Ah, the familiar sting. From 2008 – 2016, these were words typically echoed by my Democrat friends, very commonly with the stated nation being Somalia (apparently a “libertarian” society in the eyes of their political ideology). Before that, you might be told to move to Iraq or Afghanistan under Bush. Amidst the latest foreign policy adventure, I suppose the region of choice is now Iran, as evidenced by an encounter I had this evening.
Only in a landscape of political-superhero worship could a phrase so shortsighted and juvenile be cast with such conviction and with such consistency by whoever the followers of the current executive cult are. It is of course, this executive fan boi superpower that allows them to hold their monopoly on patriotism. And when one holds a monopoly, history has shown it will be short lived (without assistance from the State), so best to exercise it with haste!
The biggest problem of course is that amidst the consistency in the casting of these pain-invoking words by whoever’s American idol holds the golden baton, is the lack of consistency in principle behind the reason for casting said words. What I have found rather bizarre, especially in the time I have been a libertarian, is that the lack of thrift in throwing this phrase out is almost always post-requisite to the speaker being challenged to defend something that is blatantly unconstitutional. Under Bush, it was the so-called Patriot act. I remember that when I likened it to the “Committee of Public Safety” of Robespierre, my dear uncle suggested that “If I hated the country, maybe I should get out” (although years later he confessed that I was right). Good friends of mine suggested Somalia as a good destination for my resistance to the so-called Affordable Care Act. Even under the Trump administration, I have heard it sung by my friends of the left that is gun control laws pass . . . “It is the will of the country, and maybe you would be happier in a country with warlords and full semi-automatic sub machine guns with dual cycling grenade launchers.” (I don’t know what that is either, but I am also a little excited). And now that there are questions swirling around the circumstances of Sloeimani – slide to the right, Iran this time.
In reality, there is a solution to the problem of determining who does and does not actually “like” the country. It is really quite simple. There is a document that limits the federal government with very few powers (at least in theory it should). Most of those powers it holds are to guarantee to The People certain unalienable rights as enumerated in the Bill of Rights. This document is so very important in fact, that one of the requisites of holding office or working for various different agencies of the federal government is that you must be willing to swear an oath to “ . . . preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” And while this document can be amended (under rules laid out within its structure), until it is, those who do truly like the country are those who respect the authority of the Constitution. To those who do not and who would change or pervert it other than by official means – I hear Australia is beautiful at this time of the year.