Do you think patriotism is an endangered species?

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bobcat

bobcat

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Northern Calif
It has been said that you never really appreciate anything unless you have worked for it, or it has cost you something.
Patriotism seems to be alive and well in Ukraine.
Do you think people deserve to live in a country if they would never be willing to contribute if called upon?
How many young people in today's society would be willing to step forward?
 

bobcat said:
It has been said that you never really appreciate anything unless you have worked for it, or it has cost you something.
Patriotism seems to be alive and well in Ukraine.
Do you think people deserve to live in a country if they would never be willing to contribute if called upon?
How many young people in today's society would be willing to step forward?
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Kind of like volunteering to go fight in the Iraq war?
 

bobcat said:
Do you think patriotism is an endangered species?

How many young people in today's society would be willing to step forward?
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Well as of 2022 there's about 1.4 million active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces, with many more in the Reserves and states National Guard units. Throw in another 660,000 full time police officers(2021), all these folks have already stepped forward.

Patriotism is NOT about about waving the flag, getting flag T shirts or tattoos or driving around town with a flag in the back of your pickup truck, that all is what I see as FAKE patriotism.
Real patriotism is about commitment to our country,supporting the U.S. Constitution(all of it), and being supportive of all our citizens, not just the ones that look like you.
 
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Paco Dennis said:
Kind of like volunteering to go fight in the Iraq war?
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I wasn't thinking of any specific war, as there will always be bad decisions that were made in the past. I was thinking more specifically about a sense of belonging and supporting the country we live in. Is it slowly dissolving and is there less commitment.
 
Nathan said:
Well as of 2022 there's about 1.4 million active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces, with many more in the Reserves and states National Guard units. Throw in another 660,000 full time police officers(2021), all these folks have already stepped forward.

Patriotism is NOT about about waving the flag, getting flag T shirts or tattoos or driving around town with a flag in the back of your pickup truck, that all is what I see as FAKE patriotism.
Real patriotism is about commitment to our country, supporting the U.S. Constitution(all of it), and being supportive of all our citizens, not just the ones that look like you
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Agreed on those serving, which is roughly 2% of the population. I was thinking and wondering about the other 98%. Where do you think they stand as true Americans.
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Tersely, why USA patriotism today is more difficult than during the era I grew up in...

Ivy League elites and their Wall Street corporations embracing globalization, open borders with endless overpopulation, backdoor political visa overstays, allowing the wealthy of the world to buy our real estate beyond competitive incomes of most of we citizens, endless capitalist growth and development destroying precious environments, political alliances with inconsiderate selfish impatient social progressives and government bureaucracy workers, entrenched warmongering neoconservatives, during a human era of significant science, technological and social turmoil, have brought what had been a great though imperfect country despite its list of flaws, to the state of nonfunctional grating disaster we now experience.
 
bobcat said:
Agreed on those serving, which is roughly 2% of the population. I was thinking and wondering about the other 98%. Where do you think they stand as true Americans.
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I don't see the level of patriotism in this country either overall or by youth as being different from the past. I think it's part of the human psyche to be loyal to one's tribe. We as seniors are quick to judge and disparage younger folks, unfairly at times. That seems to be a part of the human psyche as well.
 
I think patriotism is a personal belief…unable to be judged by others. I come from a long line of family that served, and in some cases died for this country. But I must say…a truck flying the american flag but with bumper stickers that disparage the president does not scream patriot to me. Just sayin.
 
Nathan said:
Patriotism is NOT about about waving the flag, getting flag T shirts or tattoos or driving around town with a flag in the back of your pickup truck, that all is what I see as FAKE patriotism.
Real patriotism is about commitment to our country,supporting the U.S. Constitution(all of it), and being supportive of all our citizens, not just the ones that look like you.
Click to expand...
Well said.
 
Nathan said:
Patriotism is NOT about about waving the flag, getting flag T shirts
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Remember when Abbie Hoffman was arrested for wearing a flag shirt? Yes, in days gone by it was ILLEGAL:
Washington Area Spark
Hoffman arrested for American flag shirt: 1968

Yippie activist Abbie Hoffman is arrested for wearing an American flag shirt when he shows up at a House Un American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearing October 1, 1968 investigating the clashes at the 1968 Democratic Convention.​

https://flic.kr/p/TyFSSe

 
Was the true arrest made not because of his USA shirt but because there were complaints made of his having terrible B O-- contradicting what the US of A stands for: The free right to be your best?
 
There are a hundred ways to be patriotic besides serving in the military. Maybe buying an electric car in the hope that we don't have to deal with the middle-east for oil -- or go to war over it. Maybe caring about our fellow Americans enough to vote for higher wages or better health care is patriotic. Conserving water, planting trees, supporting the education of the young so that our country can go forward with intelligent leaders and voters. Anything that makes our citizens safer and healthier and spares our natural resources is patriotic to me.

I'm grateful to have been born in America and I care about this country, but as a Christian I don't see patriotism as the highest virtue. How many soldiers from how many countries have gone to war thinking God was on their side? I believe Jesus died for all of us, every person on this planet.
 
David777 said:
Tersely, why USA patriotism today is more difficult than during the era I grew up in...

Ivy League elites and their Wall Street corporations embracing globalization, open borders with endless overpopulation, backdoor political visa overstays, allowing the wealthy of the world to buy our real estate beyond competitive incomes of most of we citizens, endless capitalist growth and development destroying precious environments, political alliances with inconsiderate selfish impatient social progressives and government bureaucracy workers, entrenched warmongering neoconservatives, during a human era of significant science, technological and social turmoil, have brought what had been a great though imperfect country despite its list of flaws, to the state of nonfunctional grating disaster we now experience.
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I agree with a lot of that but I'm not sure what you mean by "endless capitalist growth and development destroying precious environments." Capitalism works beautifully unless it's corrupt, and we have seemingly endless laws protecting the environment, so do you mean "corrupt capitalists"? Because, yes, that's definitely a thing.

And it's a thing because the US hasn't had a truly representative gov't in at least 100 years.
 
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I think most people live a lot closer to "the center" than the politics they tend to wear on their sleeves. Trying to move the dial by expressing extreme positions is doing a lot of damage that reaches from the national level right down into individual families. It isn't rare to find family members who are not on speaking terms over politics any more.
 
I'm not sure that even trying to stand apart from the fray works any more. It almost makes one a target for vitriolic attempts at persuasion from both ends of the spectrum.
 

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