Eritrea Unknown - 2,000 Christians behind bars

Cry Freedom Eritrea - CSW

Patriotism and Nationalism: Country and Government

I’ve noticed that amid all the political commentary and journalism that I read, both conservative and liberal, there is no genuine distinction made between Patriotism and Nationalism. While Nationalism seems to keep its bad reputation, it is far more prevalent than anyone seems willing to admit. There are Nationalists on the Right and Nationalists on the Left. The reason, perhaps, that Nationalism is hard to spot is because it often calls itself Patriotism. 

The best way I know to describe the difference between the two is to place them in a neighborhood. A Nationalist is like a conceited property owner. He believes he owns the biggest and best house in the subdivision and lets everyone know it. He is satisfied with his house only because he is convinced that it stands above the others. If his edifice were not the grandest, he would do everything in his power to make it the grandest, or at least appear so. He cares only for what wins him bragging rights.

A Patriot, on the other hand, is like a property owner with the smallest house on the street. He loves his house, but he is under no delusion that it is the best or biggest. Yet he loves it all the same. He loves it because it is his house. He bought it with his own money, he fixed it with his own hands, and filled it with his own family. Size and grandeur matter little to a Patriot. The mere fact of possession and privacy provides for him enough romance to supply a thousand novels. 

Because the Nationalist loves an empire and the Patriot loves a home, they are often in disagreement. Incidentally, many Nationalists are against the home, against privacy, and against the family. Those who are not against these are inconsistent thinkers, and in this case, are better for it. An empire has no room for a kitchen table, because a kitchen table creates an independent state loyal to mother first, and to motherland second. Empires hate winning second place.

Aside from its empire-lust, Nationalism is dangerous because it is a blind devotion, not to an ideal, cause, or dogma, but to a government, and this for glory and power. Blind supporters provide their idols with tremendous power, and tremendous power is always abused when it falls into human hands. Thus, Nationalists, despite their good intentions, fertilize the political field for tyranny. The 20th century saw Nationalism at work in Nazi Germany. The good people of Germany, after being humiliated at the close of World War I, were all too eager to elect a man who would restore Germany’s former glory. The empire Hitler built tickled Nationalist egos, but it was paid for by genocide and a second World War. 

Another reason we should be careful to distinguish between Nationalism and Patriotism is that it is easy to confuse Nationalism with Patriotism and Patriotism with betrayal. For instance, supporting a war is not necessarily patriotic, nor is opposing it necessarily unpatriotic. In fact, if I support a war merely because my country is in it, I am guilty of Nationalism. If, on the other hand, I support a war out of a genuine conviction that it is a just and necessary war, I act with Patriotism. 

As another example, we sometimes are told that supporting particular government policies is the patriotic thing to do. This is a clever way to discourage criticism of the government and to encourage Nationalism in all its blind naiveté. Often, a Patriot feels forced to criticize his government for the good of his country. 

Because the Patriot loves the country he possesses, his love for it drives him to seek its good. As a good man maintains his house, not primarily for his own sake, but for the sake of his family, so a Patriot seeks the good of his nation, not primarily for his own sake, but for the sake of his country. Patriotism is not merely dedication to one’s country, but to truth and goodness because love desires the best for others. 

Just like acting wickedly is harmful to one’s soul, countries and governments are harmed by doing evil. Thus, he is no Patriot who perverts justice for the sake of his country. Opposing evil and tyranny wherever it appears is the height of Patriotism. And it is the support of evil, knowingly or not, which is the betrayal, not only of one’s country, but of all men.

Be careful what you say; even phones have ears.

I have always been opposed to cell phones, although not for privacy reasons. Like the internet, like genetic experimentation, like so many new technologies, we haven't spent any time thinking about what they do to us, rather than what they do for us. As Neil Postman wrote in the 80s, technology is not neutral but always has a particular bias. In the case of television, for instance, the bias is toward entertainment. It doesn't matter what content you're presenting, if you present it via television, it will inevitably be squeezed into the mold of entertainment. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons that televangelism is so bad. Televangelists are entertainers above all else--and they have to be. If they weren't primarily presenting religious entertainment, their shows would be canceled for being bad (and boring) television.

Likewise, I've always been hesitant about technological "improvements"--not because technology is bad, but because we humans are bad and bound to abuse it. Case in point, the US government has vastly expanded its spying on its own citizens. They embrace every new technology (video surveillance, internet hacking, social media tracking, cell phone tapping, etc.) without making real (or any, for that matter) provisions to protect us, the people, from government abuse. Every unchecked power will be abused, regardless of legality.

In addition to real and potential abuse of government power, we ought to be aware of how we are creating opportunities for people (and unscrupulous government agencies) to violate and erase our privacy.

For instance, you probably know that nearly anyone can hack our computers and watch and listen to us through built-in mics and webcams. But did you know that your cell phone is perhaps an even worse offender?

In fact, cell phones are so dangerous to privacy that according to above article,

Christians in Iran have learned that they must take the batteries entirely out of their cell phones before they gather for home church meetings.  If they don't take the batteries out of their cell phones, there is a good chance that the secret police will show up and drag them off to prison.

I doubt anyone will change their habits as these sorts of stories become more common, but I do hope that we will at least begin to ask ourselves is newer is always better.

VIDEO: News story on cell phone tapping.

News to Know: Obama Lawyer admits forgery, IRS tries to lock you up

• The IRS may soon be able to revoke your travel plans at will. A new bill will allow the IRS to keep you from leaving the country by merely alleging you owe unpaid taxes. Land of the free, huh? And home of the brazen abuse of power.
• Obama's Lawyer admits his birth certificate is forged.
• It's old news for most of us, but in case you didn't know, Obama is Marxist radical Saul Alinsky's best student.
• New $2B spy center in Utah -- do you believe they aren't spying on you? How can one believe an organization with no accountability to keep its word? If there's one thing politics ought to teach us is that the less transparent departments, politicians, panels, etc. are, the more likely it is that they're corrupted beyond imperial Rome.

News to Know: Animal Farm IRL, Obama flag

• Holder 1995: We must brainwash people on guns

• Executive Order Panic: Martial Law in the US? --Maybe not.

• Obamacare will cost twice as much as figured

• Dem HQ hoist American flag with Obama's image

• Big Pharma pushes drug to "cure racism" --While racism is evil, do we really want to fight bad ideas with pills rather than Reason?

• Gaystapo: Arrest British Vicars for "hate crime" of disagreement --Freedom of speech is on its deathbed in the UK. Whatever position you take on the morality of homosexual behavior, we ought to agree that freedom of speech and freedom of thought are the hallmarks of a free society. If you lose your intellectual freedoms, no other freedom matters, nor can it be preserved.

News to Know: Obama claims "right" to assassinate U.S. citizens at will

In Soviet America, president assassinate YOU.

FBI Director: I have to check to see if Obama has the right to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil.

"President Obama has just stated a policy that he can have any American citizen killed without any charge, without any review, except his own. If he’s satisfied that you are a terrorist, he says that he can kill you anywhere in the world including in the United States. . .You’ve now got a president who says that he can kill you on his own discretion. He can jail you indefinitely on his own discretion."

Whatever happened to the fifth amendment? (And amendments IV and VI, for that matter.)

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. - Amendment V

Protesting soon to be illegal in the U.S.?

Goodbye, First Amendment: 'Trespass Bill' will make protest illegal.

A governments which makes laws to protect itself from its citizens is a government which is not governing, but tyrannizing. Bad governments, like criminals, invariably suffer the paranoia of being challenged by good men.