Is America less patriotic than in the past?

by Glenn Littrell (GlennDL)

This question keeps recurring and seems to be appear more and more recently. Most of it seems to be in light of what some people perceive as an unpatriotic action by others, even though others see the process in question as a patriotic duty. Too often some raise the question when they witness criticism of their political idols.

The question seems to be offered up is a rhetorical statement that implies we are not as patriotic as we used to be.

Whether or not this rhetorical question is the result of seeing protest on TV or listening to constant criticisms of the country or the president I don't know, but that is my guess.

So let me try to answer the question with a rebuke that no, as a country we are more patriotic now than in the past.

For example:

Patriotism today and in the past:

• Today, as a Veteran I get thanked for my service, but didn't get thanked back then.
• Today it is not unusual for police officers, soldiers, and firefighters to be applauded when they walk through airport terminals. In the past they were openly and often called pigs or spit upon.
• Today we have an army that does not contain one drafted soldier. We have a volunteer army of young men from past and most recent generations who became soldiers not because they were forced to against their will. We have a true citizen army.
• I would venture to speculate that during Afghanistan and both Iraq wars desertions were at an all time low.
• Today we have peaceful protest concerning social injustices. Yes occasionally some protest cross the line but these are in the vast minority of all protest today. In the past most demonstration were confrontational and regularly turned violent.
• Today the families of Fallen Soldiers are routinely looked after and provided for by multitude of efforts. In the past such programs were largely symbolic.
• Today we have programs and charities such as the Wounded Warriors Project to raise awareness towards our wounded veterans. In the past these programs barely existed. Those that did exist and survived to the present have grown in scope and services.
• In the past when disagreements over are foreign involvements, resentment and blame was directed at the dutiful soldiers. An entire generation of soldiers were spit on, called pigs, drug addicts and losers, even by fellow veterans that went before them. Today such disagreements and protest are respectful of the veterans and seek only to blame those that send them into harm's way.

So no, in spite of the fact that you may not approve of Civil Disobedience and peaceful protest or even if you believe these are unpatriotic acts they in no way reach numbers or exceed the protests and riots of the sixties, let alone any previous time in the past.

If you feel this is not true you need to pick up a history book. You need to understand the Constitution that grants us those rights. You need to read the oath that in enlistee takes to protect the Constitution, not just his interpretation of the Constitution, or not just the rights of his friends, but to defend everybody's rights. Those rights include the right to assemble, the right to dissent, the right to protest, the right to criticize. The right to your political View.

Just like the right to vote is not just a right but also a duty and an obligation, so too is the right to dissent and criticize a duty when we feel a moral obligation to do it.

Protests have always been a part of American life. Historically and as written in the Constitution. Criticism of the country is in not in itself unpatriotic. We have to apply critical thinking in raising our children and pointing out to them when they do wrong so they will be able to rectify the wrong and not repeat their mistakes. It doesn't mean we don't love them. So too can we love our country and legitimately criticize it at the same time. It is without a doubt possible to love your country and be critical of it. It is possible that this criticism comes from a desire to move the country forward and to a better place.

As far as criticism of the president, the entire election process nominations, debates, and campaigning themselves are an engagement of critique and criticism. Additionally complaints about who criticized the president tend to come from those who support the person who was elected to the presidency. Happens all the time, then and now. The process of holding their feet to the fire is one that we need and is in itself a national tradition.

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• Armed Services Blood Program
• Compensation
• Education & Training
• Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve
• Indiana Military Support Corporation
• National Cemetery Administration
• The American Legion Online
• U.S. Department of V.A.
• Union Veterans
• VA Forms
• https://snafu-indy462.blogspot.com/

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In the past when man’s curiosity was peaked he sought out more information, but today…

We seem to live in a society where in spite of an ever increasing abundance of resources to obtain accurate information on virtually any subject we are overwhelmed by a cacophony of inaccurate and dishonest dissemination of falsehoods and misinformation.

…unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me…

by Glenn Littrell
re-posted from 2015
(UPDATE: Fact Check Video added)

About 2000 years ago a young, middle eastern mother to be, along with her husband (who was not the father of her child) sought refuge from the elements in a small town. The only available shelter was a manger, where her baby was born.

Later, the mother, her baby, and her husband, fled oppression and death, seeking compassion, justice and refuge in another country where they lived for many years.

When the family returned to their homeland many years later the baby, now a young man, preached forgiveness, compassion, and said: “…Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

As we struggle with the desire to call ourselves a ‘Christian Nation’ we continually avoid behavior that would demonstrate a Christian spirit. Where other countries are being flooded with millions of refugees we are excoriating our principles and beliefs in the face of tyranny and oppression, fighting over not whether to offer 10,000 refugees safe haven, but over whether to allow safe haven for any of the 4 million refugees. Families, men, women, or children.

While choosing to ignore actions that would be considered of a Christian nature, we are also ignoring and advocating actions that totally ignore our own constitution and its processes.

Governors are threatening to close state borders, demanding tracking, restrictions, and identification of Syrian/Muslim refugees. Politicians are demanding the same, additionally calling for a new ‘Iron Curtain’ on our southern border and a new ‘Berlin Wall’ between us and free Europe. Ignoring our constitution and Judeo/Christian ethics in the name of fear mongering to obtain better poll numbers and eventual political victories.

Where we once claimed to be a great country because of the opportunity we offered, the morals we aspired to, and the equality we preached, we now demonstrate the darker nature of our past. A past that we deny. A past of greatness that also included atrocities that we seek to hide and to minimalize.

A part of that past that we are repeating now is easy to discover and identify, a past that is directly related to events that have stained our international image and produced hostilities that still haunt us. People of other country’s don’t hate us because they envy us. Jealousy does not inspire people to become suicide bombers, nor is violent attacks a normal response to envy. Envy might lead people to want to take what we have, but these jihadist are not after what we’ve got… they want to destroy what we have. Their hatred is born out of fear, vengeance and real or perceived wrongs committed in the past.

This is not to say they are justified, but it is to say there is a history to their fear and hatred. It is not something that just appeared. We can not right all past wrongs, we cannot dispel all misconceptions, and we are probably beyond sitting down with terrorist for a mutually beneficial discussion until one-side has been beaten the other into submission.

With our enemies we are forced into a military option. Unfortunately our allies, especially our Muslim allies, in the region prefer that our soldiers lead the charge to protect them. Saudi Arabia, a country with a quarter-of-a-million man standing Army, has not taken a military lead in the region or taken in one Syrian refugee.

Whatever the military option becomes without the participation of the Gulf States we will just be digging into another quagmire… like was pointed out by the naysayers in 2003.

But even with a successful Military solution we will continue to be the target of scorn from marginalized middle eastern Muslims and their sympathizers. Even if a military solution beats down all jihadist and we pull completely out of the region, avoiding the ‘quagmire’, we will forever be linked to the atrocities of this war and past transgressions. Unless we seek and obtain a political solution, whatever that may be, we will continue to be the target of militant jihadist for generations… just like now and in the past.

Whatever the military solution, and the political solution, the key to any success short or long term, is winning the hearts and minds of moderate Muslims, especially young Muslims. But how are we ever going to do that if we can’t even do it with the Muslims in our country. We seem intent on doing everything we can to enrage, denigrate, alienate and discriminate against Muslims, all Muslims from all nations and ethnicities, here and abroad, immigrant and American born.

Even before the current anti-Syrian sentiments we continually made Muslims (even non-Muslims who by appearance we see as Muslims) the victims of discrimination, physical and religious attacks, and marginalization.

Our need for political hatefulness, designated enemies and scapegoats has turned us into a nation of ‘ugly Americans’. A designation that use to be used solely by other nations to describe our international behavior. More and more the ‘ugly American’ label being used to describe our internal behavior.

This is not our first bout with xenophobia, racism, religious intolerance, ethnic condemnation, and the accompanying oppressive hate and fear. There are many examples, but one particularly relevant to this current controversy is the story of the MS St. Louis. While today we claim a national love and affection for the Jewish state of Israel, in 1939 we were less than hospitable to a mere 908 Jewish refugees. The result was that many ended back in Germany during the Holocaust and the Germans had another example of international hatred for the Jews:

“The MS St. Louis was a German ocean liner most notable for a single voyage in 1939, in which her captain, Gustav Schröder (a German), tried to find homes for 908 Jewish refugees from Germany. After they were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada, they were finally accepted in various European countries, which were later engulfed in World War II. Historians have estimated that, after their return to Europe, approximately a quarter of the ship's passengers died in death camps.”              Wikipedia

Just like the Germans tried to use our apathy to justify their genocide, the Jihadist will use the frightened, anti-refugee behavior to influence discouraged moderate Muslims, both here and abroad, as a strong recruitment tool.

It seems that as time passes the phrases such as “…give me your tired…”,  “…that all Men are created equal…”, and “…So in everything, do unto others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets…” are less grand and meaningful than in the past. Lady Liberty now gives the ‘stiff-arm’ to the huddled masses of the world and our ‘so-called’ Christian ethics take a back seat to political expedience, fear and hate.

“Paris, 1948: A couple and their toddler arrive in Paris from Budapest. The toddler is me. My parents have survived the horrors of the Holocaust - the camps; the pitiless deaths of their parents, spouses, children, siblings; the loss of their property and livelihoods. The Communist Iron Curtain drops and my mother has again been imprisoned. After she is released, my family takes one suitcase and flees to France. Paris becomes our place for healing. My parents and I wait in France - for years - for the precious papers that allow us to emigrate to the U.S. The passenger manifest on the ship that brings us across the Atlantic lists our nationality as "Stateless." We are refugees.”

“…The Paris tragedy has become politicized [in America] - and I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed that the country that laid out a welcome mat for my family has elected officials who so readily want to slam the door shut on the victims of the worst humanitarian crisis since the Holocaust. Some even want to impose a religious test on resettlement, all in the name of "national security." What they're really doing, whether by intent or ignorance, is fanning the flames of xenophobia and Islamophobia. It reminds me of some of the most shameful episodes of U.S. history: the mass internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; and the refusal to allow the passengers of the St. Louis to disembark in an American port, sending them back to Europe - many to their deaths.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgette-bennett-phd/theyre-victims-not-terror_b_8602730.html?ir=Politics&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013&section=politics

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see also:

Paris attacks: 'I will not give you the gift of hating you'

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originally posted 11-20-2015
updated 11-21-2015