Home    Views    February 2004

		Points of View Posted February 28, 2004 Guest Column © 2004 Ray Sharp Published with Permission

Patriotism redefined

By Ray Sharp

HOUGHTON -- Heard over fried eggs, wheat toast and strong coffee in a local café: "So, have you read the Patriot Act? Is it true that you can be deported for denouncing the government?"

"No," I said, "I think only resident aliens get deported. American citizens are protected by the First Amendment, as long as they don't make death threats on elected officials. I think you're safe until Bush suspends the election and declares martial law."

She was a performance artist with a wild theory that the American people have been misled over the last 20-odd years by a secret group of greedy capitalists and religious extremists who have systematically redefined American values to support their own self-serving agenda. I was a public health worker with ties to Homeland Security, by nature skeptical of theories from the left, right, top or bottom that purport to explain everything as one Vast Right- Or Left-Wing Conspiracy. My personal philosophy is more like S**t Happens, But That's No Reason to Hoard Toilet Paper.

So what about her theory? The more I thought, the more I believed. Another cup of coffee, please?

Start with the Patriot Act, an inspired name for an anti-American hodgepodge of measures that strip us of our basic civil rights. Or maybe not, but I'm too lazy to find out, so either way it's plausible that such a violation of the Bill of Rights and affront to American values could be pulled off right underneath our apathetic nose rings.

The very nature of patriotism is being redefined -- you might even say dumbed down -- for easy consumption by the overworked, overmedicated, overfed, understimulated masses. In fact, with Wal-Mart now the nation's largest employer, "Easy Consumption" ought to be the new national motto. After all, the message from President George W. Bush to the American people on what they can do for their country seems to be: 1) Vote Republican, 2) Marry Someone of the Opposite Sex, and 3) Shut Up and Go Shopping.

Speaking of same-sex weddings -- and lately President Bush has had more to say about this topic than about the federal deficit, lackluster job growth, and the hunt for Osama bin Ladin and those darn Weapons of Mass Destruction -- the president is urging Congress to approve a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. He must think the 14th Amendment got it wrong: "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

No matter. Polls show that white evangelical Christians overwhelmingly advocate laws that discriminate against gays and lesbians. In political parlance, trumpeting the proposed amendment is known as "energizing the base." Nothing like a little culture war to take people's minds off how privilege trumped National Guard duty for one preppy fly-boy who happened to be a congressman's son. 

Of course, there are small lies, and then there are big lies. Small lie: Being fuzzy on the details of why you skipped a few months of pilot training more than 30 years ago. Big lie: Claiming tax-cuts for the rich will strengthen the U.S. economy and create jobs. Which brings us back to the theory that a small group of fanatical Neo-Cons will stop at nothing to get their way, with the complicity and support of a majority of Americans who are too scared or bewildered to care, by Orwellianly co-opting and perverting words like Patriot and Freedom and Homeland and the ideals they used to represent.

Next thing you know, Education Secretary Rod Paige will call the National Education Association a "terrorist organization" and John Ashcroft will ship off some kindergarten teachers to Guantanamo Bay.

Oops, there I go being un-patriotic. You don't think those snowmobilers heard me, do you? That's enough coffee. I better shut up and go shopping.

Editor's Note: Read more about guest author Ray Sharp.

Visit the Keweenaw Now discussion forums to comment on this article.

Note: Views expressed by our guest columnists are not necessarily the views of Keweenaw Now.