America ranked as "most patriotic"

[The Persnickety Platypus]

When it comes to national pride, Americans are No. 1, according to a survey of 34 countries’ patriotism.

In a related story, The senate is closer than ever to passing a flag burning ban, which would join America with the ranks of Saudi Arabia, Afganistan, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and former Communist Cambodia as the only countries to ban flag desecration.

Now, I have never personally burned the American flag. But I'll tell you what, the day Congress bans it is the day I do.

Patriotism: how much is too much?

To gauge America's patriotism, I will compare our current administration/society to fascist Italy:

A large percentage of citizens with the physical inability to see any flaws in their nation's policy- Check

Centralization of authority under a dictator- We're getting there. I keep waiting for George to vye for an illicit third term.

Suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship- Flag burning ban

A policy of belligerent nationalism- Do you know what some people would do to me if I came out of the closet as being anti-American?

Corporate control over ecomony- Wal-Mart wages, Oil Companies supressing alternative energy industries and raking in record profits while the consumer suffers, single-source campaign contributer's deciding elections, tax breaks for the rich, overhaul of estate tax, ect.

Self-centered economic policies indifferent of other nation's needs- Definetly.

International attitude of arrogance and assertivness- No sh*t.

Invading foriegn countries simply power, influence, and economic assets- Iraq, Afganistan, soon to be Iran (in addition to the many secret wars and invasions that us normal folk may never know about)





Americans today are completely disconnected. I wish to delve deeper into this, but first, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Is America too partriotic?
How much is too patriotic?

[The Persnickety Platypus]

Well what do you know, turns out my imaginary country does exist afterall. Look, we even have a flag!



And a governing body!



Now if we could just annex the rest of the world...

[Bugmaster]

Centralization of authority under a dictator- We're getting there. I keep waiting for George to vye for an illicit third term.

Don't be silly ! It's Jeb's turn.

:-(

[juliod]

Don't be silly ! It's Jeb's turn.

You bring up a good point.

It is apparent that the Republicans are not expecting to loose power in the forseeable future.

They've successfully expanded Presidential powers so much (arbitrary arrest and detention, detention without trial, power to torture and execute without judicial review, secret prisons, uninhibited powers of surveillance and spying) that it is unconceivable that they intend this new suite to be handed over to any other group. I mean, who might Hillary Clinton choose to label an "enemy combatant"?

So, do they intend to submit to future election? If so, are they confident that future elections are rigged?

Are they really going to risk a Democrat President with the powers they have staked out a claim for?

DanZ

[Easyrider]

It is apparent that the Republicans are not expecting to loose power in the forseeable future.

They've successfully expanded Presidential powers so much (arbitrary arrest and detention, detention without trial, power to torture and execute without judicial review, secret prisons, uninhibited powers of surveillance and spying) that it is unconceivable that they intend this new suite to be handed over to any other group.

Sounds like your FDR to me, except he also censored the media.

[Cathar1950]

It should be "our" FDR as in our President Bush.

There are some of us think Bush is trying to "censored the media".

Maybe Bush is part of the left wing conspiracy .

[juliod]

It should be "our" FDR as in our President Bush.

No, no. The far-right pledge loyalty to Party, not to Country. That's part of the danger.


DanZ

[Navalina]

I recently visited eastern USA and it was very striking how many flags and "God bless America" signs we saw there. They were just all over the place. I have visited quite a lot of countries but I have never seen something quite like this before. And so many cars have stickers on them with stuff like "Support our troops" and "God bless America" etc etc. It was quite an odd experience. There's nothing wrong with a healthy dose of patriotism, but too much is too much. When a country starts thinking they're better than everyone else, it's getting dangerous. And I get a feeling that a lot of Americans do feel superior to other countries. The fact that the government has decided to invade other countries and arrange things the way they think is right, is all the proof I need to know that the patriotism is going too far. To be honest, it scares me a bit. I also went to Canada and I liked it there a lot better. I was there during Canada Day and even then I saw less Canadian flags and stuff than American flags on a regular day in the US.

[Cephus]

I agree. It isn't just the patriotism, it's the fact that most of the patriotism is mindless. These people have no idea *WHY* they are being patriotic, they don't know *WHY* they are supporting the troops or the government, they just figure that's what they're supposed to do. That's where it gets scary, not that people support their country, but that they do it out of ignorance.

[Cathar1950]

We display all that patriotism so the people next door don’t think we are un-American and kill us.
Many of us think we have put our boys in harm sway where diplomacy would have done more. Now we have to pray for our guys where they kill 3 thousand and we kill 300 thousand. They are just doing their job because some one didn’t do theirs.
Now we have hot spots with fires going up all over and our hands are tied.

[OccamsRazor]

I think that Navalina has got this one quite right. There is nothing inherently wrong with patriotism. The problem is that patriotism is the embrionic form of xenophobia.

Furthermore I do not understand the idea that one must 'love their country' unconditionally.
Countries themselves are arbitrary political boundaries which could quite easily have ended up very differently defined. I live in the UK, a coutry which could quite easily have become a part of France, Spain or Holland had history taken a different course. I am sure that I would be equally as contented with being French, Spanish or Dutch as I am being British.

When it comes to history though I suppose that I cannot berate Americans as I come from the country with the most atrocious record of empire building in the world.

The only complaint that I would make is that US patriotism seems to create an overriding ultra-conservative political view in the country where any liberal or pluralist ideal can be destroyed by the accusation that it is 'un-american'.

One question that I would ask is this: Is it really true that it is illegal to burn the US flag? Surely this is ludicrous, criminalising the burning of an arbitrary piece of cloth? Does this mean that a pillowcase would become sacred if I happened to draw some stars and stripes on it? What if I drew it in different colours or the wrong number of stars?