[LibertyBelt]

What's folks think about this???? If Reagan could remember, would he cry?

[Beenliedto]

I think he's right on the mark. What is happening to our ideals and our heritage is beyond belief. The two parties are wings of the same bird of prey. The great constitutional experiment is long since over.

[Ohioan]

What I think about the article is that the writer is allowing the grasping politicians, inside the Beltway, who have let themselves be intimidated by every grasping special interest group outside the Beltway, define "Patriotism."

The problem of definition is partly in in his own head. Patriotism means what it always meant. Usurpation also means what it has always meant. Washington has become a town full of usurpers. They are not patriots. They are not problem solvers. To paraprase Reagan, Government is not the solution, it is usually the problem.

The writer sees that problem correctly. His mistake is to allow the enemy to define his or anybody else's terms.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[ex-snook]

The Orwellians have captured Patriotism and also Conservatism and twisted it to mean fighting foreign wars. This is New World Order Patriotism not American Patriotism.

We are being sucked into fighting endless wars for religious, economic, political, etc issues that have been going on for thousands of years. Our troops still haven't come home from WW II and the Korean wars.

We should not fall into the same pit as the British Empire - where the sun now sets. We better get our 'Patriotism' under control before we head for the same sunset. We should not be the world's police dog coming when called.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

I understand your frustration. I do, however, have a different take on history compared to today.

Even Reagan didn't look the ABA in the eye and say he will disregard it's opinion of what judges to select. That is the big battle. Nor did Reagan have the courage or mandate to reduce domestic spending. While he was able to double government revenue with his Capitol Gains cut, he had a... what was it again? Oh yes. A war to fight. So the rats held the defense budget hostage for domestic increases that MORE than doubled.

Now Bush has a war to fight, a predecessor who had falsified economic records by 30%, an esteemed economic icon [Greenspan] who is letting a hint of interest rate hikes continue to haunt investors, a radioactive ship mystery just the other day, along with a mysterious alleged bomb prank, a war in Afghanistan, a UN that booted us from the Human Rights Coalition and replaced us with Sudan, the most partizan senate in US history since the Civil War, and yet....

And yet he still got his meager tax cut, still defies the ABA, still is waging a masterful war, still is keeping US sovereignty, and still is giving the DNC hell in the polls.

[mountaineer]

Does Patriotism Mean Love of Big Govt?

This is a massive generalization. This also is why I hate the stereotype of "Bushbots."

The answer is "no". This patriot still hates the idea of a big, intrusive government, while supporting Bush's efforts to defeat the forces of terrorism. Some of us feel just fine supporting the president on less than 100 percent of the issues. It's not all or nothing.

[KDD]

Does Patriotism Mean Love of Big Govt?

...But neither do politicians tell huge, entertaining whoppers:
"Why, send yours truly to Capitol Hill, and I'll ship the swag home in boxcar lots. You'll be paving the roads with bacon around here when I get done shoveling out the pork barrel. There'll be government jobs for your dog. Leave your garden hose running for fifteen minutes, and I'll have the Department of Transportation build an eight-lane suspension bridge across the puddle. Show me a wet basement, and I'll get you a naval base and make your Roto-Rooter man an admiral of the fleet. There'll be farm subsidies for every geranium you've got in a pot, defense contracts for Junior's spitballs and free day care for Sister's dolls. You'll get unemployment for the sixteen hours every day when you're not at your job, full disability benefits if you have to get up in the night to take a leak, and Social Security checks will come in the mail not just when you retire at sixty-five but when you retire each night to bed. Taxes? Hell, I'll have the government go around every week putting money BACK into your paycheck, and I'll make the IRS hire chimpanzees from the zoo to audit your tax returns. Vote for me, folks..." -P.J. O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores

[gcruse]

Loving your country while hating the government is perfectly rational.

[justsomedude]

Go, man GO!

[Consort]

Big, small, or any size — we have to control as much of it as possible or the Socialists/Liberals/Democrats will. Same thing with public schools and everything else.

[DAnconia55]

Of course it does. Just take a poll here.

[VaBthang4]

[Copernicus]

You might find this relevant and interesting:

"I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size.

I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom.

My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them.

It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden.

I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible.

And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' interests, I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can."

- Former Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), "The Conscience of a Conservative"

[Uncle Bill]

Bttt