What is Patriotism?

This article is a result of my having hijacked a couple of well-meaning facebook statuses urging people to "support the troops" and politicized them. I stand by my opinion, but was out of line expressing that opinion where I did. I apologized to the two who were affected by my ill-considered words.

The second thing that I need to make clear before I proceed with my rant is that my firstborn son is currently serving as a Naval Petty Officer at Guantanamo. My youngest son told me the other day that he intends to join the Naval Reserves. I love both of these young men and am extremely proud of the decision they each have made to serve our country. The pride and respect that I have for them extends to all of our service men and women; they do a tough job.

During the administration of President George W. Bush, many on the Republican side of Congress, as well as many conservative talk show hosts put forth the proposition that any criticism of the administration's policies in Iraq and Afghanistan was unpatriotic and even worse, undermined our troops and put them in further harm, somehow enboldening our enemies. They claimed that one could not support then troops without supporting "the mission", i.e. the President and his administration. With this position, I strenuously disagree.

For one, I do not accept the premise that lack of unanimity at home makes our enemies better able to kill our soldiers, or more likely to attack. The enemy that we are currently "officially" dealing with fanatically hates our country, our culture, the dominant religion (for that matter, all religions other than Islam) and needs no further excuse to execute acts of terror to further their aims. Another premise that is put forth is that dissent at home demoralizes our fighting men & women, damaging morale. I have two answers to that. One is that these troops are from here. Surely they encountered opposition to the war before they ever left and understand that dissent is an important part of a healthy and free society. Second, even if our soldiers don't agree that dissent is healthy, surely they would view opposition as a misguided minority that doesn't understand what war is all about and whose opinion is unimportant. I have yet to hear about any service men or women who were demoralized over any opinions expressed in the civilian sector.

Lack of evidence of any harm to the troops done by dissent leads me to conclude that it's merely a ploy to strengthen the position of the party in power. Which causes me to wonder if the right wing is still a staunch supporter of the war now that a Democrat is Commander-in-Chief. These folks who painted any questioning of adminsistration motives as un-American and treasonous, do they now stand 100% behind the current President?

Dissent and the right to free speech is part of what our military protects. Both are a key part of what makes this country great and no dilution of those rights should be tolerated.

Initially I was a supporter of the invasion of Afghanistan, mainly because the former Taliban government gave aid, comfort and sancuary to Al-Quaeda. Mainly by using Special Forces and small elite units, we toppled that government. But what are we doing there now? propping up a corrupt President? What about Iraq. No connection to Al-Quaeda was demonstrated, no trace of weapons of mass destruction or indication that they would be used against us...yet still we invaded. We stayed with no clear plan and succeeded in seeding terrorists where none previously existed. Lies were told and intelligence faked to justify our invasion and I can't oppose this? And the current administration is shaping up to be not much better than the last.

Patriotism, loving and supporting one's country, is not blind jingism or mindless flag waving. It is a conviction to retain what makes it great and purge that which weakens it.