My country, right or wrong left
The very fact that this is America (cue the italics, cue the banjos, bring in the piccolos) means that wrapping oneself in an unburnable flag, movements like our current penchant for hegemonic expansionism (and thinking that other countries just love having us invade them) and any notion that the government is always right (or Right) simply don't fly.
Rather than define patriotism as a sloganeering, mavricky conservatism, as Gov. Sarah Palin seems to be so fond of doing, we need to remember that the definition of "true patriot" in our coarse political discourse at any given time is a rapidly moving target.
Protest. Free expression. Criticism. They're all American in the deepest sense.
We can disagree. We don't all have to be evangelical Christians. Hell, we can even be Muslims or Jews or ... God forbid, atheists.
Let the majority rule but let the minority live free. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Mr. Rosenberg, you wrote, "Let the majority rule but let the minority live free." Sounds great. Unfortunately, this isn't possible under liberal democratic rule. The minority don't live free (in fact, nobody does), but rather under the dominion of big government.
As for our "current penchant for hegemonic expansionism" can you please elaborate to which you think this applies? Please don't reference anything in Europe - NATO is a *collective* security agreement with countries on the outside looking in aggressively applying for membership. There's Iraq, of course, but does one international endeavor qualify as a penchant? I'm curious as to what you're thinking here. Thanks in advance.
Toleration and even championing of the rights of the few is what our democracy should be about. And protections for the minority should be foremost in our minds. It's about what's right (not Right).
By hegemonic expansion, I mean the invasion, occupation and destruction of Iraq. Saddam was no cuddly bear, but things got worse after we invaded. They might get better some day. Might not.
We're in Afghanistan, too, and that's not going so well, either. The vacuum, wherever it exists, is filled by the Taliban and opium production. What's our "exit strategy" there? There isn't one.