There's been a lot of talk during this election about patriotism and anti-Americanism.
Republican incumbent Michele Bachmann recently alleged on MSNBC that Obama might hold "anti-American" views and suggested a media investigation into "the views of the people in Congress and find out: are they pro-America or anti-America?" The undertone of her tirade was that liberals are anti-American because they tend to be more critical of the state of this country and how it is run.
Is it anti-American to criticize the government?
Is it anti-American to point out mistakes or shortcomings of our country?
Is it anti-American to suggest ways to do things better, or correct mistakes?
Let's face it, in the 1950's, America was on top of the world. At that time in history, we had the best economy, the best standard of living, the best manufacturing, technology, infrastructure and so on.
But this is not 1950 anymore. We don't produce anything anymore. We rank #38 in the world on healthcare. We're #69 for our economic environment. Freedom of the press, 44. Literacy, 55th. We're not #1 in anything anymore, expect perhaps building and populating prisons.
If I compain about how my country is behaving, and I try to fix it, I'm not being anti-American. I'm trying to fix the country I love.
Couldn't agree more. One of the things that bothers me about both political parties (but the GOP irks me more) is their constant hypocrisy.
When Clinton was president, they treated him (and the office) like crap. But as soon as GWB got elected, it became treasonous to speak out against the president.
Both parties chide the other over any law they want to change ... but want to change (different) laws themselves.
All this rhetoric, frankly, disgusts me. And I think it turns more people OFF than on.
The ability to criticise our government, our leaders, and our policies; and the right to openly protest against such is one of the basic ideas that MAKES us American. To say that open criticism is un-american, is to show a total lack of knowledge of the Bill of Rights.
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In 1980, Ronald Reagan asked "Are you better off now than you were four years ago"? Well, are you?