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Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Patriotism Isn’t Love of Government

Source: www.lewrockwell.com - Tuesday, February 16, 2016 Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land! — Sir Walter Scott . Who do you love? — Bo Diddley . What ever happened to patriotism? Webster’s defines the term as “love for or devotion to one’s country.” But before there were countries, there was patriotism. The term itself derives from ancient languages (Greek and Latin) and refers to the land of one’s fathers. Patriotism is pre-political. It is essentially human – which noun, by the way, derives from the Latin humus – dirt, soil . “Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return,” we are told on Ash Wednesday. “ humus. ” Patriotism is founded in the natural law. It represents the honor we owe our forbearers and the land they tilled and bequeathed to us. We do not live in abstractions, we live a concrete, historical life. One’s native land is as human as life itself. Our fathers taught us patriotism. Patriotism means family — love of our family for giving us life (making us “human”), love for our kin, our tribe, our neighbors, and the God who gives us life. Patriotism does not mean love of government. And that bothers politicians. Big time. Major league. About a hundred years ago, Antonio Gramsci launched a campaign to eradicate all this. He taught that violent revolution was ineffective; only through the infiltration and, ultimately, the takeover or destruction of our traditional institutions, would revolution succeed. All Related


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