More Marty Schottenheimer Nonsense

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/30/AR2008063000862_pf.html

"...My concerns here aren't simply personal, however. After all, throughout our history, men and women of far greater significance and stature than me have had their patriotism questioned in the midst of momentous debates.

Thomas Jefferson was accused by the Federalists of selling out to the French; the Anti-Federalists were just as convinced that John Adams was in cahoots with the British, intent on restoring monarchal rule.

Likewise, even our wisest presidents have sought sometimes to justify questionable practices on the basis of patriotism: Adams' Alien and Sedition Act, Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, Roosevelt's internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

All were defended at the time as expressions of patriotism, and those who disagreed with their policies were sometimes labeled as unpatriotic. In other words, the use of patriotism as a political sword or a political shield is as old as the republic...."

 

 "...surely we can arrive at a definition of patriotism that, however rough and imperfect, captures the best of America's common spirit.

What would such a definition look like? For me, as for most Americans, patriotism starts as a gut instinct, a loyalty and love for country that's rooted in some of my earliest memories.

And I'm not just talking about the recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance, or the Thanksgiving pageants at school, or the same fireworks on the Fourth of July that we just heard from earlier from Vince. Rather, as wonderful as these things may be, I'm referring to the way the American ideal wove its way throughout the lessons of my family, the lessons that my family taught me as a child...."

 

"...You know, for a young man like me of mixed race, without firm anchor in any particular community, without even a father's steadying hand, it is this essential American idea -- that we are not constrained by the accident of birth, but can make of our lives what we will -- that has defined my life, just as it has defined the life of so many other Americans.

(APPLAUSE)

And that's why, for me, patriotism is always more than just loyalty to a place on a map or a certain kind of people. Instead, it's also loyalty to America's ideals, ideals for which anyone can sacrifice, or defend, or give their last full measure of devotion...."

 

"...As Mark Twain, that greatest of American satirists and proud son of Missouri, once wrote, "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."

(LAUGHTER)

That's what patriotism is.

(APPLAUSE)

That's what patriotism is...."

 

 

"....in the end, it may be this quality that best describes patriotism in my mind, not just a love of America in the abstract, but a very particular love for, and faith in, the American people.

That's why our hearts swell with pride at the sight of our flag, why we shed a tear as the lonely notes of "Taps" sound. For we know that the greatness of this country, its victories in war, its enormous wealth, its scientific and cultural achievements, all result from the energy and imagination of the American people, their toil, drive, struggle, their restlessness and humor and quiet heroism.

That's the liberty we defend, the liberty of each of us to pursue our own dreams. That's the equality we seek, not an equality of results, but the chance of every single one of us to make it if we try...."