Proud of What?

On February 29, 1872, Senator Carl Schurz of Missouri made the following remark on the floor of the United States Senate:
"....My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." (The Congressional Globe, vol. 45, p. 1287)

The second sentence of this quote is a phrase we hear and see again and again. I can think of plenty of bumper stickers featuring this quote that I've spotted on the road for years - no, decades. But we tend only to acknowledge (or maybe want to acknowledge) the front part, not the whole thing. It seems there's this never-ending yen to stress the first five words only, and conveniently drop the rest.

Which brings me to Michelle Obama, that pool-playing gun-lover and several others in a new Tennessee GOP political ad, Cindy McCain, and my friend Julie.

Obama's and McCain's wives, and Mr. Guns-'n'-Pool Cues and his friends never met my friend Julie, and with the exception of Michelle Obama, most of them probably wouldn't want to.

Scene one: Michelle Obama giving a speech, in which she says "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country." Cut to good ol' boy at his billiard table, with a wall full of mounted firearms behind him, and the pride in the freedom to worship and bear arms bursting from his lips.

Scene two: a flashback to February, 2008, when Mrs. McCain initiated a cat fight with Mrs. Obama, (over)reacting to Obama's above statement. The conservative blonde heiress scampers in with the retort "Well, I'm VERY proud of my country. I don't know about you."

Proud of what? A war we were lied into, which McCain stated awhile ago he could see extending for 100 years? Proud of all the people we've killed, the fortunes we've squandered, the land we've destroyed, the enemies we've made, the lies we've told, and how we've put ourselves more horrifyingly at risk as a result of that war? Proud of an economy that's rewarded greed and arrogance, punishing the little guy, redistributing wealth upwards to those who already have plenty from coast-to-coast and sending millions of jobs off our shores altogether? Proud of leadership that rules by intimidation, deceit, and fear-mongering? Proud of a country whose Supreme Court actually dared to stop the counting of the American vote - so that a scheming, well-connected loser could wind up winning? Proud of a government that's taught this country you can lie, cheat, steal, cut corners, and repeatedly violate the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions, and nothing punitive will happen to you? Proud of an America now known as a torturer? Proud of a country in which a powerful, monopolistic media hate machine is allowed to run amok, peddling fraud and distortion, fostering mean-spiritedness, racism, sexism, ignorance, and a win-at-all-costs/"screw-you" mentality? Proud of a nation so divided that it's now eating itself alive? Proud of an America now obsessed by holy wars, intolerance, and bedroom busybodies? Proud of a country whose unchecked, unrestrained government runs up oceans of debt in reckless, misbegotten spending priorities? Proud of a nation in which almost 50 million people - many of them children - don't have health insurance, and many more have "coverage" that's woefully insufficient? Proud of a government whose preemptive war nickels-and-dimes its soldiers and their loved ones so well-heeled, pampered chickenhawks back home can have more? Proud of the nauseating new template that's been set nearly in stone by the behavior of this administration - of absolutely no accountability? Proud of a leadership that cares nothing about tapping your phone, reading your emails, and snooping into your online activities - without having to offer any explanations? Proud of a so-called opposition party so cowed and spineless that it fumbles at slowing these high-level offenders down, much less doing anything gutsy and decisive to stop them? Proud of a nation that prizes the achievements of overinflated sports divas, trainwreck twinkies, and media meanies over teachers, scientists, and courageous dissenters? Proud of an America in which the least of our brethren are shoved to the back of the line - and locked in there?

I'm sorry. I don't see a whole lot to be proud of, and that's a partial list, at best.

And coincidentally, neither does my friend Julie. I've known this woman for decades - since we were in elementary school. A few months ago, she called me and we had what I think was our first-ever purely political conversation. Amazingly enough, in all this time, through all the ups and downs of a cherished and long-running friendship, politics just never came up before. Now, however, it's unavoidable. Julie was clearly distressed. Three words blurted out of her mouth, to start: "I'm so ashamed!" She then proceeded to confess that she's a lifelong Republican, and voted for George W. Bush twice. And then, for a second time, she declared - "I'm so ashamed!"

Ashamed of What? Well, of all those things in the list above, according to my friend. Julie continued in our conversation to lament how she trusted George and was so gravely disappointed in the fruits of that trust. She'd believed in the Republican Way, indeed she'd been brought up believing in it, and it let her down bigtime. It disspirited her so resoundingly that, for the first time in her life, she was seriously considering leaving her party and voting with the Democrats. She said she found Barack Obama particularly encouraging - finally a cooling drink of fresh water after a long and bitter political drought. My friend has also thus come to the realization that she can do something about that, when the country she loves has gone so desperately insane.

I know how Julie feels. I couldn't agree more. I've been deeply ashamed of my country's pursuit of the crooked path extolled by the GOP. My own personal distress arises from the decline of sensible and adult governance, truly objective and honest bipartisanship, and an increase in just flat-out money-grubbing, while selling fairy stories about regulations = bad, unfettered corporatism = good/social responsibility = bad, greed = good. It's gone on since the dawn of the Reagan era, and reached a culmination after seven-and-some years of George W. Bush. It's not Lady Liberty we revere any longer. It's Machiavelli. It's narrow-mindedness, not expansiveness. Fear rather than courage. Money trumping peace, as Dubya himself has said. The America I see now is one I no longer recognize. Evidently, the rest of the world concurs. This election finally offers us a chance to pull ourselves out of The Mess That George Built, and it can't come soon enough for me. Like my friend Julie, I too love my country enough to try to correct her when she's wrong - particularly when she's this wrong.

Perhaps from where Mr. Pool-Player Rifleman and the others in that commercial, and Cindy McCain all stand, things look just ducky. Change? What change? Things are great, aren't they? Nothing we have to repair, nor anything over which we need to repent. Stay the course! More war and international aggression! More tax cuts for the rich! More Bushonomics! More cronyism and even less accountability! More societal crippling! Let's have at least four more years of everything that has so dismally failed up til now, shall we? No reason to try to set our distraught country back on a sensible, reasonable, and thoughtful road, or to steer our troubled ship of state away from the icebergs. Icebergs? What icebergs? They evidently think you can steer only to the "right" and be just fine, and our country, right ONLY. There IS no wrong. Perhaps Michelle Obama feels a surge of pride only now because of what her husband's candidacy promises if he's the Democratic nominee - a drastic change in the rotten, disgraceful, veritably Un-American affliction that's sickened our 300-million member American family. He's given her hope, also. Apparently, Michelle Obama sees the runaway train about to be slowed down, at long last, and directed safely and surely away from the track to utter calamity.

My friend Julie agrees with Michelle. So do I. We see our country in trouble and are more eager than ever to rescue it - especially since we now see there's actually a fighting chance that we can. "...If wrong, to be set right." Conservative nay-sayers and YouTube ostriches, go ahead and be proud of the most disastrous reversal of fortune in our nation's history. We, in turn, will be very proud when we've brought that shameful condition to an end.

Comments

[blaqntelligence]

Awesome post, Mary.

Republicans have tried to make an issue of Mrs. Obama's comment and end up looking quite foolish when 81% of Americans feel the same way.

The republicans tried to make an issue of Senator Obama's "bitter" comment....Again looking foolish when WV's voting prove him correct.

Republicans are destroying this country far more than terrorists 6,000 miles away ever will.
Starting with bush, installed by a Supreme Court coup.

[stillcool]

I am so not proud of what the Bush Administration has done to my country. We are no longer a nation ruled by law, we are ruled by men. A few men. I am so not proud of how those who wear the uniform of my country are treated. I am so not proud of my government's use of torture. I would never have believed what has gone in the last 7+ years possible, if I hadn't lived it, yet even so it still shocks me. I am proud of the American people, and places like Huff Post, and posts like yours Mary...which allow me to see, that we are not what CNN et al portrays us to be. We are smarter, and not as easily divided as they would have us believe, or want us to be.

[realtalk]

Well thank God this is coming out of YOUR MOUTH Mary Lyon, and that IT HAS NOT, AND NEVER HAS come out of Michelle's mouth.

[bklynsam]

Beautifully said, Mary!

"When shall it be said in any country of the world, my poor are happy, neither ignorance or distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes not oppressive; the rational world is my friend because I am friend of its happiness. When these things can be said, then may that country boast of its constitution and government ."
- Thomas Paine

"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in their struggle for independence."
- Charles A. Beard

For the record, though, Michelle Obama said she was really proud of this country because of the way Americans were becoming fully engaged in the the political process in a way she had never seen before. Most of the media and political opposition like to cut it out of context.

[apoyo]

Has anyone given any thought to the great sacrifice Michelle Obama is making for her country?
These past 17 months have not been easy for her.

[Attucks]

The fact is..NO Hillary..means..NO White House in November.

[sfam]

Congrats from a fellow DU poster - Good job! We as Americans should all be ashamed of the course we've let this administration take us down. This November, we have a chance to start the correction process.

[Lis]

Thank goodness we can vote for Obama and change this.

[altohone]

Let's hope enough of the country is aware the corporate media can't be trusted.

Anybody see any reports in the video MSM about the estimated 300,000 "leftist" Koreans executed in 1950 while our military was in charge in South Korea?
One AP article on the web, and short on details, now quailfies as disclosure.

I can't help but think that the digital divide is to blame for the pockets of ignorance that remain.

Like your friend Julie, we want to believe the best of our country. (we as in they, not me as I was born cynical with enough German blood to genetically know that governments are capable of horror)

The truth about Bush was discounted as partisan or as conspiracy theories.

We need an informed electorate, and when the criminals control the information, it isn't possible.

Imagine where we'd be if Net Neutrality hadn't been maintained.

Mary, I hope you keep talking and writing... and don't forget that some Democrats were involved in assisting the Bush agenda... and they too deserve your rage.

[allonfla]

I found it interesting how the MSM, and GOP jumped on her for that when everytime I turn on the TV, there is a pundit or politician talking about what's wrong with this country. Dissing Bush and America's policy - although well deserved. NO one calls them unpatriotic.

[clevelandchick]

Amen Mary! If I didn't love my country I wouldn't care, but I do love my country and I care that it be a place I am proud of as well. And after the last 8 (even as far back as 20) years I haven't felt very proud.
This Republican Way, that even Clinton bought into on (deregulation of the finance & T-com industries, DADT, NAFTA), is responsible for our economic and foreign policy woes affecting our lives so negatively and tarnishing our relationship with the world.

Great, great post. I'll forward this far and wide.

[hopeless277]

Welcome to the Barbarian States of America. No country is safe from our invasions. No country is safe from our armies. We torture with glee, cause others to flee, just because we ARE EXCEPTIONAL.
God loves us. Everyone else hates us. Ask us if we care. Three cheers for the good 'ol BSA.