Patriotism

I was watching "The Daily Show" last night and Robert Reich was on making a rather compelling argument on behalf of liberals in America. One of the more interesting things he suggested was that all of these rich people who are sheltering money (i.e. protected accounts in Bermuda, etc.) are actually unpatriotic. By protecting their money that way the burden to pay for the running of America; whether it be schools, the war, etc.; is left upon the working class, which certainly appears to be shrinking. It seems some of the strongest advocates for the war efforts, beefed up security, etc. are those who are also sheltering their money, and I would also argue would consider themselves patriotic. That seems quite the attack.

For years I've considered myself rather unpatriotic. Now, I still don't consider myself overly patriotic but I do think I'm starting to change my view a bit. I think perhaps I've just confused my disagreement with the way the government has done things with a lack of patriotism. When in fact to disagree, to be willing to have an actual opinion, might turn out to be more patriotic, in the spirit of the founding of this nation, than to blindly follow whatever decisions the government makes.