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Posted on 05/27/2013 5:47:21 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
On Memorial Day, we honor those patriots who gave "the last full measure of devotion" -- in Abraham Lincoln's words -- and died defending our freedom and union.
But this Memorial Day is partly clouded by the resurgence of partisan scandal in Washington. At the IRS, employees filtered through the exploding number of tax exemption applications by politically associated organizations by being on the lookout for groups that had the name "Tea Party" and "Patriot" in their name. This was improper, illegal, unethical and outrageous.
But hold on -- when did the word "patriot" become a partisan pejorative? How did such a bipartisan positive word get identified as a sign of hyperpartisan politics?
It's actually an interesting story.
Over the past few years, you might have noticed more than few political fundraising e-mails addressing you as "Fellow Patriot." They ain't from the ACLU. They tend to be from conservative activist groups, and there is more than a little self-congratulation in their tribal identifier.
The idea, of course, is that their fellow travelers on the right side of the aisle are the "real" patriots -- related to Sarah Palin's "Real Americans" -- defenders of a political faith and traditional way of life under attack by liberals, Democrats, demographics and above all, President Barack Obama.
The fact that many of these self-styled superpatriots seem to hate their twice-elected president is itself a sign of just how dumb the false dualities that dominate our politics can be.
But it's nothing new. Like so many themes in our politics, there are echoes of the past in our present debates. Going back to at least the virulently anti-Catholic "Know-Nothing" Party of the 1800s, conservative populists have always styled themselves as superpatriots....
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Good Lord, what a barfer of an article..
like a dog returning to its vomit...
So his point is, if the word “patriot” was being used by the Socialists, in the White Hut - it would be acceptable? Absurd!
I’ve read, somewhere in my wanderings, that the definition of a patriot is a man who protects his country from his government.
Still doesn’t excuse profiling groups that use the word “patriot”.
And why, incidentally, did “progressive” become the property of left-wing regressives that want you to lose your doctor, lose your car, lose your guns and lose any food that tastes delicious.
The Vichy Chicks and Michael Moore et al were just carrying on the tradition of Axis Sally in WWII when they proclaimed things like “patriotism is overrated”.
“They ain’t from the ACLU”
Who’d be dumb enough to think that the ACLU is pro-America?
This partisan witchhunt is permissible in the eyes of Time-Lies-CNN.
Remind me what was so bad about blacklisting known Communists again?
This dope probably knows nothing about the Tea Party beyond what the liberal media and his friends have told him.
So he has no awareness of what the Tea Party is really all about.
In other words, his opinion is just as uninformed as he is.
The simple fact is the people who are trying the most to hold on to traditional America and loving your country are frequently held up to ridicule by the leftists like Avlon. Go ahead...go visit a number of left-wing haunts on the east or west coast. Ask those people how they feel about flying the flag or how much they love their country. Go to left-wing websites like DummyUnderground, Daily Kossack, and others. See how many of them say they love their country. Prepare to get sneered at. What they want is to change American radically to it make similar to all other countries. Are there a lot of people who vote Democrat and love their country? Sure. But the odds are if you find someone who hates America, they’re almost all on the left.
Ive always considered CNN to be a dirty word
A Patriot loves this country. Liberals are the exact opposites of patriots. They hate the constitution and everything that has made America great Personally I would like to see every liberal man, including John Avlon, serve on the front line in a war zone. That’s the only way they will ever get any respect from me.
Another Commie who, when the SHTF, will be gone, probably by the savages he adores.
Well, I reckon you know a thing or two about public affairs, Sir. ;-) The answer is to use the word in a positive context very often, and non-patriots, in a negative context.
But don’t listen to me. I was an enlisted retard, and only NG at that. ;-)
I will never accuse any Democrat of being a Patriot.
Because wailing modern liberals became sore at it being used as intended! Wah, I ran my nose into your fist and it hurts!
Who considers it a dirty word? The IRS and leftwingnuts?
I feel like a Jew in Berlin in 1932, and the Berlin Times just wrote about how nasty we were. And how we should be fired from our jobs, etc.
And we know where that led.
And I ain't going the easy way.
.
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