#patriot

Power must never be trusted without a check. ↗

— John Adams

#scope-of-government #separation-of-powers #separation

If we really saw war, what war does to young minds and bodies, it would be impossible to embrace the myth of war. If we had to stand over the mangled corpses of schoolchildren killed in Afghanistan and listen to the wails of their parents, we would not be able to repeat clichés we use to justify war. This is why war is carefully sanitized. This is why we are given war's perverse and dark thrill but are spared from seeing war's consequences. The mythic visions of war keep it heroic and entertaining… The wounded, the crippled, and the dead are, in this great charade, swiftly carted offstage. They are war's refuse. We do not see them. We do not hear them. They are doomed, like wandering spirits, to float around the edges of our consciousness, ignored, even reviled. The message they tell is too painful for us to hear. We prefer to celebrate ourselves and our nation by imbibing the myths of glory, honor, patriotism, and heroism, words that in combat become empty and meaningless. ↗

— Chris Hedges

#media #patriotism #truth #war #death

There has seldom if ever a shortage of eager young males prepared to kill and die to preserve the security, comfort and prejudices of their elders, and what you call heroism is just an expression of this simple fact; there is never a scarcity of idiots. ↗

— Iain Banks

#soldiers #war #heroism

Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes ↗

— Bertolt Brecht

#heroism #patriotism #role-models #heroism

Identification with the rag called the national flag is an emotional and sentimental factor and for that factor you are willing to kill another - and that is called, the love of your country, love of the neighbor . . .? One can see that where sentiment and emotion come in, love is not. ↗

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

#love

Where humanity sowed faith, hope, and unity, joy’s garden blossomed. ↗

— Aberjhani

#americans #faith #famous-quotes-from-classic-books #haiku #haikus

Patriotism. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. ↗

— Ambrose Bierce

#any #combustible #his #illuminate #name

Our platform calls for a balanced deficit reduction plan where the wealthy pay their fair share. And when your country is in a costly war, with our soldiers sacrificing abroad and our nation facing a debt crisis at home, being asked to pay your fair share isn't class warfare - it's patriotism. ↗

— Cory Booker

#asked #balanced #being #calls #class

Patriotism is the religion of hell. ↗

— James Branch Cabell

#patriotism #religion

No one in their right mind can say to me with a straight face that the Patriot Act has not aggregated the Fourth Amendment. ↗

— Peter Camejo

#amendment #face #fourth #me #mind