This started out as a response to a friend’s blog - see http://mattythestranger.wordpress.com/2008/03/02/proud-to-be-an-american/
I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed as I read Michelle Malkin’s response and the comments below … I’m a moderate liberal - but I felt demonized by her blog and the people commenting after it. I was also a bit surprised that so many people would take one comment by a politician’s wife and use it to tar and feather her husband and the entire political party. Matty, I’m curious about what your take on her article was - where did you respond to it?
FWIW, I tend to feel that we have become a country of black and white and I don’t mean races - we don’t try to compromise and we’ve become so polarized that there’s very little chance of constructive change happening.
I am proud of my country - but that means I’m proud of the people in my country - not the political parties! I’m proud of the way people have stepped up to the plate whether it’s through military service or Peace Corps service - whether it’s through volunteering at a soup kitchen or volunteering at church. We are a nation of people who should be proud of how we step out to help people. BUT I have to admit I’m not proud of our political system nor the way it has become extremist. I’m now a registered Independent - I couldn’t stand either party’s platform nor the way they continually degraded the other party’s beliefs. I think that too many people are looking for ways to sling mud and degrade the people who willing to step out and attempt to change our country.
I was willing to give two years to try to change the world. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya and the first thing I was told when I got off of the plane was that I had just lost all of my first amendment rights. I was shocked - I had taken those for granted for so long and now I didn’t have the freedom of speech, assembly, religion, press etc. It was a shock and it made me realize how proud I was that I’m from a country where those freedoms are taken for granted. I went on to work for 2 years in a little village, in extreme poverty, and hopefully, I made a small difference in the lives of my students. Now I work with kids here in the US and still try to make a small difference in their lives.
Well Matty - here’s my response and thank you for giving me the opportunity to really examine my own feelings about our country and the people in it.
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