Once dubbed one of the most dangerous people in America by J. Edgar Hoover, activist and speaker Emma Goldman defied history with her revolutionary support for labor rights, women’s rights and “everyone’s right to beautiful radiant things.”
By Madison S. Hughes (08.14.2011), Updated (09.22.2011)
Patriotism is a form of false pride for those who have nothing of their own of which they can be proud. It is little more than a tribal characteristic of banal instinct that provides a gratifying sensation of self-worth.
How can one be proud of being born within a particular geographical area of which they had absolutely no input? Clearly, reflective thought is not a part of this end. Reflective thought would require one to objectively evaluate the actions of their country, and the effect those actions have on them and the world as a whole. If one were to honestly do so, one, as I, would realize a great desire to expatriate to a less religious, more equitable country as one would find in Scandinavia and Western Europe.
In contemporary America, the Tea Baggers base their definition of what it is to be an American on geography and ignorance. They are not cosmopolitan by any stretch of the imagination, nor do they show any sign of cultural curiosity. They are simply demonstrating territorial instinct, as do others with similar cerebral deficits.
Patriotism to one’s country is understood, and need not be expressed. If one feels inclined to overtly express such, then one is expressing nationalism, not patriotism.
Trump vows to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system and spur $1 trillion in new investment in roads, waterways and other infrastructure. How? By charging us DOUBLE: Once for giving tax breaks to private investors in infrastructure, and then for paying the tolls and fees they’ll charge. It’s another of Trump’s giant scams. Don’t fall for it.
Mike Papantonio, America’s Lawyer (RT America)/Ring of Fire Radio/Law and Disorder. After days of speculation – Donald Trump announced today that he would pull the US out of the Paris Climate Deal. Why is this so-called nationalist president trying to surrender America’s climate leadership role to China?
So many of you have asked that I repost “How to Talk to Your Uncle Bob over the Holidays” video, given what’s occurred. The point is civility, on both sides.
Your typical wage is below what it was in the late 1970s, in terms of what it can buy. Two-thirds of you are living paycheck to paycheck. Almost 30 percent of you don’t have steady employment: You’re working part-time or on contract, with none of the labor protections created over the last 80 years – no unemployment insurance if you lose your job, no worker’s compensation if you’re injured, no time-and-a-half pay for working more than 40 hours a week, no minimum wage, and you have to pay your own Social Security. Over 37 percent of you have dropped out of the workforce altogether because you’ve become too discouraged even to look for work. That’s a near record. As if all this weren’t enough, the schools and infrastructure on which you rely have been neglected, and the ravages of climate change – droughts, fires, and floods – are worsening.
Yet the American economy is twice as large as it was in the late 1970s. As a nation, we are richer than we’ve ever been. We could afford to do so much better.
None of this has happened by accident.
EXACTLY!!!
Always Question Authority 