Quote of the Week
"'My country, right or wrong,' is a thing that no patriot would think of saying. It is like saying, 'My mother, drunk or sober.'"
G.K. Chesterton
'A Defense of Patriotism'
The Defendant (1901)
posted by Concerned American | 11:32 PM
4 Comments:
Except, of course, that Stephen Decatur actually said:
'Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.'
Great post!
I happen to be the person who posted the Chesterton quote in response to the Washington Times article.
The level of jingoism espoused by many Americans today is shocking. I wretch when I hear these small minded people talk of left -v- right politics of the day. All of America's problems are due to the left(Obama)...or all of her problems are due to the right (Bush). It is repugnant to me as a free thinking American. We have endured a "long train of abuses" that have landed us at this horrid point in our history. Both political parties are culpable in sending us down this troubled path.
The notion that we must accept police brutality because they have a tough job to do. The idea that if a person is convicted of a crime he deserves whatever fate awaits him in prison including being sodomized by the animals within those walls. The thought that we must surrender our Constitutional guarantees of rights under the law to fight, a war on drugs, a war on terror, or to combat any number of modern day bogey men is short sighted at best and ends in no rights for anyone.
..."it gives no pleasure to the lover to see ten doctors dancing with vociferous optimism around a death-bed."
Chesterton
We face tremendous peril today in our homeland and not so much from outside forces but from cheap political hacks within. These petty men will say anything to get elected. They will enact any legislation for superficial gain all the while violating the solemn oath to uphold and defend those sacred Founding Documents.
Partisanship is part of the problem and we as a people must rise above it.
KPN3%
Tx KPN. I'd never seen the quote and thought it wonderful.
Jdege,
Jdege, that doesn't make what Chesterton said any less true. He said "No patriot would say that," not "Nobody would say that." It's something said by a nationalist, not a patriot.
KPN, excellent post on your part, as well.
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