Let me try to state this simply.
I have a son. I love him more than anything in the universe. And as such, as he was growing up, I corrected him. I didn't simply accept everything he did. When he was wrong, we discussed it. When he wasn't sure what to do, I gave advice. When he screwed up, there were consequences. All with love. All with respect.
Jokers like Klein seem to think that to "love" this country means to accept everything that's done it her name without question. What you end up with when you "love" this way is a spoiled petulant brat who doesn't understand the consequences of his own actions.
How to express my love for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the concept of the Supreme Court (read books like Gideon's Trumpet and weep for what we once had), the people who ARE America (all of us, Mr. Klein)
There are no words for how I love this nation and how I grieve for how it is being distorted by corporate greed and short-sighted, belligerent policies.
It is like watching my child make mistake after mistake, alienating all of his friends, depleting his health and his finances. Would I remain quiet in the face of the love I feel for him?
No.
And so I, leftist or liberal or whatever you'd like to call it, speak out when my beloved nation suffers under the mistakes of her leaders, and when my beloved Constitution is being subverted, and the image of my beloved people is being destroyed around the world.
It is the very love we hold for our way of life and the idea, the concept, the spirit, of our nation, that compels us to speak out.
It is the love of profit, cult of personality, and blatant ass-covering, that keep people like Mr. Klein fawning at the feet of this administration and disparaging those of us who have the courage to stand up for American when she is at the height of peril – from within.
– delphine, 04.14.2006
::Tullycast:: 