GRAHAM JUKES

The Corruptions of Patriotism-

Sun Oct 5 16:12:52 2003
64.140.158.16

GRAHAM JUKES - grahamjukes@blueyonder.co.uk
Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2003 5:35 PM
Subject: Fw: The Corruptions of Patriotism- By GLEN T. MARTIN


Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2003 7:52 AM
Subject: The Corruptions of Patriotism- By GLEN T. MARTIN

"Democracy has its moral basis in truth, tolerance, freedom, and respect for
human dignity. "

Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored. Psalm 128: 1-2
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/100503.htm

Date: Sat, 4 Oct 2003 01:36:10 EDT
From: theconcernedrev@aol.com
Subject: The Corruptions of Patriotism

Blind Loyalty to an Empire of Greed
The Corruptions of Patriotism

By GLEN T. MARTIN
Counterpunch

The United States administers a global empire. This used to be a secret.
Through the 1990s, our government told us that we stood for democracy, freedom,
and independence of nations worldwide (lying to us). But the majority of U.S.
citizens refused to critically examine their government out of patriotism.
Sheeplike, we acted in defiance of the founding fathers of our nation who
distrusted the power of government, who realized that small acts of terrorism (which
existed then as now) were nothing compared to the potential for tyranny from
those who wield governmental powers.

>From the late 1940s to the 1990s, most citizens of the U.S. thought that
patriotism meant blind faith in the pronouncements of our leaders, even when the
public statements of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Johnson, Ford, Carter,
Regan, Bush, and Clinton were shown by a few decent and honest critics in
this country to be one lie after another. They told us we stood for "democracy"
against the "evil empire" of the Soviet Union and people (like children) wanted
to be patriotic and believe the lies from Washington.

Meanwhile the U.S. government secretly overthrew the democratic governments
in Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, carpet bombed Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
in the 1960s and 70s, helped install a dictator in Indonesia in 1965 (at the
cost of half a million lives), overthrew the democratic government of Chile in
1973 and destroyed the democratic government of Nicaragua with a terrorist army
based in Honduras in the 1980s. The list goes on and on, and any informed,
honest citizen will be well aware of it.

But such blind patriotism destroys democracy and corrupts the people who
blindly follow their corrupt and deceitful leaders. Today, we reap the whirlwind,
the judgment of God, so to speak, the consequences of our trashing the vision
of the founding fathers. For today, our leaders no longer keep it a secret.
They openly admit and act on the truth that the United States runs a brutal,
world-wide empire based on the immense military might of the Pentagon and the
immense domination of U.S. multinational corporations over the global economy.

The Bush government does not even try to cover up its lies. It simply makes
all public records that world expose its lies "top secret." It openly censors
and suppresses the truth, and we do not care because our patriotism has
corrupted us to this sorry extent. They know they can count on the loyality of the
majority of the U.S. who are willingly coopted by the thinnest and most
transparent tissue of lies.

We openly invade sovereign nations, ignoring the United Nations and world
opinion. We led NATO to do this to Yugoslavia in 1998 (killing many more innocent
civilians than were killed in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center). We
bombed the towns and villages of Afghanistan, destroying more homes and lives
or poor, innocent peasants (men, women, and children) in that bleeding
country than were killed during 9/11. And we openly invaded, conquered, and
established a military dictatorship in Iraq in defiance of world opinion and the
United Nations, again killing thousands more innocent civilians than were killed in
9/11.

Democracy has its moral basis in truth, tolerance, freedom, and respect for
human dignity. These are all universal values. If we are loyal to these
universal values, then we cannot at the same time be blindly loyal to one government
or nation. We corrupted ourselves with our blind patriotism of the late 1940s
to 1990s to the point where patriotism today most often means openly
supporting the empire (under self-serving lies like "liberating Iraq"), the oppression
of freedom worldwide, global economic exploitation and domination, and even
the suppression of freedom at home.

Those honest people who believe in universal values should not attempt to
redefine "patriotism" so that it looks as if holding universal values is what is
"really" patriotic. We need to repudiate that term. Decent and honest people
resist the empire out of universal moral values, out of justice, not out of
patriotism. It is universal values like justice and compassion that make us
human. Patriotism only divides us from our suffering brothers and sisters
worldwide.

Our war against the poor majority in Columbia who are struggling for a decent
society used to be covered up under the lie of a "war on drugs." Today, in
Columbia, we send ever more billions of dollars in weapons and training to the
country with the worst human rights record of the past three decades while
openly declaring that we are trying to crush its revolution. We no longer hide our
global lust for world-wide domination. Patriotism corrupts, and absolute
patriotism corrupts absolutely.

Recently, our unelected, dictatorial President George W. Bush visited Africa,
beginning with the country of Senegal in West Africa. According to one
Senegal witness, just before his visit 1500 people were arbitrarily arrested and
jailed for the duration of his visit. U.S. military planes flew over the capital
city of Dakar night and day so the people could not even sleep for the noise.
About 700 U.S. security personnel arrived with their dogs, their own cars, and
high tech equipment. They would not even let Senegal security personnel near
the U.S. President.

Bush even brought his own armchair and furniture and would not use Senegal
furnishings. All trees in places where Bush passed were cut down, some of them
over 100 years old. All roads going downtown (where schools, hospitals, and
businesses are located) were closed down during his visit. People were not
allowed to go to school, the hospital, or work. The list of indignities continues.
One Senegal economist estimated that this poor country lost an immense amount
of money by being shut down in this way by the visit of the American President.

The message, of course, was that the United States is the world dominator and
that these poor and weak countries are in effect ours to do what we want
with. The arrogance and lack of respect for the people of Senegal are astonishing.
These arrangements remind one distinctly of Caesar, Napoleon, the Czar,
Hitler, or Stalin. They are the actions of world dominators surveying the empire
with utter disdain for the people whose lives and economies they crush.

Any informed person knows that Bush and his junta are utterly corrupt. They
openly assign multi-billion dollar contracts to their former business partners
without any competitive bidding. They openly represent the big oil companies
in Alaska, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They openly oppose environmental regulations
for their friends in big business. They openly lie. They openly defy world
opinion and invade any country they please.

The really sad part is that our absolute patriotism has corrupted us: we, the
people in the United States. We are no longer outraged by anything our
government does. We are blindly obedient and, therefore, have thrown away the moral
basis of our existence as human beings and as a country. That moral basis
rested on loyalty to the universal values of truth, tolerance, freedom, and
respect for human dignity. Blind patriotism, loyalty, and obedience to one nation or
government are not legitimate moral values. As a nation, we have corrupted
ourselves absolutely.

Glen T. Martin is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Radford
University in Southwest Virginia and President of International Philosophers for
Peace.
Please pass-on to as many people as you can. Thankyou.
-------------------------------------


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• Re: Corruptions — ZOBOLI, Sun Oct 5 17:18