I'm not sure what it means to my fellow members; only what it means to me. I used to think it was just because I served my country in the Marine Corps. Then I would think that no, that doesn't make me a "patriot" per se, just a military member. These back and forths inside my head would get to be pretty annoying and I would just file the question away in my brain housing group for recollection another day. The dictionary definition of Patriot is as follows:
Looking at that definition, I figured I definitely fit at least 2 of the criteria. I love my country. As a veteran I can say that I served my country and was willing to defend it if the need arose. But ever since I took up blogging, I've had a hard time saying that I "support" my country. Truth be told, I don't support my country. Now before any extreme right-wingers say "See, I told you them Libtards hate America!", let me clarify that statement: I do not support the actions of our government as it relates to the War in Iraq among other policies adopted by President Bush.pa·tri·ot n. One who loves, supports, and defends one's country.
I started my first blog, Unpopular Opinions, as a means to speak out against the War in Iraq and its effect on my older brother's service in the National Guard. If you go back to my site, The Bulldog Says... and check my archives, you'll see my very first post was my outrage about Road Rage's stop-loss. You see, he was a good and faithful servant of this country for 20 years and was waiting to retire when 9-11 came around and then our desert fiasco, Iraq. That had me fuming and so I began to write. Now the tagline that deuddersun placed up there says to "...defend the Constitution against ALL enemies, foreign and domestic". Notice that last word there, domestic. Well, that's what I started writing about and continue to do today. Domestic enemies as I see them. In my view, our current President and his Cabinet could very well be called domestic enemies. In my view, they have trampled the Constitution, shredded our civil rights, and invaded a sovereign country just because they wanted to.
So am I a patriot? After all is said and done, all my internal arguments for and against, I believe I am. I am doing my part, however small it is, to defend my country even now. I feel it is my obligation to speak out against actions taken by our government to subvert the will of the people and destroy the Constitution. This is an obligation I take very seriously. So ask yourself the same question: Are you a Patriot?
4 comments:
Well said, Bulldog. Very well thought out and stated. Semper Fi.
d.
By the way, Bulldog, you and Fixer and Buffalo now have Admin rights so feel free to add to the site, fellas. It's a "we" thing.
d.
Thanks, d. No promises I'll be a prolific poster, but I'll try. Obviously my priority will be to post on my site first.
Absolutely, Bulldog, and that's as it should be. The primary purpose of this site, as I see it, is to keep all members informed of issues pertaining to the API, such as membership and votes and such. Perhaps issues that we can act on together, such as Winter Soldier. Other than that, posting here is totally optional, although I like the introductory pieces you guys have contributed. For a while I considered asking you guys if this should be a private site, open only to members and we can still do that if enough of us think that is best.
We all have our own sites, each with it's own particular personality and that is where we will all still concentrate our efforts. I originally wanted a place to go where we could deal with API business without running around to each other's individual sites, posting off-topic comments that mean nothing to non-members. As Admins tho, we all have the right to post what ever we feel is appropriate. Remember what Mod said, we will not always agree on everything, but then, who does? It is enough that we agree on the important things, like restoring our nation to it's full potential for all it's citizens, not just the Rich and Powerful.
That was a great piece you wrote. You and Spadoman made me think about my own concerns and motivations and it's a good thing to stop every once in a while and re-examine what it is that makes us want to be real Patriots. Also, since we don't get around to each other's blogs all the time, we could cross post here and link back to our own blogs when we feel we have something especially important to say.
I guess, in short, it's up to us as individuals. I know that it will be a lot easier to post someone for membership here than it was before and for that, I am grateful, lol!
d.
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