Why do liberals hate patriotism?

Question

To me patriotism means loving your country, feeling pride in where you are from, and at least respecting the president and other elected officials. you don't have to be patriotic, but don't talk down to me because I am a patriot.

Answer 1

Patriotism requires commitment to something greater than ones self...liberals are able to commit to one thing and one thing alone...self.

Answer 2

That depends on your definition of patriotism. I refuse to follow blindly after George Bush like the Neocons do because he is dead wrong in what he is doing. All he is doing is getting more and more people killed. Most of the GOP at this point is not behind him. Logic like yours would have made Thomas Jefferson unpatriotic. There is more to being a patriot than flag waving and empty rhetoric. Sometimes being a patriot means that you stand up and acknowledge the things that are wrong. You don't want a democracy, you want a totalitarian regieme. You want a country where nobody can speak out against an incompetent president. You better read up on democracy before you trek off after George to spread it around. Anybody that calls the constitution a God dmmmed piece of paper does not have regard for the rights of others. Those rights were given us by the founding fathers and many have died to preserve them. I am a liberal and I love my country. I have the feeling however that if George ate boiled babies for breakfast you would rationalize it and try to justify it.

Answer 3

For many people, the sentiment seems too obvious to require saying out loud. Saying you love your country to other people in the same country is like saying "I like water" or "I like air."

If someone said that, you would rightly wonder why they felt the need to do that.

Someone wrote a great essay about how liberals and conservatives carry their values differently even when the values are the same. They said liberals are endoskeletons. Once we figure out what we believe or think is right, we internalize it, and don't necessarily bring it up again unless there's some doubt about it.

Conservatives are exoskeletons in that they need constant external reminders of their values because they are afraid they will forget or their zeal for the value will fade, which is why they need an American flag on their car to remind them they love their country, or God's name on money to re-assure them there is a god when they are getting change at 7-11.

That is also why conservatives have the idea that exposure to something or understanding other people's point of view will automatically make you agree with it--it's a new exoskeleton crowding out the constant reassurance of the old one.

http://www.nonesoblind.org/blog/?p=147

Answer 4

It's all a shell game.There's only a few true patriots left in government.And true patriotism means standing up for the Constitution,not elected officials that are traitors.Both parties have sold us down the river long ago.Even Woodrow Wilson lamented the fact that he betrayed the American people...after the fact of course.

Answer 5

Patriotism is loving your country and respecting it enough to want it to be the best country it can - not accepting its many faults and challenging those who want to correct them.
Tell me where was this respect for the president the Republicans love to talk about when a serial divorcee and adulterer had the nerve to question the President about his private life?

Answer 6

Liberals or Libertarians are not going let Patriotism or Nationalism or any other ism to allow people to take away freedoms of the Bill of Rights. If Patriotism means following a leader unconitionally than you can count me out. I think this a great country to allow people call the Boss names and not get your head chopped off. That's a country worth fighting for.

Answer 7

I love my country, would like to be proud of where I am from, respect the office if not the officeholder, fly the flag on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, etc., and defend the constitution in its entirety and I resent being talked down to because my version of patriotism doesn't agree with yours.

Answer 8

Depends on what your definition of 'Patriotism' is.

If you're talking about going to see Leann Rimes (Wooo freakin' hoooo Party Down!!!) at Sean Hannity's stupid little concert, or watching 'War Stories' with Ollie North, or throwing a $2. bumper sticker on your car, then I hate patriotism.

If you're talking about never questioning the government or the commander in chief, hating everyone that isn't just like you and picketing the funerals of our dead soldiers, then I hate patriotism.

My brand of patriotism is loving this country, questioning the government and being vehemently disgraced with this corrupt Administration, wanting our troops to come home and stop fighting in this illegal, worthless war and sending cookies and letters to the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You go ahead and pop on your bumper sticker, blow off an M-80 and rock out with Leann (wooo freakin' hooooo) and watch Ollie North on Fox in your single-wide with your chillin and chips and popcorn.

Answer 9

i'm patriotic, and that i like patriotism, and that i think of love of us of a (although us of a you're an element of) and this is human beings must be a required component to public coaching. yet i do no longer consider blind devotion to one's government, elected or appointed leaders, the police, the judges or, ones mothers and fathers or the protection tension. that doesn't be patriotism, it somewhat is purely being a servant.

Answer 10

Yawn...patriotism doesn't mean waving a small 'made in China' flag or slapping a yellow 'made in China' yellow ribbon on your car. What is your definition on Patriotism?