Why should I proud to be an American?

[JusticeForAll]

I need an answer to that question today. I feel angry, I feel sad, I feel ashamed, I feel guilty. Pride is not an emotion that I feel for a country and a system that has left its huddled masses in the rain and the cold.

For weeks we have seen in Ohio and in Florida the disenfranchisement of our fellow citizens, forced to wait in lines of two, three hours long to be heard. In Arizona, I drove to my Elections board, walked directly to the counter showed my drivers license, had a precinct ballot printed, and voted in a mere five minutes. No more than a quarter was invested in the parking meter I chose to park next to.

I use this contrast, because as I write this, I am watching a CNN student claiming she and many of her friends waited ten hours at the poll to vote. Health care reform, tax reform, social programs, childcare benefits, and support systems that keep many of our citizens from falling into abject poverty - Can the people who most need these programs afford to invest the amount of time it takes to vote in the places where it truly counted?

Sadly no. Class warfare, racism, bigotry and disenfranchisement surged forth in a wave of frothing hate this election.

Please feel free to post the reasons why you are proud to be a country that has successfully sabotaged a basic right of its citizens. Today, I need a reminder.

[jedicord]

1. I'm proud to live in America, but

not proud of Americans today.

So sorry, no help here.

[JusticeForAll]

3. Can you answer why you are proud to live here?

It is really that answer that I am looking for - I think being proud to live here and being proud to be an American seem to be the same issue.

[jedicord]

4. Actually, right now, no.

Probably will be able to give a better answer tomorrow.

I was proud because we stood for freedom and justice. We fought for the downtrodden. All people are equal. Everyone had a chance to make something of themselves. Every vote counted. Our leaders were righteous.

Today, all of that is crap.

Sorry about my mood this morning. I'm at work, the only Dem, and steeled myself this morning for the jokes, etc. First thing when I got here I had a voice mail message from a co-worker, who was yelling something like "That yellow-bellied lying Kerry and his crooked..." I erased the message. Wasn't steeled for outright vitriol.

[UNIXcock]

5. I'm proud to be an American but ...

... it surprises me how many Americans are waking up happy today

[democraticgator]

2. you can be proud

You can be proud of our history, not the current state of affairs. The founding fathers are rolling in their graves right now.

[Bonhomme Richard]

6. Keep in mind that half the people in this nation do get it. n/t

[OutsourceBush]

7. The other half have the IQ of a common farm animal...

[JusticeForAll]

8. Proud of our history

All I can see is a dark age we have muddled through.

Thanks for the try, maybe I just flat out refuse to pretend I am proud, even for our history.

It is our history that has led us here.

[VLC98]

9. Pride is part of the problem with this country.

Many Americans are so proud (read arrogant) that they can't admit invading Iraq was a mistake. America doesn't make mistakes. Hell, John Kerry probably lost a million votes because he spoke out against Vietnam. And another thing, I'm sick of seeing those "Power of Pride" bumper stickers...what does that mean? I am a boastful bully?

[Southpaw Bookworm]

13. Power of Pride

What cracks me up about those bumper stickers is that most of those who are them are "Christians" who are apparently unaware of that Bible thingy about pride going before a fall.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

19. they can't admit invading Iraq was a mistake

realize that this is just the beginning.... sorry fools... they don't know what imperialistic (oh but only for economic reasons) goals this administration has set out for themselves.... this guy gets it....


http://www.antipasministries.com/oldnews/afga.html
>>The very real fact of the matter is, the U.S. elites conducted their war against communism not so much because communism was an oppressive ideology - which it no doubt was - but because the United States was pursuing a goal of world hegemony - and the "War on Communism" was merely a device the U.S. elites used to MASK their real intentions.

In an article that appeared ten years ago in Foreign Policy entitled, "American Hegemony - Without an Enemy," Christopher Layne, a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, and Benjamin Schwartz, an analyst in the International Policy Department at the Rand Corporation, explained what was really driving U.S. foreign policy (i.e., the pursuit of world domination), and why the U.S. would ultimately have to find another MASK behind which it could continue its pursuit of world dominance. Now - ten years later - that's exactly what the U.S. has discovered: a new MASK - i.e., the "War on Terrorism" - behind which it can continue seek mastery of the world. That's exactly the conclusion that Howard Zinn, professor emeritus at Boston University, says. Zinn writes:

"There is another important connection between our situation today and the Cold War. Terrorism has replaced Communism as the rationale for the militarization of the country, for military adventures abroad, and for the suppression of civil liberties at home ... The word 'communism' was used to justify the most egregious violations of human rights. So much that went on during the Cold War was justified in the name of fighting Communism, leading to the deaths of millions of people ... A vast leap took place from 'fighting Communism' to actions against people and governments that had nothing to do with Communism. In 1954, the United States overthrew the government in Guatemala, which was not Communist but which was expropriating the United Fruit Company. In 1973, the government in Chile was overthrown in the name of fighting Communism. The government was not Communist, but it was not serving the interests of Anaconda Copper and ITT ..."<<

[Union Thug]

10. As Chesterson wrote:

"O God of Earth and Altar,
Bow down and hear our cry,
Our earthly rulers falter,
Our people drift and die,
The walls of gold entomb us,
The swords of scorn divide,
Take not thy thunder from us,
But take away our pride."
(G.K. Chesterton: English Hymnal)

This is how americans should be 'praying'.

[greyfox]

11. And in your ability

to do so, take away the Shrub.

[patrice]

12. Thanks for this.

It has been a few decades since I read Chesterton. Time to renew.

[info being]

14. Don't be. Be pround of who you are as a human being.

[Zorbet55]

15. You shouldn't be.......at least not now.

[Blecht]

16. You shouldn't

EOM !!!!!

This has kicked me in the ass to get all the records I need to claim citizenship from another country.

Go ahead, call me names. But if one is proud to be an American today, one is delusional.

Edited to make it clear that I wasn't calling the original poster delusional.

[Eloriel]

17. Here's why

For many years now I have been very, very cynical about the United States. One day I realized that my cynicism alone doesn't do anything but make me miserable, and that I'm NOT cynical about the ideals on which America was founded.

Those ideals aren't dead -- or they're not as long as there are those of us who WILL still struggle to keep them alive and work to implement them fully.

Yes, things look a little bleak right now, but even if Kerry concedes at some point (and I hope he won't because I'm sure there was plenty of election fraud and vote suppression in the key states), America and her ideals still need champions.

In other words: it's not over til it's over, and it won't be over until we give up. I see too many people too willing to give up.

Let me tell you something else. This is a victory (if Bush is victorious, which is different from "wins"), of propaganda, that's all. I know in my heart that the vast majority of those who voted for Bush would not have were they fully apprised of the truth. We here at DU forget just how ill-informed (ignorant) most Americans who don't pay any more attention to politics than what they hear in passing from any of the news programs, or the Limbaughs and Hannitys.

Finally, I've posted this everywhere else, might as well post it here. It's a coalition already organizing to fight this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2580866

[AlCzervik]

18. I love this country, it's some of the people i could do without.

[madrchsod]

20. i`m not proud today

and won`t be until this crude little man finally leaves and we can rejoin the league of civilized nations. but i am proud of my fellow republicans who voted not to vote for keyes and those conservative republicans who voted for m bean. as for the rest of the illinois republicans who voted for bush-eat shit and die cause shit is all you are going to get from bush for the next four years

[JusticeForAll]

21. Every vote was not counted.

Thank you info being, I am proud of who I am and what I have become.
Thank you, eloriel, I have signed up, and while I am too late to correct past errors, I am on time to correct those mistakes of the future.
Thank you to the rest for confirming this morning's feelings. A feeling that has long been felt for four years.


I will not be proud of America until it gains the urgency to remove the burdens of registration on its citizens and removes the barriers to vote it has constructed under the false banner of "progress". I will not be proud until America has the courage to count the intent and will of each of its citizens. Until we can face that truth, we are not free.