letter to edtior on Patriotism
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Answer:
Jim Richardon says
December 4, 2020 at 5:29 PM
Your comments about patriotism echo my own. I,too, went to the University of Wisconsin in the late 60’s as a graduate student. I was drafted into the Army at the end of my first year and sent to Vietnam as am infantryman. On my return, I was a different person. I questioned my government and became heavily involved in politics, especially in peaceful protest against the Iraq wars. In the early 80’s, when there was an effort by some of our conservative politicians to protect the American flag from being burned, I strongly protested, arguing burning the flag was a legitimate form of protest protected by our Constitution under the First Amendment and freedom of speech. The Supreme Court agreed. I believed then, and I do now, that the flag is not a sacred symbol and needs no such protection. What really needs protected are our newspapers and news organizations, especially today.
I consider myself a patriot and I agree the Republicans have been successful at convincing people that the flag somehow belongs only to them and not to anyone else. Progressives made the mistake to let them claim it for their own and that needs to change. As a person in his seventies, I believe, like you, to be a patriot does not have anything to do with political affiliation. I love my country, but I still believe we have a long way to go. To me, that is the sign of a true patriot.