Reply #43: You can still love your country and take issue with political decisions made by its leadership

[MADem]

Of course, you have to have a reasonable intellect and an ability to parse, but it actually IS possible. Many clever folk have done it--a lot of them were our founders, who didn't always agree on everything, but they did agree that they loved this land.

Sheesh. Loving your country is NOT mindless "nationalism." It's THINKING nationalism, if anything, in many cases. And it isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just because stupid people do it too, doesn't mean that they own it. Hell, stupid people EAT---does that mean we should all starve, so we can be unlike them?

But I guess it's cool to be snarky and shitty about this place--people who got to live here all their lives, I notice, are the worst; the most insulting about the USA. Those of us who lived elsewhere, where the living wasn't so easy, for much of our lives, take a different perspective. I don't go along with that childish "Hate America" crap. There's a lot wrong, but there is a lot RIGHT about this place, too. We're diverse, we're tolerant, we've got many strengths; strengths drawn from around the globe. We aren't a bunch of lockstep jerks. It's sometimes way too easy to JUST see the bad, and ignore the good.

I like to step back and see the big picture every now and again. The big picture is that, for all of our "issues," this is a great land, and many of our citizens are great people.

And this bullshit with the Monkey, it, too, will pass.