Over the last few years, I have heard commentators who generally agree with my view of things (the "liberals") comment on various aspects of U. S. Policy. They will commonly inject a variation of the following into their analysis: "...but this is a great country", or "this is a great country, but..." or "I love this country, but", or "but I love this country". This has happened even as they describe policies and circumstances which are morally unacceptable.
For example, "The environmental policies of the United States are resulting in long term and irreparable damage which the entire world will have to pay for for decades to come. This is a great country, but..."; "The gap between rich and poor in the U. S. is much larger than it has ever been. It is absolutely unacceptable. I love this country, but..."; "This is the only country in the industrialized world that does not have a universal health care system, but this is a great country."
Recently, I was involved in a conversation with two other people, when something interesting happened. We were talking about how Bush and company abdicated their responsibility to bring bin Laden to justice after 9/11, and instead used the attacks as an excuse to do what it had been planning on doing long before 9/11: invade Iraq. We all agreed that it was done for oil and Halliburton. We agreed that the diversion of troops and money to Iraq from Afghanistan has enabled bin Laden to get away with 9/11, not to mention take out bin Laden's long time enemy, Saddam Hussein. Suddenly, in the middle of the conversation, one of them said, "I love this country, but...". She was immediately interrupted by the other person who I was conversing with. Before she was even done with her statement, he said, "See, I don't love this country."
It was an impulsive statement on his part. All three of us, including the person who said it, were taken aback for a second. Then he said, "Well, I'm not sure I meant that." But it occured to me that, although he had backed away from his statement, the thought that ran through his head- and which he impulsively vocalized- raised a very interesting question. That question is this: At what point to people stop saying, "I love this country," and "This is a great country" and say to themselves, "Well, wait a minute here. If the U. S. is doing all these horrible things, then is it really a great country? Don't actions speak louder than words?"
I'm sure that the German people in the 1930's and early forties who were born in Germany and spoon fed patriotism all their lives thought theirs was a "great country". I'm sure that even many of those who hated Hitler and were opposed to Nazism kept saying, even while millions were slaughtered in the concentration camps, "but this is a great country, we just need to get Hitler out and change a few things." and "I love Germany but..." ect.
Now, I am not comparing the U. S. to Nazi Germany or Bush to Hitler, but I am pointing out that the mentality of blind patriotism has had and continues to have devastating consequences. Therefore, there has to be SOME THRESHOLD POINT where you have to say, "this isn't a great country, if it does these terrible things" and "I don't love this country" (like my friend blurted out). That threshhold point would presumably be somewhere between where we are now and where the German liberals were in 1939. But my friend's impulsive statement, and the mere possibility of four more years of Bush, leads me to think that we may be much closer to that threshhold point than most intelligent people should be comfortable with. What do you think, how close are we to crossing over that line?