Patriotic?

in honor of this past 4th of july holiday i'm going to write about patriotism. i am not the most patriotic person in the world. i am happy to live in the united states, i know i have a lot of privileges that come with living here, each time i come home from abroad and the customs person says 'welcome home' i smile. but i do not own one item that has an american flag on it. our household doesn't fly an american flag (indeed i doubt we have one). if i were running for president i would not wear an american flag lapel pin. i disagree with the president. i criticize our foreign policy. i HATE our wars. i try and figure out why we were attacked on 9/11, and what part our culture played in that attack. but i also vote, pay taxes, and spent 2 years of my life in americorps in service to my country, my community.

apparently democrats are twice as likely to say that protesting is patriotic than republicans. there was a usa today poll recently that asked what activities people thought were patriotic; voting, serving in the military, supporting us world policies, saying the pledge of allegiance, wearing an american flag pin. i heard about this first on a right wing radio show, it was bill o'reilley's show but he had a stand in. and he was reporting this survey and was quite surprised at the percentage of people who said protesting was patriotic. i had to go back into work before they took callers, but i knew where it was going. i fall into the camp that thinks protesting is patriotic. it's exercizing your fundamental rights. the ability to protest is one of the things that make america great. if we're part of a peaceful protest we don't have to worry about being arrested,or worse. there are some countries where you can't speak out against your government without fear of bodily harm. i've been in countries where the news was so regulated by the government that it came over loud speakers into the town. everyone heard the same version of everything, and you accepted it, no matter what. i don't know why people think that you have to agree with the government all the time to be patriotic. i don't know why you would even think of not voting, i don't understand how you can tell the content of a candidates character based on what is on his or her lapel.

until i live somewhere that it is mandatory to agree 100% with my government, i'll continue to disagree. and if there are things i find so heinous that i need to protest them in a march or a sit in or a letter writing campaign,then i'll continue to do it. it doesn't mean i love my country any less, indeed i think it means i love it more. i want it to be the best country, the best community, the best homeland it can be.