Have you heard or seen this? Someone adamantly declaring the following - "I'm not a Republican. I'm not a Democrat. I'm an American and I want my country back!"?
This makes me laugh, because I'd say a good 9 out of 10 people who say this are indeed either a Republican or a Democrat. When President George W. Bush was in office, what did many Democrats say? "We want our country back!" Now that Barack Obama is president, what are Republicans saying? "We want our country back!" Indeed.
What these people today are really saying is, "President Barack Obama and the Democrats have destroyed this country! This isn't the America our Founding Fathers wanted. I'm voting for Republican Mitt Romney to take my country back!"
When a Republican is next in office, Democrats will utter similar words and the cycle shall continue. It's all pretty silly, misleading and hyperbolic.
What irks me slightly is the part about being an "American," as if to say that a person in this country who disagrees with their politics is not. Isn't being able to freely disagree with another a central component of being American? I often times think people label themselves in a rather phony patriotic light in order to hide their true identity and beliefs. They can hide behind the notion that their beliefs are genuinely "American" by labeling them as such and dividing all those with different beliefs as unAmerican or anti-American. From my standpoint, regardless of a U.S. citizen's opinions and whether or not they coincide with mine, the person is still an American.
This makes me laugh, because I'd say a good 9 out of 10 people who say this are indeed either a Republican or a Democrat. When President George W. Bush was in office, what did many Democrats say? "We want our country back!" Now that Barack Obama is president, what are Republicans saying? "We want our country back!" Indeed.
What these people today are really saying is, "President Barack Obama and the Democrats have destroyed this country! This isn't the America our Founding Fathers wanted. I'm voting for Republican Mitt Romney to take my country back!"
When a Republican is next in office, Democrats will utter similar words and the cycle shall continue. It's all pretty silly, misleading and hyperbolic.
What irks me slightly is the part about being an "American," as if to say that a person in this country who disagrees with their politics is not. Isn't being able to freely disagree with another a central component of being American? I often times think people label themselves in a rather phony patriotic light in order to hide their true identity and beliefs. They can hide behind the notion that their beliefs are genuinely "American" by labeling them as such and dividing all those with different beliefs as unAmerican or anti-American. From my standpoint, regardless of a U.S. citizen's opinions and whether or not they coincide with mine, the person is still an American.
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