We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
--Last words of the Declaration of Independence
We must all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.
--Benjamin Franklin at the Signing of the Declaration
They're all saps, fighting for strangers.
--Sonny Corelone, speaking of those who rushed to enlist after Pearl Harbor
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
--Samuel Johnson
He won't even wear a flag on his lapel!
--Remark by a neighbor in Hampton, NH about Barack Obama, after asserting he was born in Kenya and not a real American.
"Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, D-Ill., said he will no longer wear an American flag lapel pin because it has become a substitute for “true patriotism” since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 'My attitude is that I’m less concerned about what you’re wearing on your lapel than what’s in your heart," he told the campaign crowd Thursday.' You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who serve. You show your patriotism by being true to our values and ideals. That’s what we have to lead with is our values and our ideals.”
Donald Trump spent a day transforming the White House grounds into what looked like a suburban automobile dealership with a Memorial Day sale. Two huge flags, bigger and better than any flags in the world, on two gargantuan flag poles, the best flag poles ever in the history of the world.
But, of course, the flags and poles are equaled by many automobile dealerships and exceeded by NFL stadium displays.
And looking at the workers who erected these poles, he asked idly if any were illegal immigrants, because some of them looked, you know, a little brown, and maybe from "shithole countries."
So, like the rest of his Presidency, this is just another mindless, cheap stunt which he thinks clever.
School boys spend hours writing essays on the meaning of the word "patriotism," so Mad Dog will not bore you with his version on what patriotism is.
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| Actual Patriot |
But he will offer that one thing patriotism cannot be, is cheap. A sine qua non of patriotism is that it cannot be purchased for $2 at a 7/11 store and pinned to your lapel. Anything that is risk free, that costs little and risks nothing (like wearing a lapel pin or running a flag up a pole) is not patriotism.
It is not empty phrases like "leftist elites" or "fake news" or "America first." Whatever it is, it requires actual, critical thinking.
In fact, as Barack Obama once suggested, before he relented and started wearing the pin again, wearing something like a pin is so easy it defiles the very idea of patriotism, which, whatever it is, by definition, cannot be easy.
Like paying your income taxes.
Like getting shot at by an opposing army.
Like actually thinking about what is good for your country.
When those guys who signed the Declaration of Independence pledged loyalty to one another, they knew they could hang for it.
When has Donald Trump, or Stephen Miller or Kristi Noem or that Dr. Strangelove called RFK JR ever done anything like that?
One immutable and steadfast aspect of Patriotism means defending the border against foreign invaders. That is a national commonsense rule that has been in place for centuries. Only leftist elitists who want to undermine the nation would think otherwise.
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