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It's possible to also be a hero for jeopardising national security. Bad nations should be jeopardised. It's how they become good nations. They stay bad nations

It's possible to also be a hero for jeopardising national security. Bad nations should be jeopardised. It's how they become good nations. They stay bad nations when their citizens repeat the mantras they've been taught rather than thinking. Bullshit like "My country, right or wrong" and worshipping flags and all that sort of junk. It appears that the United States is still, incredible as it seems, a country producing citizens willing to put themselves at risk when the United States is threatened (and let's be serious for a moment here - terrorism was never a threat to the United States, but this is part of an ongoing existential threat to the United States, from its own government; the very people who should be saying "Calm down, folks; times may be scary but let's not throw away our country out of fear," are instead simply competing with each other, spurring hysteria for votes and metaphorically burning the flag they bizarrely teach children to worship). Long may these citizens last.

EthanHeilman 13y ago
“My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” or the full version: “I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves … too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism: ‘Our country, right or wrong!’ They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: ‘Our country—when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.’”—Schurz, “The Policy of Imperialism,” Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schurz, vol. 6, pp. 119–20 (1913). http://www.bartleby.com/73/1641.html http://www.bartleby.com/73/1641.html
jivatmanx 13y ago
I prefer this Ben Franklin quote, it address the exact same question, but takes a different position: "The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”" (Benjamin Franklin)
- EliRivers 13y ago
  The prognosis is not good. There is unquestionably a new aristocracy who are not subject to the same rules as ordinary citizens. Wealth and power is bound in small groups who assist each other in keeping it. It's never been harder to transcend a humble (i.e. poor) start and join the ranks of wealth and power, so the lines between aristocracy and peasant are being solidified (although you wouldn't know it from the propaganda I hear, and in some places it really is just plain propaganda; I used to hear on US radio, just from out-of-nowhere, what were essentially sixty second propaganda pieces describing some guy who made a fortune in business). While it's still a voting republic, the monied use that money to teach the poor how to vote (predictably, in a way that means they get to keep their money and power).

EthanHeilman 13y ago

“My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” or the full version: “I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves … too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism: ‘Our country, right or wrong!’ They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: ‘Our country—when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.’”—Schurz, “The Policy of Imperialism,” Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schurz, vol. 6, pp. 119–20 (1913). http://www.bartleby.com/73/1641.html http://www.bartleby.com/73/1641.html

jivatmanx 13y ago

I prefer this Ben Franklin quote, it address the exact same question, but takes a different position: "The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”" (Benjamin Franklin)

EliRivers 13y ago
The prognosis is not good. There is unquestionably a new aristocracy who are not subject to the same rules as ordinary citizens. Wealth and power is bound in small groups who assist each other in keeping it. It's never been harder to transcend a humble (i.e. poor) start and join the ranks of wealth and power, so the lines between aristocracy and peasant are being solidified (although you wouldn't know it from the propaganda I hear, and in some places it really is just plain propaganda; I used to hear on US radio, just from out-of-nowhere, what were essentially sixty second propaganda pieces describing some guy who made a fortune in business). While it's still a voting republic, the monied use that money to teach the poor how to vote (predictably, in a way that means they get to keep their money and power).