Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Dissent is patriotic

I had a phone call yesterday from a fellow liberal living in East Tennessee. I wished her a happy Independence Day, but her response surprised me. She wondered how I could muster any patriotic feeling given the current state of things. I replied that I feel more patriotic because of the current administration. I can be proud to be an American and ashamed of the president. It is not unamerican to criticize the government. The very basis of our beautiful democracy is that we have both the right and the responsibility to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions. We must not be discouraged. We must continue to fight for the real America. Ours is a country of limitless possibilities. We need to continually remind our fellow citizens of the ideals that make us great. We are a nation of immigrants. We are a nation of idealists. We are a diverse nation. The men who signed the Declaration of Independence later gave us a Constitution, a great foundation on which to build. We must always remember the basic tenets on which our democracy is founded, while continually moving forward. Liberal and Progressive are both beautiful words.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree. Just make sure you recall this stance when we have a Dem pres/congress. :o)

Of course, I'm a conservative and I feel a lot of dissent these days, too (seeing how our con leaders are quite un-conlike).

liberalandproud said...

Make no mistake: dissent is always patriotic, regardless of the party in power.

The con leaders are un-conlike because they're "neo-con." Didn't you get the big GOP memo ten years ago?

Unknown said...

I'm not a neo-con. I guess I could be called a paleo-con. Or maybe indy-con or populisticon would be more accurate.

10 years ago, I was a Perot guy. Couldn't stand Bill and Dole was just an angry old man.

liberalandproud said...

I'll never forget the '92 election, in part because it was my first as a registered voter. Here's my Perot story:
I spent the Fall of '92 in college in England. There was an interesting mix of students at our little satellite campus in Grantham, including several Perot supporters. On Election Day, we gathered in the TV lounge and stayed up late to watch the BBC's coverage of the U.S. elections. They had a big map which lit up in either red, blue or a yellowy white to indicate which candidate had won each state. Things were going along smoothly, with states turning either blue or red, when a bizarre and frightening thing started happening. States were turning white/yellow, which represented a win for Perot. We were all shocked, the Perot supporters most of all. In fact, they were the ones who looked most relieved when the BBC realized their mistake.

And that's my Perot story.