by Helen Highwater, Unknown News
Dec. 20, 2001
For disagreeing with the Bush Administration's response to the attack on America, I've been reported to the authorities, threatened with violence, and called every vulgarity. Sweep away the colorful insults and bulging veins, and the bottom line to most of these criticisms is that I'm not a good patriot.
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If my husband noticed a lump in my breast I hope he'd say something, and if he had a big bump on his butt I'd certainly tell him.
Silence is not a sign of love; it's a sign of not giving a damn.
I will not be silent, not when there's a big bulbous bump on America's butt.
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"You don't even love America," one particularly proud patriot told me.
What exactly does that mean?
I do dearly love American culture, with its kitsch and sit-coms and double-bacon cheeseburgers. I'm fond of the American people, their gruff but generally good-natured ways, willingness to pitch in and help out, and all-around amiability. I'm crazy about American music, American movies, American baseball, and American food.
I love being able to say what I want, with only anger, threats and insults -- not prison -- as the price to pay.
But apparently, I don't love America the way we're all supposed to -- like we love our favorite football team. Do you have a Donald Rumsfeld action poster on the wall? Is there a flag with the team colors flying from your house and car? Where's your team-logo sweatshirt, your red-white-and-blue coffee mug?
Do you love America?
The idea of establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity -- that's what I love. Of course, anyone who'd ask the question almost certainly wouldn't recognize the source for that answer.
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When every government action that isn't announced in a press conference is classified as an official state secret, we should ask why the heck so much needs to be hidden.
When America sends her soldiers to kill and die for a cause which will only make America more hated by more crazed terrorists, it's OK to stand opposed.
When the American flag flies high over the slaughter of innocent people, it's perfectly proper to protest.
When America puts its cherished system of justice into mothballs, the quicker and easier to execute people via secret trials, a true patriot will say that's wrong.
When the nation's highest law enforcement officer says it's wrong to say that's wrong, I will flip him my middle finger.
And you should, too.
When America violates its Constitution, betrays its Bill of Rights, and publicly opposes its own principles, I will not sit quietly and watch.
I will speak against such things, as loudly as my lungs will allow.
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The philosophy that we're all created equal, endowed with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- that's what I love. Freedom ought to be more than just a cliché, or a brand of cigarettes. There is no higher call or more important cause.
Do you love America?, is the question.
I love the ideals America says she stands for, and I'd absolutely love to see American government give these ideals something more than lip service.
I don't, however, love every little thing our government does. I don't love every law on the books, every rule from every agency, or every knob on the door of every bureaucrat's office.
I don't love the Central Intelligence Agency, where "we the people" aren't allowed to know how many billions they're spending on 'intelligence,' only to be outsmarted by men with box-cutters. I'm not wild about the Drug Enforcement Agency, where their work is jailing peaceful Americans. No hugs here for the Bureau of Prisons, where man's inhumanity to man is encouraged and rewarded with raises and promotions.
I'm not sending a Christmas card to the DMV. Are you?
I wouldn't kiss my Congressman, or sleep with my Senator. No, generally speaking, I don't love the charlatans who've stolen America's government.
My love for America is not that cheap and easy. I'm not that kind of girl.
Do you love America?
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Of course I do. It's easy to love one's country. Anyone can do it, and almost everyone does.
It's not enough. More than merely loving my country, I want to be proud of it. I want to see America stand tall, and act in a decent, civilized manner. I'd like to see America do the right thing. My love for America is a 'tough love,' so I will not quietly acquiesce to anything less.
There's a time for being quiet, and a time for saying something. If my husband noticed a lump in my breast I hope he'd say something, and if he had a big bump on his butt I'd certainly tell him. Silence is not a sign of love; it's a sign of not giving a damn.
I will not be silent, not when there's a big bulbous bump on America's butt.
When every government action that isn't announced in a press conference is classified as an official state secret, we should ask why the heck so much needs to be hidden. When America sends her soldiers to kill and die for a cause which will only make America more hated by more crazed terrorists, it's OK to stand opposed. When the American flag flies high over the slaughter of innocent people, it's perfectly proper to protest. When America puts its cherished system of justice into mothballs, the quicker and easier to execute people via secret trials, a true patriot will say that's wrong. When the nation's highest law enforcement officer says it's wrong to say that's wrong, I will flip him my middle finger. And you should, too.
When America violates its Constitution, betrays its Bill of Rights, and publicly opposes its own principles, I will not sit quietly and watch. I will speak against such things, as loudly as my lungs will allow.
I love my country too much to give it anything less.
© 2001, by the author.
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