Proud to be an American

Historian Howard Zinn, writing recently in The Progressive, said that this past Independence Day, Americans "...would have done well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed." His column was an argument against the basic idea that we should consider ourselves Americans, and instead advocated an "allegiance to the human race," as if the two were somehow incompatible.

He described our soldiers in Iraq as "victims...of our government's lies" and claimed that Americans suffer from "a loss of a sense of proportion." To support this claim, he said nationalist thinking had led us to such actions as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in response to Pearl Harbor, and the killing of tens of thousands in the Global War on Terror in response to the deaths of 3,000 Americans in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a clear indication of our "loss of a sense of proportion." The implication, of course, is that we should have been much more restrained after being attacked by a ruthless enemy, in 1941 and again in 2001.

With all due respect to Prof. Zinn's opinion, I must disagree. I take great pride not in the fact that I am a soldier, but in the fact that I am an American soldier. I am as capable at helping others as I am at hurting them, and I take far more pleasure in the former than I do in the latter. I am immensely proud and humbled to have the honor of representing my nation, as a member of the armed forces, in bringing relief to those who need it, and justice to those who deserve it.

I, and I believe most Americans, love all the symbols of our greatness: our flag, our anthem, our history, and our culture. I have sworn my life to defending the principles upon which this country was founded, and I do believe with all my heart that our nation is special and unique.

I teach my children to respect our flag and our country, and to be thankful for the blessings we enjoy. I get choked up at the playing of "The Star Spangled Banner" and at the passing of Old Glory, and I and my children stand and give proper honors when either occurs. That may make me a nationalist in Mr. Zinn's eyes, but it doesn't make me any less a member of the human race.

And what about that greatest symbol of America, our national colors, that Prof. Zinn would have us put away? Our flag stands for what this nation is: a beacon of hope to the rest of the world, a place where freedom and prosperity are available to all who come here peaceably and are willing to work for it. It represents the values and beliefs that our soldiers are dying for, because they know America is worth preserving. It represents that magical place where people from around the world still long to be, and it stands for justice and equality, the inherent human rights that are sadly lacking in many places around the world.

Do we sometimes make mistakes in dealing with other nations? Yes, of course, but this nation represents a land where good triumphs more often than not, and that is why the rest of the world continues to look to us for guidance and hope. And it is why our enemies seek to destroy us and everything that we represent.

I have been around the world and seen the joy in people's eyes when American help has arrived, and I have felt pride and thankfulness for being part of such a wonderful nation, knowing that few other countries could provide the hope and promise that we do. And I have seen the utter fear in those who know that we have come to right the wrongs on behalf of those who cannot fight for themselves against tyranny and oppression. A former commanding officer of mine summed it up beautifully when he said, "When we deploy our forces, one of two things happens: people either say ‘Thank God, they're coming, or they say, ‘Oh shit, they're coming.'" Both speak to the greatness of this nation.

The flag, and all our symbols of national pride, mean something because they represent all that is good and right about America, and all that can be good and right in the world. They serve as an inspiration and source of pride not only to most Americans, but also to everyone who wants to be an American or wants their nation to be more like ours.

No, the time has not come to renounce nationalism and symbols of national pride. Instead, now, more than ever, it is time to stand up and be counted. Because now is a time of great peril for our nation, when radical enemies seek to destroy everything we stand for and everything we believe in. And it will take proud Americans, and not proud humans, to ensure that our country and our way of life continue, for us, and for the rest of the world.

Greg Reeson is a Major in the United States Army, and has served two tours of duty in Iraq. His views are his own. He does not speak for the US Army or the Department of Defense.

Zinn has been a stalwart of the American Left for many decades, and he’s a big crashing bore, but good enough and relentless enough at what he does to merit continual attention from up and coming potential Lefties, generation after generation. It’s one thing to be blindly jingoistic, insist we’ve never blundered, done anything wrong, or have nothing to be ashamed of-—it’s another thing to contend as Zinn does, that we’ve never done anything RIGHT, at least for the last century or two. Guys like Zinn keep this up because they lap up the attention of those new generations.

Zinn is a coward and a sophister...his death will be the only thing he ever contributes to the betterment of America.

I am tired of traitors getting away with Treason. Individuals like Zinn are only allowed to live because we considered ourselves a bit more civilized than our forefathers. The American Patriots of the 18th and 19th century would have hung the jerk (zinn), decapitated him, and then put his head on display as a reminder to others what the price of true treason is.

Well written post. Personally, I can almost pity Zinn and his fellow travelers: what to do when the socialist dream is dashed upon the rocks? Without the dream, there can only be self-loathing, the usual bitterness and recriminations, and the occasional well-paying book tour and speaking engagements.

Men like Zinn and Chomsky remind me of the Alec Guinness character in the movie, ‘Bridge Over the River Kwai’, who realizes in the last moments of his life the treason of his actions, although with Zinn, Chomsky, and others, the truth is that they will probably never have such a moment of self-revelation—and unlike the Guinness character—any chance at redemption.

As an aside, Dante reserved the hottest part of his Inferno for the false counselors, men just like Zinn.

And I said everything I said in #3 as a former Lefty from the late 60s who decided to go ahead and LET himself be drafted, right after the big buildup in ‘66, just after high school. That experience didn’t exactly END my leftism, but it started a process where I gradually moved away from it over the next 4 years. Even then ,though, as an adolescent, I wasn’t stupid enough to get swayed by the old-style “New” Leftism of Zinn and Co. Get right down to it , and it’s no different at all from the blunt, hardnosed Pro-Stalin apologism of the 30s-50s, with all those hairy and unappealing apparatCHICKs hanging around every demonstration and “urgent meeting”.

Howard Zinn is the same socialist anti-American scumbag who wrote “A People’s History of The United States”.

My wife saw it on sale and bought it for me as a gift, knowing how much I enjoy history. I was thrilled too.

Until I read it.

I apologized to my wife, and dropped in the trash can after reading a few pages and paging through it just to be sure I understood correctly.

He is not fit to lick the boots of this Major.

Of course, after posting this, I got curious about Zinn, someone I have managed to ignore except for when he was thrust upon me by my well intentioned wife. So I Googled him, and look at one of these hits:

rush limbaugh on howard zinn
obesity coffins beds
mr snerdly rush
starbucks cup “way I see it”
“guantanamo bay” “U.S.” “close” “krt news service”
mr snerdly rush limbaugh
coral j adams neither man nor beast
masterpower, brazil
wolves hooligans
“al rodgers” and bush and poll and “may 19”
howard zinn is angry
super import gallery 2005 el paso
tricked out pimp rides
karl mark the freedom of man
uptown pimps
karzai likes boys
neocons and iraq oil
g h w bush and lilly
“cell phone do not call registry”
indostan “blind men”
pablo the mule
“Charles Taylor” asheville reelection
karl rove is a traitor
richard bach lawsuit
“only when the last tree has died” origin
bizatch
clothe hunter thompson
chavez threats against the US
Dr. Raoul Duke
hooligans london
gay checks
pimp rides
top 10 hooligans
hooligans hungary music
Michelangelo’s hidden art
“I crave your mouth”, Translated to Spanish
Howard Zinn Support
aspartame lawsuit
DEAR BRUTUS REVIEW
vietnam real estate agent “trang bang”
Karl Rove beast

Now...when I saw this, I was at a loss to figure it out. I did believe this was...er...poetry, to the Lefties, at least. It reminded me of the time I went with a buddy of mine into the Belly of The Beast, which for two conservatives like us, is Cambridge, MA.

There was a poetry reading outside an Au Bon Pan, and there was a woman dressed in black slacks and shirt wearing a black beret, obviously trying to look like a bohemian. Here is what she was saying as “poetry”:

“...and then he threw me down on the table. he threw me down and f***ed me. He f***ed me hard...”

So she is reading this from some piece of paper, and my buddy and I are looking at each other thinking “...wtf...” and I turned to look at the people around me, and there is this other bohemian looking guy with a little scraggly goatee, stroking it with a profound look of interest...as if this “poetry” was the most profound thing he had ever heard!

I had two jets of coffee come out of my nose...well, not really, but you get the idea...:) These people are delusional.

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