I am a patriot and I love the United States of America

reply to post by semperfortis

Samuel Johnson who said "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel",
Oscar Wilde said "Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious."

reply to post by AthlonSavage


Ah yes

“I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.”
― Barack Obama

“A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril. ”
― Winston Churchill

“These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in the crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
― Thomas Paine, The American Crisis

reply to post by semperfortis

Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.
- More Maxims of Mark, Johnson, 1927

What a load of absolute drivel.
Just deluded, propganda.

"you're a good soldier now that we've broken you down and built you up to think how we want you to think and do our bidding"

It's actually sad to read something like that op, truly sad.

This gentleman has a huge investment to protect.
He has given more than most to a cause he believes in, but a note of panic is evident in his attitude.
While stating his case, he feels it necessary to forestall any criticism with quite elaborate philosophy.

He is not stupid.
He knows he will not persuade those who disagree.
He has no need to persuade those who agree.
Who then, is he trying to convince?

He must, as we all strive to do, protect his investment, for fear his life could have been misspent, and his finer feelings subverted in the cause of American world domination -- should he look truth squarely in the face.
Once doubts begin to surface like this, the individual faces a difficult choice, but that which they fear to relinquish so often drowns them.

I hope this man is as fearless as he would have us believe.
He is walking a difficult path.

When the wise man meets the fool, who learns from the encounter?
This post has much to teach us all.

mistersmith.

apologies -- double post.

reply to post by biggm


Twit, he's made more sense in his posts than the rest of you combined!!

The only reason this isn't a waste of his time is there might be one or two out there that might actually read and consider his viewpoint on things.

They aren't required to agree with it. He doesn't even require that.

Just consider it, then opine.

In my view, he gets it. perhaps even better than the OP.

This is a forum of ideas. Dialectic materialism is a joke. However, one can learn looking at different viewpoints.

reply to post by Elbereth11

i could write i speak 3 languages,know how to open up chakras and kundalini but a lot of people can do that,just like how they can think that they are dying for their country.I still think that you have no clue about life.but again,who cares?

You care.

You care enough to spend your time criticizing anyone who doesn't agree with you. You care enough to search out something, anything, that might not be phrased the way you think it should be or something that maybe was missed.

I care.

I care because without people like Semper, without their sacrifice, my life would be much harder. I care because I can recognize that even if I don't always agree with him, he is a man of honor with a solid moral center.

But the real question is not who cares, but why do you care? What is threatening to you about the OP of this thread? What is threatening to others about a simple post on an Internet forum?

Some I am sure are a little perturbed that the upstart colonists wouldn't play "fair." But that's not the main reason people care. The main reason is simple jealousy. Yeah, I said it: some people are just plain jealous.

Here is a man who has spent his entire life in the service of others. He has placed his very life in jeopardy to maintain the defense of his nation and to try and fight crime. Did he screw up? Yeah, probably a lot. Does that matter? No. Semper and the other soldiers and Marines who served did so under the authority of those we placed in power. I know since I was able to vote, I have screwed up plenty of times, had plenty of super-slick politicians fly right under my radar. Semper Fortis did not go to fight a political war because he wanted to... he did it because those I elected told him to.

Anyone want to blame him for the wars he fought? Blame me. Blame yourself. Blame the American public. We made the decision who would be in charge and they made the decision to send him where he went. Any thinking individual can see this, so maybe shame is also a reason why we care.

Now, today, Semper has some advantages we don't. He has seen places I may never see. He has comrades all over the country: every vet that every stood in a line of fire. He has authority in his words, his actions, his mannerisms... an authority that comes form being proud of what he has accomplished and done in his life. And us? We went to school, we got a job, we built a career, and we will retire and die. Many of us will live and die within 50 miles of where we were born, never experiencing anyone who truly is different from ourselves. And when we die, we will look back on an unfulfilled life.

Heck, yeah, I'm jealous!

I haven't exactly followed that pattern in my own life, but I do know many many who have. I have made the statement that if I die tomorrow, I will have lived a fuller life than most. But I will not have lived a fuller life than a veteran.

Or maybe it's the advantages a veteran has... the GI Bill for instance. All that money for tuition (Lord knows it would have made my life right now easier). Or maybe it's that it is easier for him to find a job in this economy. Whatever the exact reason is, it goes back to the fact that a veteran made a decision early in life to take a risk, and those who survived reap some measure of reward from that risk. Not what they deserve certainly, but still rewards. In a society which values taking risks for rewards and hard work, that's a good thing. But in a society where the commonality is government benefits and there is actually a rat race to see who can get the most government benefits, that is seen as an unfair advantage. How dare this guy get a special benefit just because he spent time in a job?

It's not a job... it's a sacrifice. That's why.

Perhaps one day people will once again be able to understand that. Until then, though, you will all have to excuse me while I take a walk into my mountain to pray. I need to give thanks that I live where I do, because in a society where such jealousy exists, based on benefits from a government who is in serious debt and in danger of defaulting on that debt, anyone living within earshot of another human being is in serious danger... because somewhere, somehow, they will seem to get more than someone else, and that green-eyed monster may decide to go farther than posting they don't care on an Internet forum.

OK, maybe I'm not just jealous and ashamed... maybe I'm also proud of him.

TheRedneck

reply to post by Amagnon


LOL, there the psychobabble, amazing how that festers when anyone holds a view that is guilty of being different from their own....

The OP proclaims a view, yet no one who disagrees with him have asked to why he feels the way he does. What life experiences, education, and so on....just attack.

I would bet he is far more sure of himself, who he is, than you.

The attackers fear that certainty, that strength, yes, that conviction.

That's OK. There's a place for sheep as well as wolves in this world.

reply to post by nwtrucker


Ok why does the OP feel that he is protecting our freedoms by being in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Why does he feel proud of those major F up's?

Originally posted by TheRedneck


But what good does a cancer treatment do for someone in the middle of a battlefield?

I missed this but the fact is. But to flip the argument what good are the soilder in Iraq and Afganistan doing for a person who has cancer? Nothing. Its not there fault but they are not makeing the world a safer place infact doing the opposite like kicking honernts next.

Plus you asked me what offended me out the OP ? These.

Originally posted by semperfortis


. I do not believe in capitulation, negotiation or apologetics when it comes to the foreign a

So the USA is a law into its own? He is impling the USA can not do any wrong when in fact it has! Stength is admitting you mistakes, foolsihness is ignoreing them and following along with them.

Originally posted by semperfortis
I
, I suppose my message is this. There is no way I can ever make you understand how ridiculous you sound when you spout off against my country and have never lived a life to be proud of.

This is patronising and makeing it sound like unless you serve you are usless and have nothing to be proud off.

You dont have to pick up a gun to acheive something in life.

reply to post by crazyewok

Why do you feel proud of your accomplishments? Could your technique for cancer treatment be abused? If so, HOW DARE YOU!

No, actually, even if so, you weren't the one who abused it. Einstein developed the theory that led to the atomic bomb, but I don't consider him a warmonger or weapons specialist... he was actually a pacifist who regretted what he had developed in that vein.

TheRedneck

reply to post by crazyewok


The OP didn't say he was protecting his/your freedoms by being in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You did.

Originally posted by TheRedneck
reply to post by crazyewok

Why do you feel proud of your accomplishments? Could your technique for cancer treatment be abused? If so, HOW DARE YOU!

No, actually, even if so, you weren't the one who abused it. Einstein developed the theory that led to the atomic bomb, but I don't consider him a warmonger or weapons specialist... he was actually a pacifist who regretted what he had developed in that vein.

TheRedneck

You missed the point there. My point was that you dont have to be in military to contribute someting valuble.


As for Iraq and Afganistan I will state again I dont blame the indiviual solider for those wars BUT I wont pat them on the back and give them a well doen after a tour of duty there. I will give them a thanks for being on standby for when something does go down but that thanks ends in the middle east. I wont spit on them or insult them with personal attacks or blame them but I wont be holding parades or thanking them for a immoral war. If they dont like that or it causes low moral? Well like them being in Iraq/Afganistan thats the goverments fault so they need to take there gripe up with them.

reply to post by crazyewok

Of course there are other ways to contribute value. You and I have already alluded to that.

But I'm not even sure if Semper was in the Middle East. Does he say anywhere that he was? If so, please point it out as I missed it. There are innumerable other locations around the globe where he might have served.

If he did not serve there, you just violated your own policy of acceptance of military personnel engaged in different actions by denouncing him over something he was not even involved in.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by LadyGreenEyes

Originally posted by OneManArmy
What a totalitarian government needs is the willful subjugation of its people. And the OP is the best example of that in this whole thread, bar none.

Ah, now I see your issue. You believe that the country and the government are one and the same, and this isn't the case. The government is simply a governing body, that changes. The country is the people, the ideals, the foundations, and those can stay firm, IF people are willing to stand and support them. The OP is willing. Redneck is willing. I am willing, and I know many others that are as well. There are things happening IN my country that I don't like, but I will not let it go down without a fight. I took an oath, too, and though older and less able to do as much as I once could, I will stand by that oath. Not for some politician, or group there of, but for America. For the people, the freedom, the ideals. THAT is the country.

edit on 15-8-2013 by LadyGreenEyes because: weird text issue

I see what you did there.

You told me what I believe then attacked that false belief, when you dont know what I believe obviously.
Because earlier in this thread I said exactly the same thing.

I have a great amount of respect for redneck, he stated his case in a balanced, intelligent, respectful, honest way and I agree with him 100%. Did I learn something from this thread?, yes I did, so Im a winner. The very first thing I said in the whole thread was "You are entitled to believe that", thats freedom, and I would DIE to protect his right to say it, as he would do for me.

I will not honour the soldiers that carry out atrocities in my name. I will not honour the soldiers at abu ghraib that treated people like animals, or any other soldier like them, they are not soldiers of honour, they are psychopaths.

And I certainly will not honour the desk jockey political class that vote them to their deaths, under-equipped on lies.

Me thinks the OP is spouting too much and needs to get back to work. Make us safe...cuz thats what you are being paid for. If you don't like the opinions of those who pay you, house you, pay for your health care, feed you and offer you a decent retirement, then leave and we will hire another easily misguided grunt to follow you're lead.

Personally, i don't think the honorable Major General Smedley Butler would want you in his Marine Corp. anyway.

Look bottom line, the OP treated others like they were nothing, and was a jerk about it. Just as some people are being judgemental about him, he was doing the same.

Thats why some people got mad. Personally I wasnt mad, just taken back at the OP's lack of respect for anyone else that hasnt served. We do our part too ( which is making sure the government you serve doesnt take away your rights!) We also protest ALONG side those vets that dont get fair treatment.

The only diveder that I see is one thinks fighting is the right thing to do and the other dont. Both sides share the same idea, which is PEACE.

Originally posted by Tylerdurden1
Look bottom line, the OP treated others like they were nothing, and was a jerk about it. Just as some people are being judgemental about him, he was doing the same.

Thats why some people got mad. Personally I wasnt mad, just taken back at the OP's lack of respect for anyone else that hasnt served. We do our part too ( which is making sure the government you serve doesnt take away your rights!) We also protest ALONG side those vets that dont get fair treatment.

The only diveder that I see is one thinks fighting is the right thing to do and the other dont. Both sides share the same idea, which is PEACE.

^^^ What he said

Originally posted by Tylerdurden1
Look bottom line, the OP treated others like they were nothing, and was a jerk about it. Just as some people are being judgemental about him, he was doing the same.

Thats why some people got mad. Personally I wasnt mad, just taken back at the OP's lack of respect for anyone else that hasnt served. We do our part too ( which is making sure the government you serve doesnt take away your rights!) We also protest ALONG side those vets that dont get fair treatment.

The only diveder that I see is one thinks fighting is the right thing to do and the other dont. Both sides share the same idea, which is PEACE.

Exactly what he said