The Folly Of Patriotism

 Patriotism has to be one of the most overrated qualities an individual can have. People in our society are proud to be patriotic proud to support their country even when the country doesn't deserve it. Patriotism in fact blinds you to the evil deeds your nation is committing right under your noses. Patriotism is a tool the government uses to stifle all dissent in fact there were a couple times in American history where dissent was illegal. From the Alien & Sedition Acts of John Adams to the Patriot Act of Bush the younger they made it the patriotic thing to violate the rights of others when it became convenient for the government to do so. It has come to the point that saying that we as a nation should not invade another nation and force our ideals on them at the point of a sword to be an Un-American act. We would cheer on when the rights of others were violated because it meant we were being patriotic. You know it gave you warm fuzzy feelings when you would wave those blood stained rags you call flags. You know you had that same feeling when your first gut reaction to any type of dissent was to scream and drown out the sound of their voice and not even consider that what they might have something to say worth listening to.

Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.
-Mark Twain

Early American Government

 The American Revolution is probably one of the most romanticized bits of history ever and unjustly so. Some parts of it were spectacular for example the fact that a group of more or less farmers could tackle the largest superpower of the day was phenomenal. But the part that that was most overblown was the reasons behind it and the results of it. People said they wanted to be free from the kings rule they called him a tyrant and rightfully so. But was what the "patriots" suggesting any better at all? They created a government in which the immoral hierarchy of powers still existed and while on paper it protected the right of the individual in practice it failed completely because it maintained the system in which rights could be abused. In fact it only took us to the second president before we began to see the failures of the colonist's plan. John Adams' Alien in Sedition Acts had effectively violated the rights given to them by the constitution. We were violating the rights of citizens before the ink even had dried on that document. You can try to change the nature of the beast as much as you want but the beast is a beast by nature. Government by its very nature enforces unjust power over a group of people. It is insane keep using the same system over and over again and to expect a different result.