|
|
|
|
The Reactionary
Utopian
|
||
|
The Patriot’s Creed
 In
America, a patriot is a guy who complains about all the things that
are wrong with this country and then accuses other Americans of not loving
it. Judging by their intellectual subtlety, some of our patriots could have
studied civics under
 Huck
Finn’s Pap. “Call
this a govment! Why, just look at it and see what it’s like.”
Today Pap would probably be a talk-radio host. A popular one, too. Nowadays
no talent like his goes unrewarded.
The other day Rush Limbaugh
raised the thoughtful question whether people who oppose the Iraq war are
really patriotic. Just asking, of course. Not accusing anyone of anything.
Hinting, maybe.
Oddly enough, Bill Clinton (whom
Rush isn’t too fond of, and vice versa) once said something in the
same vein: “There's nothing patriotic about hating your government or
pretending you can hate your government but love your country.”
That’s the patriot’s creed in one pithy sentence. Saddam
Hussein couldn’t have said it better. How can you hate torture
chambers and try to pass yourself off as a patriot? I’ll never
understand people like that.
Rush had a point, though, when he
asked how people can say they “oppose the war” but
“support our troops.” After all, the war is what our troops are
doing. And they are volunteers, not draftees. You might as well say you have
nothing against soldiers, as long as they don’t hurt anyone. What do
you think soldiers are paid to do? Hand out chewing gum?
It reminds me of an illuminating
moment in a television documentary about neo-Nazis many years ago. The
interviewer asked a young man why he would belong to such a group. Slightly
abashed, he replied, “Well, Nazism is the answer for me. It may not be
the answer for everyone.” Only in a pluralistic country could such a
concept arise: tolerant, all-volunteer Nazism. Often the best kind.
Somewhere, Hitler and Goebbels must be kicking themselves for not thinking
of it.
Live and let live, I always say.
Don’t bother the other fellow if he wants to goose-step to a different
drummer; that’s his business. What a dull world it would be if we all
had to goose-step at the same pace! It would be especially hard on those of
us who use canes and walkers.
A truly equal-opportunity,
nondiscriminatory Nazism might be an improvement on some types of
American patriotism. Rush and Sean Hannity, brothers under the thin skin,
habitually speak of opponents of the war as “liberals” and
“the Left,” unless something has changed since I last snapped
off my radio. But they ignore those of us who can oppose the war without
hankering to send an alleged lesbian to the White House in 2008.
![[Breaker quote for The Patriot's Creed: How about pluralistic Nazism?]](2005breakers/050825.gif) I
think I speak for millions when I say I wouldn’t
mind seeing a white male in the White House — maybe even a dead
white male next time, considering how poorly the live ones usually perform.
What we usually get are deadly white males.
The point is to end the war, which
was a bad idea in the first place and has failed on its own terms, which you
can believe no matter what else you think about the government. I know
liberals and leftists who believe that, but I also know conservatives,
moderate Republicans, libertarians, anarchists, and others who believe it too.
And no, I won’t insult your
common sense by saying I “support our troops.” I rather
strongly disapprove of what they’re doing in Iraq. When you join the
armed forces, you agree to fight wherever you are told, no matter where, no
matter why. And President Bush isn’t too good at explaining why.
Cindy Sheehan is right about that; but her son, it pains me to point out, did
agree to serve. Did she try to dissuade him?
Most of us love our country. We
can hardly help it. It’s only natural to feel affection for your
homeland. But that doesn’t translate into unconditional love for
whoever happens to be in charge of it at any given moment, whether
it’s a Clinton or a Bush.
I like Americans. Some of my best
friends are Americans. I know that’s what anti-Americans always say,
but in my case it happens to be true. In fact, nearly all my best friends are
Americans. Maybe a few are illegal aliens, but they’re the minority.
Joseph Sobran |
||
| Copyright © 2005 by the
Griffin Internet Syndicate, a division of Griffin Communications This column may not be reprinted in print or Internet publications without express permission of Griffin Internet Syndicate 
|
||
|
||
|
Archive Table of Contents
Current Column Return to the SOBRAN’S home page. |
||
|
|
| FGF E-Package columns by Joe Sobran, Sam Francis, Paul Gottfried, and others are available in a special e-mail subscription provided by the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation. Click here for more information. |