know that. I wonder why.