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"are you really completely against patriotism?" One of the founding principle of the American Republic was that the government is not the country. "We the peop
by njarboe 8y ago
"are you really completely against patriotism?"
One of the founding principle of the American Republic was that the government is not the country. "We the people" and all that. Many would argue that to be a "true" American patriot one should be highly skeptical of government with skepticism increasing the farther removed it is from your local community.
- clairity 8y agobut the government isn't something apart from ourselves. the government is us. the more we try to "other" it and give in to helplessness, the less effective we will be in controlling our collective destiny. skepticism is healthy, dogmatism, not so much. yes, let's keep federal power in check (because it's too tempting to abuse and degenerate into authoritarianism), but no, let's not live in fear of it either.
- njarboe 8y agoI agree. Blind following of any doctrine can lead to failure and helplessness and fear are not good emotions to have all the time. But with the history of the continually increasing power and scope of government, especially the federal level, I would not say that the dogmatism of the skepticism of big government is really a bad thing. Especially if one has some skepticism of dogmatisms also.