How long will our rekindled patriotism last?

[fastforty]

I can't take credit, but forcefully agree:

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma School officials remove "God Bless
America" signs from schools in fear that someone might be
offended.

Channel 12 News in Long Island, New York, orders flags
removed from the newsroom and red, white, and blue ribbons
removed from the lapels of reporters. Why? Management did not
want to appear biased and felt that our nations flag might give the appearance that "they lean one way or another."

Berkeley, California bans U.S. Flags from being displayed on
city fire trucks because they didn't want to offend anyone in the
community.

In an "act of tolerance" the head of the public library at Florida
Gulf Coast University ordered all "Proud to be an American" signs
removed so as to not offend international students.

I, for one, am quite disturbed by these actions of so-called
American citizens; and I am tired of this nation worrying about
whether or not we are offending some individual or their culture.
Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, we have
experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Americans.
However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled in New
York and Washington D.C. when the "politically correct" crowd
began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was
offending others.

I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against
anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America. In fact,
our country's population is almost entirely comprised of
descendants of immigrants; however, there are a few things that
those who have recently come to our country, and apparently
some native Americans, need to understand.

First of all, it is not our responsibility to continually try not to
offend you in any way. This idea of America being a multi-cultural
community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language, and our own lifestyle. This culture, called the "American Way" has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom. Our forefathers fought, bled, and died at places such as Concord, Lexington, Gettysburg, Bunker Hill, Antietam, San Juan, Iwo Jima, Normandy, Korea, Vietnam, and Kuwait.

We speak English, not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese,
Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become
part of our society -- learn our language!

"In God We Trust" is our national motto. This is not some
off-the-wall, Christian, Right Wing, political slogan -- it is our
national motto. It is engraved in stone in the House of
Representatives in our Capitol and it is printed on our currency.
We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on
Christian principles, founded this nation; and this is clearly
documented throughout our history. If it is appropriate for our motto to be inscribed in the halls of our highest level of Government, then it is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools.

God is in our pledge, our National Anthem, nearly every patriotic
song, and in our founding documents. We honor His birth, death,
and resurrection as holidays, and we turn to Him in prayer in
times of crisis. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider
another part of the world as your new home, because God is part
of our culture and we are proud to have Him.

We are proud of our heritage and those who have so honorably
defended our freedoms. We celebrate Independence Day,
Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Flag Day. We have parades,
picnics, and barbecues where we proudly wave our flag. As
an American, I have the right to wave my flag, sing my national
anthem, quote my national motto, and cite my pledge whenever
and wherever I choose. If the Stars and Stripes offend you, or you
don't like Uncle Sam, then get out of my country. Get out of my
home.

The American culture is our way of life, our heritage, and we are
proud of it. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to
change. We don't care how you did things where you came from.
We are Americans, like it or not, this is our country, our land, and
our lifestyle.

It's time to close the borders and recall all visa's. If you are not a flag waiving, pledge saying, American citizen, then it is time for you to go home.

Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his
opinion about our government, culture, or society, and we will allow you every opportunity to do so. But once you are done complaining, whining, and bitching about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, or our way of life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great American freedom, the right to leave.

[Art Eatman]

fastforty, I'm just guessing, but I think part of the problem is that many people have come to identify the "country", the "nation" and the "government" as one and the same.

Now, the same folks who continually want governmental solutions to social and environmental problems don't like most other facets of government--particularly law enforcement and the military. The atmosphere created by such things as "multi-culturalism", "equal opportunity", "sexual harassment", etc., has too many people in the social services realm continually worried about offending anybody for any reason.

These people, then, just cannot display signs of patriotism. There is, for many, an internal struggle between what they know is right, and what they belief is "proper behavior" in the eyes of their supposed peers. As usual, perception overpowers reality--and these people are totally unused to facing reality.

$0.02, Art

[David Scott]

"Rekindled", my sweet patootie! It's always been there, we just didn't get the TV coverage. Legions of us were patriotic before it became "trendy" in the wake of Sept. 11th.

The few isolated wanks pulling down flags for fear of giving offense were there, too, and now they're getting more TV coverage. They're getting more bad press then before, given the current situation.

With the pasage of time, some trend-follwers will move on, but the steadfast core of patriots will remain.

[Hard_Case]

Welcome to political correctness run amok. The most important thing is that our actions do not 'offend' anyone's 'sensibilities'.....in many cases it's a worse crime than committing violence on them. What I can't understand is how, for some strange reason, the rights of those in our country who A) are not citizens and B) haven't the desire to become citizens, has become more important to the 'public view'. Maybe I am being biased and prejudiced, but my right to express my patriotism damn sure trumps the rights of some person here on a temp visa just to get an education, who'll go home and never look back when they're done. I really am sorry if they get 'offended' (I wonder how many have actually protested this. Most of the 'offend internationals' talk I've heard are from Americans like the ACLU!), but it's part of the price you pay for being in America. Interesting....how no one has spoken of tolerance...and how people who come here should be nice and 'tolerate' our love of country. What a concept.

I wouldn't go so far as to say "If you don't love america, leave".....but I believe in the concept of the melting pot, and e pluribus unum. We are of many different races, but we are America. We are many different colors, but are all red, white, and blue. It's why I hate to hear **** like 'I'm an X-American', and other PCish terms. Being an American does NOT mean you must give up your culture, but it does mean that you have to accustom yourself to the country. How are we supposed to succeed in unifying ourselves, when in our words and deeds we do nothing but segregate ourselves. What we're dealing with now is an offshoot of this.

I take heart, however....there are 280,000,000 people living in this nation. What you are seeing are the unhappy few, those most endeared by the leftist media. For every town like Berkeley, CA, or Amherst, MA....there are thousands of towns filled where you cannot pass down a street without seeing Old Glory waving on more than a few porches and storefronts. I think it's going to be very much like the past....there are those who will stand up, place themselves under the flag, and be counted among those who will stand against those who wish to destroy out flag, and our freedom. They will do so without complaint, without pause, and without personal motive. And, as always, there will be those cowering behind, who do naught but chastise and villify they who defend us...never realizing that these people placing themselves in harms way provide the arena for them to do so.