Being Labeled...

[Hobbs]

...as un-patriotic for my political views.

I was going to post this in the "assumptions" thread, but didn't want to make it a political discussion. Frankly, I'm tired of people being two-faced when talking with me. They see the uniform and go "Omg! You're such a patriot!" etc. But then I'll inevitably get a political question and say, "Well, I voted for him, so I'm glad he's president," or, "I won't vote for him because he supports/doesn't support [blank]." They're reaction becomes one of surprise and "Omg, how can you be in the military and think that?!" Um...it's easy. I put aside politics when I work, because despite Democrat/Republican, conservative/liberal, religious/secular, we're all Americans.

I guess what I'm getting at is; just because my views/opinions are more liberal than yours doesn't make me any less of an American than you are.

[HYHYBT]

I'm still trying to understand how certain segments of the population have been so successful at co-opting patriotism to equate with their political, social, etc views, and why the rest of us let them get away with it. Loving your country does not necessarily mean you like OR dislike the condition it's in (whatever aspects of that you deem important), or think we should go on from here in any particular direction, or even that it was better or worse at some time in the past.

Going one further, it's often the case that those most divided on an issue have *each* taken the position they have precisely out of patriotism; they just disagree on what would be best for the country, or which of the values they see it as standing for is most important, etc. And in some of the cases where that's the most true, going too far either way would be disastrous, which is why the ever-strengthening polarization we've had the last umpteen years is so troubling.

[Talon]

I'm still trying to understand how certain segments of the population have been so successful at co-opting patriotism to equate with their political, social, etc views...

Not that hard to understand. Repeat a Big Lie often enough, people start to believe it.

...and why the rest of us let them get away with it.

Because the rest of us generally do not have the means to communicate with millions of people.

[joe hx]

Let's, you vote so you probably pay some attention to politics. Which means you hope this country goes one way or the other. Sounds patriotic to me.

[Kaylyn]

I'm assuming you're saying that because you're not uber-right-wing conservative, you're being labeled as unpatriotic? I agree, that's completely ridiculous. Patriotism has nothing to do with your stance on the left-wing/right-wing hot-button issues. It's all about your service and devotion to the country; protecting your rights, freedom, etc.