PATRIOT
A person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.

PATRIOTIC
Having or expressing devotion to and vigorous support for one's country.

It's pretty straightforward who a patriot would be and what being patriotic means.  Both versions describe a person that has a deep regard for their country, so much so they would be willing to defend it if it was threatened.  The problem comes in when in times of war, the idea of "country" becomes synonymous with the idea of our "leaders."  This wouldn't be a problem IF our leaders were true patriots.  But what if they're not?  What if they don't have a patriotic bone in their bodies?  What if they simply lie about their patriotism and about their wish to defend this country?  What if the truth was they could care less?  The main question I'd like to raise in this article is whether or not it would make a difference to you if you discovered we did in fact have domestic enemies at work right in our own government?

So, I ask you, if you discovered that your leaders were working against the best interests of this country, and plunged us into a war for their own selfish purposes, would that affect the way you felt about your country or about your leaders?  Would you be able to make a clear distinction between what your country was and who your leaders were?  Or would you lump them together and feel you can't criticize your leaders because that would be the same thing as criticizing your country, which you think is totally unpatriotic in a time of war.  It would amount to offering aid and comfort to the enemy to do such a thing.

As far as I can see, a great many people in this country can't make a distinction, or won't. Our leaders know a lot of people are inclined to think this way and encourage it whole heartedly.  They use the mainstream media to constantly blur the line and reinforce the idea that criticism of our leaders is the same thing as criticizing our country.  If you do it, you're instantly labeled a hater of this country.  And, of course, you're someone who is not supporting the troops if you dare to suggest that the troops are being put in harms way by people who have lied about why we are in this war and know darn well it has nothing to do with defending this country.

Why do we tolerate this kind of distortion of what being patriot means?   Being a true patriot doesn't mean you follow lockstep no matter what your leaders do.  Even in the military you are not required to follow an order that is against the law.  Being a patriot means you would show an allegiance to defending your country first, and that may not include defending your leaders, especially when they're demonstrating no regard for the Constitution or rule of law.  In fact, if you discovered that your leaders were putting the country at risk your natural impulse should be to remove them from power and bring them to justice.  The words treason and traitor should come to mind if you discovered your elected officials were working against the best interests of this country. 

The patriotic feeling comes from a need to defend a set of ideals our country represents.  If our leaders are reeking havoc all over the world with no regard for the ideals we hold dear, what's the point of defending them?  In doing so we trash everything we value and end up defending people who could care less about what this country is supposed to stand for.

If you have a hard time distinguishing between our leaders and our country in a time of war, it may be time to ask yourself if that is really what a patriot would do.  Would a true patriot ignore the distinction? Would a true patriot crumble under peer pressure and silly accusations that if you question your leaders, you hate your country?  

No, a patriot would show a fierce allegiance to defending his country from enemies foreign and DOMESTIC.  This is such an important idea that we make all our representatives pledge an oath to do so if necessary!

Oath of Office:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

The fact of the matter is most of our leaders have not honored their oath to defend the Constitution.  Passage of the so-called Patriot Act is one such example.  Did you now that the version of the Patriot Act that was passed isn't even the one that our Congress approved to vote on?  At the last minute, the executive branch substituted their own version, only hours before it was to come to a vote.  Despite the fact that everyone knew it wasn't the version approved to be voted on, and despite the fact nobody even read it, the bulk of our representatives passed it into law!

Since the events of 9-11 we have seen the wholesale gutting of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, all in the name of protecting us.  Right now there are laws on the books that would allow our government to simply label you an "enemy combatant," not have to explain why, could strip you of your citizenship, throw you in the goolag, with no recourse to the protections of habeas corpus, all thanks to our representatives! There has been no effort to honor their oath to protect and defend the Constitution.

Reassuring yourself by thinking they would never do such a thing is not a very wise idea if you ask me.  Our leaders have been caught lying so many times all remnants of good intentions have long been stripped away.  

It's really time we all wised up and stopped bowing to petty peer pressure when we try to express 'true patriotism.' The minute you see people in office claiming that they and the country are one and the same, when you see them engaging in petty, high school level character assassination of someone because they voice legitimate concerns, it's a sure sign the stink is pouring out of Denmark again!

Think about it.  How difficult is it nowadays to stand up and speak your mind to the powers-that-be?  Could you do it?  How many of us have the courage to stand up in a crowd and ask an unpopular question?  I've seen many people do such things and the crowd usually turns on them, shouting to sit down and shut up!  It gets extremely hostile.  This is supposed to be America.  We have all these romantic ideas about how free we are, yet when you look at the way we treat each other, just over voicing questions that impinge on people's little comfort zones, we are ready to string them up!  We should be cheering those that have the courage to ask the hard questions not pounding them into the ground.  We have been so massively socially conditioned that we can't even recognize a true patriot spirit when it's right in front of us. Instead we see them as the opposite of what they are.  We reduce them to nothing more then trouble makers, idiots, conspiracy theorists, lunatics, even traitors simply for speaking up in the face of immense peer pressure.  And who knows, some that do such things may be.  And some may not have the best communication skills.  But the point is if we don't create a climate where people feel free to speak up, if we don't stop this climate of intolerance, it can only lead to one thing, and it's not a free society.  

We really need to look at what we've become.  This kind of attitude leads to nothing but tyranny.  We need to support those with the courage to speak up and challenge our leaders.  We are supposed to be allowed to ask the hard questions and take people to task when they are spending our treasure and blood like there's no tomorrow.  To say doing so is unpatriotic is a total distortion of the truth of things.  It's is totally unpatriotic not to do so.

The bottom line is there are many examples of people in power destroying countries and turning them into fascist states.  It's happened many times throughout history.  Don't think it can't happen here.  If everyone would stop jumping on people pointing out all the red flags, and start supporting and encouraging their voices to be heard, everyone could at least make up their own mind about what's going on.  All voices need to be heard if we are to a free society.  Right now it's not.  And if we don't stop this attitude of squashing voices we don't like by pure peer pressure, we won't be able to even pretend much longer that we are this bastion of freedom.  

Just think about it.  Could you stand up in a crowd and voice a hard question about what's going on?  Just imagine the kind of courage that would take.  You should be proud of anyone willing to do that and stand behind them.  Even if you think their question is stupid.  What's the worst that could happen?  The person being asked the question would have to answer it?  And we'd all have to hear the answer?  And we'd all have to judge for ourselves whether or not the answer is a good one or not?  Gee.  That doesn't sound so bad to me.

I ask you to really think about why we are so quick to jump on people with the courage to speak up?  As far as I'm concerned, this is what true patriots would do.

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