I started to think a great deal on what makes a person a patriot. After thinking about it for quite some time, I have come to the conclusion that a patriot is a person who is:
1. Always working to better their country. Whether it is by trying to elect better officials to fix problems, or just cleaning up trash off the road, a patriot tries to make this great country even better.
2. Devoted to America in times of war. They would never dream of skirting a draft or defecting when their country needs them to fight.
3. Cheerful even when America needs some fixing. They neither complain, nor huff off to another country. They then work to fix those problems.
4. Supportive and obedient to president and our leaders in the good and in the bad. Unless a leader goes against God, a patriot always follows them.
There are several things that a patriot is not, including:
1. Believing that our country is the all-powerful, righteous body, and that we can do no wrong. Some who fails to see where America has made a mistake is not a patriot but is just plain blind. We can never fix this country if we are not willing to acknowledge that it has some faults.
2. Using your right of free speech to slander a leader simply because you do not agree with him. Such as we saw with the war in Iraq, people claimed to be patriotic, but said terrible things against the president just because they disagreed with what he said. Surely you may speak that you disagree with a leader, but never insult and attack their intelligence (as if Julia Roberts knows more than Dr. Condoleezza Rice anyway!)
The ultimate, modern-day patriot is anyone who dies defending our country in a time of war. Also, I think that Bob Hope was a great patriot in the way that he put the needs of our fighting men ahead of his own, and entertained them for so many years. He did a great deal to boost the morale of the nation during WWII.