Comments on: America: Love it or Like it

By: Manchester2

Manchester2 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:10:34 +0000

The old proverb claims: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” This is true for individuals, and it's true for one's homeland. After living overseas several years, coming back to the U.S. was emotional. There's nothing like extended time away to make one realize just how unique this place really is. Any Peace Corps volunteer working in the developing world ill tell you the same. You grow to appreciate the people of your host country, and the daily hardships they face about which we know nothing. A poor person here seems unbelievably rich when you've seen the truly destitute in other places.

By: kritt11

kritt11 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:50:34 +0000

Brainster

In fact its not hard for us liberals to understand at all. We can love our country but hate our elected officials– no problem there. But we are not going to walk around carrying signs that say “my country right or wrong”– we try to influence our government to do what we think is right, and condemn those the country has elected who still do the wrong thing despite that.

By: Brainster

Brainster — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:25:32 +0000

I know this is very hard for some people–particularly liberals for some reason–to understand, but the United States is not the government. It's not a particular administration, and it's not the policies of a particular administration. Your wife was being silly when she put away the flag because she disagreed with the war. As a sensible liberal friend of mine said years ago when the Vietnam War was dividing people, she still flew the flag proudly because, “It's my flag too!”

Yes, I love the country. I love it without reservation. I may disagree with certain policies of the government in power, but that's not the same thing.

By: Don Quijote

Don Quijote — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:04:09 +0000

To paraphrase Jon Stewart, Conservatives love America but hate Americans.

By: Hot Air » Blog Archive » America: Love it, or in love with it?

Hot Air » Blog Archive » America: Love it, or in love with it? — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:25:07 +0000

[...] in the political process is an expression of their love of country, just as I assume that veterans of all political stripes serve from that same love of America. The difference between the two comes to whether they [...]

By: IceWorm

IceWorm — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:05:52 +0000

Hmm...
Love is putting the good of another (the beloved) above one's own. The more completely this is done, the purer the love. Thus love is an act of the will; a decision and not an emotion or feeling.

One can't love a country in quite the same way as one can love individuals. A country is something of an abstraction and the United States is more of one than most countries.

So in what reasonable sense can one love one's country, specifically the US? Since love is a decision, we must know that what we are deciding to love is first of all worthy of love; ie lovable. Can a country be lovable? A country like the United States is primarily based on a shared approach to public life, best expressed in the Declaration of Independence. If you believe that the ideals expressed in that document are still relevant and are worthy of preservation then you can love this country, otherwise you can't and you won't.

Loving someone does not mean overlooking imperfections, even great ones. Love that is blind is not love but is rather denial. True love sees the beloved with crystal clarity and continues to love. It follows that no human can love perfectly; only God can do (and has done) that. But it also follows that a love that will only tolerate a certain amount of imperfection is also not love. It is selfish in that the so-called lover in effect demands that the beloved meet his own lofty standards in order to receive the mighty benefit of his approval.

Thanks for the good question.