

What is Freedom? - wicknicks
https://plus.google.com/111091089527727420853/posts/VFQcGofBkNb?tab=XX

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mattdeboard
I spent my early adulthood from 18-22 and 24-31 as a Marine. I've found I
can't muster up much patriotism anymore. American exceptionalism, even less. I
wore the "cloth of our nation" for many years, before, perhaps, some readers
of HN were even born. (It's possible!) While I believe that American ideals
strive to capture the very highest potential of civilization, my
disillusionment is total.

I spent a long time in Iraq, and I was part of the federal Hurricane Katrina
response immediately after the levees broke. I was a fervent George Bush
supporter & believer until I saw what happened in New Orleans, and was a
strong opponent after my second Iraq tour.

What little faith I had in our elected leaders has been methodically sought
out and destroyed by Obama's term in office. The vigor with which politicians
will consume each other to the detriment of national interests is...
heartbreaking. I foolishly afforded myself a little of "that hope-y, change-y
stuff", but our president's ineffectiveness -- either because of his own doing
or the resistance in Washington -- has made me regret that.

And now, we have Sarah Palins and Michelle Bachmanns running around belittling
science, undermining factual rightness, and generally spitting in the face of
honesty. Anthony Weiner's weiner was dangled in front of us to distract us
from the deficit, and it appears the only bipartisan, bicameral unity our
Congress can muster anymore is the belief that an electronic dickshot must be
dealt with immediately. The federal deficit can wait.

I dunno. Happy 4th, I guess. Fireworks are cool and my kid seems to like the
festivities. But for me, I won't be waving a flag around anytime soon. America
for me has become, ironically, much like communism: A beautiful ideal that is
ruined by greed and power-mongering.

