Freedom Isn't Free

Freedom isn't free.

But it sure comes cheaply for some people.

While in DC I went to Arlington National Cemetery. On a coincidentally dark and drizzly day I meandered all throughout the acres and acres of bleached white, uniform tomb stones. Although I did not feel any particular great emotion at the time -- I am a robot after all -- on my walk back some strong feelings did stir up in me. Being in a city built, in part, on the legacy of Ancient Greece I felt led to prophesy. An oracle a la me.

Four years from now the world will not end. The United States will not become a socialist state. Terrorists will not win. Obama will not reveal his hidden Islamic faith. And real Americans will continue live quite responsible lives, work in their communities, or lie dead in the soil.

I am not often angered, but one thing that angers me is the frequent insinuation, or outright exclamation, that supporting Obama or the current administration in any way suggests a deficiency in love for your country. As if being a Republican makes you more a true-blue American than being a Democrat or nothing at all. The converse was undoubtedly murmured here and there with the prior executive and it certainly came as a surprise to some that the Patriot Act did not in fact lead to fascism, but the sentiment has never been so frequently whispered, from what I can tell, as it is now.

Supposing establishing your conservative credentials did somehow give one a "Genuine Patriot" merit badge, being such an aficionado would not give whatever cause of the day it is one's championing any more credence. Correct my misguided, half-American understandings if they're wrong, but votes are not tallied based on nationalism and the nation's concept of civil discourse was not founded on jingoism. Partisanship is nothing new, and, truly, partisanship masquerading as love for your country itself is likely ageless, but the newest incarnation of it still saddens me. If you want to fight for your country, join the military and fight for your country. If you want to serve your country, join your church or local service organization and serve your country. If you want a better nation for your children, live a responsible, productive, considerate life that will make a better nation for your children. But please, save the rhetoric for your internal monologue. We're Americans; we're better than this.

Besides, I am the greatest patriot. Make me king. George Washington would have wanted it that way.