". . . he [George W. Bush] infuriated the left to such an extent that they became more reflexively anti-american than at any time since the Viet Nam war."

It seems difficult for those of the Right-Wing bent to get their heads around the concept that if a liberal objects to the course that a particular administration has set the country on, that this means that they are "anti-American." Or that, in such a case, they are "reflexively anti-American."

I cite the quotation that is often seen on bumper-stickers attached to the backs of cars owned by Right-Wing Super-Patriots, "My country, right or wrong!"

Let us put that in proper context:

Interesting phrase. Synonymous with gung-ho, chauvinistic nationalism. The Quotations section of Microsoft's Bookshelf gives the background of the phrase and a hint of the debate it has aroused:

"Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong." Naval commander Stephen Decatur originated the phrase in a toast given at an April 1816 banquet in Norfolk, Virginia, to celebrate his victory over the Barbary pirates. (The action in Algeria also gave the U.S. Marine Corps anthem its "to the shores of Tripoli" phrase, saluting their first renowned military action.)

Fifty-five years later, Carl Schurz, German-born U.S. general and U.S. senator, clarified the concept, "Our country right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right." British author, G. K. Chesterton would probably have agreed with Schurz, since he wrote in 1901, "'My country, right or wrong' is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying 'My mother, drunk or sober.'"

The liberal—or any other citizen, for that matter—who objects to the illegal and immoral actions of a particular administration displays genuine patriotism. A far cry from the thoughtless flag-waving passivity of the Right-Winger who, in those circumstances, attacks liberals as being "anti-American."

Don Firth