being an American

Howard Zinn, Idiot [Oliver Willis: Like Kryptonite To Stupid]:

The author of “People’s History of the United States” (which should be retitled “A Revisionist History Of The United States, As Told By Socialists, Anarchists, and Other Members Of The Fringe”), says that we should put away flags on Independence Day because nationalism is “one of the great evils of our time”. What a maroon.

My comments:

i have to agree with the commenters above that Zinn’s premise is not anti-American, at least not opposed to the America of the Founders. But he makes a good case that a lot has been done in the name of America that is not necessarily in tune with those ideals. The examples he cites — wars in Mexico, Cuba, the Phillipines, all the in the name of saving those people from themselves — do not ring true to Washington’s words about avoiding foreign entanglements.

The founding of the US was seen as a repudiation of the politics of empire, of kings, and of institutionalized inequalities. Barring slavery’s long run, it worked pretty well for the first hundred years. And I don’t disagree with the need to America to act in the World Wars. But the Spanish American War? Vietnam? Iraq? Grenada? Panama?

Do you really see those actions and the rise of the corporate state as consistent with the Founders ideals?

I see no advantage based on where you were born or whose passport you carry. What does claiming “my tribe is better” do for you? Better to reflect on what America has done and can do to make the world better than just claiming that “this is the best place in the world and if you don’t agree you suck/are an idiot/hate America.”

This is one reason I oppose naturalization at birth and think everyone should be tested before being granted citizenship.

I dunno, half the people in this country are quick to claim Irish or Italian or German ancestry all the while chanting USA!!11! USA!11!

A little conflicted, dontchathink?

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