The U.S. Is Drowning in Pretend Patriotism

By Robert Scheer, Truthdig. Posted July 4, 2008.






This Fourth of July, let's remember that it's not our God-given American right to reorder the world to our liking.


As we head into the Fourth of July weekend of patriotic bluster and beer swilling -- but before we are too besotted with ourselves -- might we also for once consider our imperfections? Why not take a moment to heed the cautions of our founding father, George Washington, whose true legacy will most likely be ignored during the flag-waving weekend?

Washington's "Farewell Address" to the new nation was a warning about the threat of American imperial ambitions and a declaration of his high expectations for a republic of free men: "In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. ..."

We are drowning in the "impostures of pretended patriotism,"

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The Fourth of July is the anniversary of the publication of the greatest revolutionary text in government.

It is the moral fiber from which the governance of the United States draws its very sustenance and reason for being.

It is the wellspring and fountainhead of our political organization as people.


It is the Ultimate Voice of the Ultimate Enemy of many who claim the right to our governance.

The origination of Independence Day is what this holiday represents to me. Not this wrapping up in the flag on behalf of this Bush regime. Not many would recognize this day as to what my first sentence reflected if you were to ask them. Most would say "We're celebrating our freedoms" but in the sense of what Bush has brought in propaganda to not only the US but the Middle East.

Pretend cowboys and pretend patriotism.

yep!

Click to view attachment

Well at least John Wayne knew how to ride a horse and wasn't afraid of them, unlike shrub. This is the day that has been hijacked, and taken hostage by the most UNPATRIOTIC ASSHOLE IN THIS COUNTRY!!! Timothy McVeigh was a veteran, and he wore the flag on his shoulder, too. What else did he do? Oh yeah, he murdered hundreds of people because of Waco. Patriotism is like religion, it is what it is to each of us, but it needs supercede religion, in order to continue to form a more perfect union.

We were a Republic of Laws, which now get in the way of leaders. When a leader cannot abide by the Constitution which he promised to uphold, he is a TRAITOR TO HIS COUNTRY, TO HIS OATH, TO HIS PEOPLE! All who rode this dragon to hell will be bound and punished if there is a right and just people left in this land.

RL-- that is the jist of my post, is it gist or jist? whatever, the reason we are so divided is because we have let them define the issues, define the meanings, definitions of what a true American is. As has been said, 9/11 was a gift to shrub, and his cronies. We are all responsible for this mess, I know that sucks, but it's the truth. How is it that the most cowardly admin. in our history, get's to define patriotism? shrub wore the uniform when it was convenient, but took it off when it wasn't, hence the fake landing on that aircraft carrier. The rich and powerful get that way by NOT being patriotic, they get there by breaking laws, and bending rules, and screwing the little guy. If George Washington was alive now, he would probably shoot all of them, not stopping until he massacred the MSM.

The real problem is racisim is back. The newest group of people being scapegoated by racsim are the mexicans. They like our forefathers defending the constitution, are immigrants, not war criminals. The truth is there are no real americans except the american indians and look what we did to them, forced off their lands every time they had someting of value we want. send us your poor is what america stands for,
where are the republicans who calll themselves patriots on that issue? misguided wimps to the core! "Mccants" for sure. Unfortunately the racism has reached a level that whole families are now using the underground railroads the blacks used to evade their slave masters! Imagine children hiding in the shadows just afaid to come out if a republican nazi knocks at the door! The only solution now is for them to be granted amnesty,
so that their children just as the black children learned that racisim in any form is wrong. Take a stand against racism, it will not solve it since history shows it changes its victims as time passes, but we can acknowledge and fight it if we dare to be true patriots. no Mccants. I'm in, where are the rest of you?

Racism never left. It's foundational to "America"



That, also, is not new.



True in many cases, but many Mexicans were here before this was "America".



Only problem is that nobody cares about the Black children from the 60s/70s who were all over the news, and also there is the problem with ahistorical comparisions. The old "we're just like you" integrationist strategy only went so far, mainly because people were media-savvy enough to put the problem on television for the whole world to see. Back then it was actual news. Today, it puts people to sleep.

I didn't know that only patriotic Christians were killed at the WTC??

If this is true, how do you account for the phenomenal number of White Americans, including me, an old White man, who enthusiastically support Obama and will vote for him to be our President?

What exactly is your definition of "racism?"

Your Fourth of July and My Fourth of July
by Juan Cole

Your Fourth of July is blood for oil.
My Fourth of July is the pure sunbeam of peace.

Yours is the imperial presidency and “so what?” to public opinion.
Mine is “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”

Yours is profiling and discrimination.
Mine is “all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”

Yours is “My country right or wrong.”
Mine is avoiding “Offences against the Law of Nations”

Yours is the veto of child health care and rejection of Kyoto,
Mine is an America that cares about the wellbeing of our children.

Yours is a monarchical presidency above the law.
Mine is, with Tom Paine, “in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other.”

Yours is aggressive invasions of countries that did not attack us first.
Mine is “and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.”

Yours is water-boarding and electrocution.
Mine is the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Yours is the stench of a million moldering corpses, military rule over 27 million, and the creation of oceans of misery.
Mine is “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Yours is off-shore drilling, coddling polluters, ‘heckuva job Brownie.’
Mine is a stewardship of America the beautiful for succeeding generations.

Yours is the privatization of war and the deployment of whole divisions of “contractors. . .”
Mine is an America where privates do not risk their lives for a tenth of what a mercenary is paid by the Pentagon.

Yours is the erection of protest zones as zoos for citizens.
Mine is, “or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Yours is the swagger of the flight jacket and the bombs raining down.
Mine is the schooling of the next global generation.

Mine is America, the pure sunbeam of peace.

Born for War?







Turton believes that "when citizens of a democracy believe that their present government is detrimental to their life and country, it is patriotic to affect change by dissent and democratic process."

So you're saying "racism" has ended because some white people are voting for a Black man?

How do you explain the numbers of nonblack americans, many from the Democratic party, who say straight out they will never vote for a Black man?

Racism has never gone away, sorry. Don't be trying to tokenize white Obama voters to claim it has.



Power and control wielded by one so-called "race" to give themselves benefits over all others because they think they are superior.

See also xenophobia, the ever-changing/never-static definition of "white americans", anti-miscegenation laws, the need for HBCUs, etc.

What I find most interesting about this comment is you have included the reason for McVeigh's action in your condemnation of him, which most Americans fail to do. The reason for said failure being they have been effectively indoctrinated by thought manipulation via mainstream media to associate the name, McVeigh, with the buzzword, terrorism, thus diverting subconscious attention from McVeigh's motivation.

While there is no question that what Timothy McVeigh did was deplorable, the gravity of his action when weighed against his background and his testimony calls for the most profound examination and analysis of the provocation for conceiving and carrying out such horrific mayhem. Yet no such inquiry has ever been publicly advanced. Instead, McVeigh's prosecution, conviction and execution took place in record time -- quite obviously to silence him forever.

Those who are inclined to dismiss McVeigh's action simply as "terrorism" or exotic psychopathology are urged to spend a few minutes trying to better understand the anatomy of his crime. The following are links to some brief but interesting reading.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,...,109478,00.html

http://www.outpost-of-freedom.com/mcveigh/okcaug98.htm

Comments and opinions are invited.

All buildings are made with perpendicular cross-beams; it's cost/stability is pretty good. Frankly I would have been surprised if there wasn't a cross to be found in the wreckage.

The question must be asked that if god cared so much to make us feel good with a cute cross; why not just let all 3,000 people killed avoid death altogether.

MikeK-- I get your point, and I brought it up because no one mentions McVeigh when talking about the terrists, as shrub would say. We have been attacked 3 times, once by our own, and twice by foreigners, so that's 1/3rd of the time. We prosecuted the first two, under Clinton I might add, and let the third one go, by shrub! So who was more effective? And which party is accused repeatedly of not being Patriotic? The Dems, who did more than shrub and his crew. Now I'm not going to dismiss Waco, I was living in Tejas then, and it was a giant screw up by wackos hell bent to get into it with the religous crazies, how soon we forget them and their ilk. Shrub embraced them, and somehow we felt sorry for all of them (Evangelicals) while forgetting that Koresh was a cult leader. Remember the latest FLDS brew ha ha, and it all makes sense, they got off, why? Shrub, I say. The biggest loser appealing to the biggest losers.

I totally agree! I have been an inspector for Los Angeles signing off the members being made for our hospitals, schools, buildings. I walk into these sweat shops and the prevalent language is Spanish. When a 40 year old welder does not speak English, it does not take a brain surgeon to know what is going on. Then Hillary pandered right next to my Mayor. There is no law, we have edicts passed onto us to by pass law. I hold no ill will to the immigrants, they are good people that are being allowed to by pass our laws. Because of this, when there are great numbers of them, they feel that they can by pass even more laws. The illegals don't break the laws, their children do because they are taught to ignore our laws. With jobs being very scarce and the pay is low, they resort to crime. I cannot use a single gas pump around here without some nasty thing scratched into it. They have no pride in country, they wish to deface it and ruin it for the community. Our elected officials are responsible for this, and now they plan on waiting for a major emergency to check papers, WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY THINKING OF! Obama addressed NALEO and told them exactly how to fix this. He did not pander to them, he told them the truth. That is way better than Hillary waving her toilet brush. They do alot more than pick fruit, they are welders, carpenters, drywalls, and they drive our wages down. They have attacked the non union wages along with the union wages of this country. The employers are the problem. This whole scenario is designed to take down the middle class worker.

Look at it this way, imagine 20 million illegals working, having a van show up and cashing their checks, 20 million working within the black market that pays no taxes, no benefits, no Nada, with the employer making bank. Who is the villain here?

So this is not a race issue, it is a community issue. It is about the respect of our laws, which at the highest levels is being shown no respect at all.

I think that many folks confuse patriotism with nationalism.

You are mixing apples and oranges. Our maker did not kill those people, people killed people. Because we in this linear existence do not understand the true meaning of life, and why this free for all was setup to play itself out, we make our maker out to be the bad guy for allowing this to happen.

The cross is an ugly symbol, its stands for the torture of an innocent man. There is nothing pretty about it. It is simply a reminder of who actually is the criminal in this existence.

It would be better to try to find out who actually committed this crime, or allowed it to happen, than to look for a maker that is callous in nature.

Take this with a grain of salt, my maker's were hippies, having a good ole time, and I am the result. I served and I am ashamed, am I still a patriot? He who is without sin shall cast the first stone, and shrub is the last in line.

Bush had a real nice radio address today. He can talk the talk but did he walk the talk ? History will be the Judge.

It is glaringly obvious that the number of Whites who refuse to vote for a Black purely on the basis of race is minuscule compared to what it would have been just two generations ago -- and phenomenally small compared to the situation during the Jim Crow era.


Racism, per se, will never go away. There always will be some percentage of Whites who dislike Blacks -- and Blacks who dislike Whites. But to toss the word "racism" around as if the conditions of discrimination, inequity and hostility are the same today as they were 100 years, or 50 years ago, is nothing less than waving the victim flag.

The condition of Blacks in America is far superior today to that of Blacks in any other part of the world. The standard of living of American Blacks has been rising steadily and significantly for the past thirty years and White America is presently preparing to elect a Black man as their President.

So how about providing us with some specific examples of this racism you are complaining about. Specifically how has it affected you?

whoa ! your off the mark. Here is an example of what nazis did to the jews: they made laws that discriminated against them working. then they made laws that isolated them from getting any assistance from neighboirs. then when they were relegated to the shadows he wiped them off the face of the earth , 6 million. you do the math , what did they do wrong?

Pretend patriots buy this kind of sh*t:

http://www.911twenty.com/

"20 Dollars"--- "Liberian Tender"
.999 Pure silver leaf
"The 1st time the numbers "nine" and "eleven" have been used on a "$20" "note" WTF?

Keeping in mind that the genocidal policy of the Third Reich included Homosexuals, Gypsies and communists, what arithmetic are you using to compare the Jews of Hitler Germany to Mexicans who are streaming across the U.S. border illegally and are negatively impacting the national economy?

What did any of those groups do wrong? The answer to that question depends on whom you ask.

Blind patriotism took Germany down the road to WWII.

I feel a picture is worth a thousand words.