Little Hawk strikes again. I like your stuff!

On the matter of "US aginers" and patriotism and who's un-American and who isn't, it's been quoted a number of times on various threads, but it seems that it needs to be repeated and repeated until it finally sinks in—and some people need to tattoo it backwards on their foreheads so that every time they look in a mirror, they can read it again. The well-known part of the statement is "My country, right or wrong." And that's what you usually hear it, or see on bumper-stickers.   But the full statement is, "My country, right or wrong; if right, to keep it right; if wrong, to set it right."

[Now, every time it's been quoted on Mudcat, the next dozen posts argue over who said it, apparently missing the point of the statement itself. It's been attributed to several people and it doesn't really matter, so for crap sake, let's not have a long discussion of where it came from. Just read it and think about what it says.]

People who don't want the government to turn the United States into the World Bully, or who don't like the direction the country is going and try to do their duty as citizens to "set it right" are, to my mind, a helluva lot more patriotic than those who sit back and accept anything and everything the government tells them. It was assumed by the Founding Fathers that this country would have an "informed electorate" and that governments in general are not to be trusted. That's explicitly set forth in the Declaration of Independence, and the limits that the Constitution places on what the government can and cannot do further reflects the concept. Those who unquestioningly accept the word of government—any government—should not be surprised when they suddenly find themselves living in a dictatorship.

Question authority!

Don Firth