Indeed. Well-said, as usual. I'll take it a step further. It's not just the inversion of patriotism, but the reversal of reality itself. Truly Orwellian. And it's not so much efficient strongman rule, it's more like a blunt instrument, which may be effective after a fashion, depending on how this turns out (assuming it's not a done deal and we're all cooked). For my part, I'm puzzled by why a critical mass of Americans continue to support this reality inverting president. Is it because the puppet masters who turn lies into truth do a damn good job of it? Keep fighting the good fight. We all need to.
I saw one thing that didn't sound right: "confusing loyalty to the country with loyalty to whoever controls federal power". These people do not shift their loyalty to "whoever" controls federal power.
It is only for their 'representative'. They shift to obstructionism when their favorite is out of power.
In parliamentary constitutional monarchies, at least the Commonwealth realms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_realm), the main opposition party in (the lower House of) Parliament is referred to as "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" (or "His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition").
This is a reminder that even though the Opposition disagrees with His Majesty's chosen Government on many important policy questions, all of them are still loyal to His Majesty (that is, the country as a whole; in Crown law, the monarch in a governmental context represents the institutions of government and the state as a whole, not the person of the monarch). Dissent is not disloyalty.
Further, in a federal system such as in Canada or Australia, His Majesty has likely chosen governments of numerous ideological stripes at the various levels, signalling that he considers all of them to be loyal, which serves as a further reminder that ideological differences do not translate to treason. (For instance, in Canada, six provinces have more-or-less centre-right governments, two provinces have more-or-less centrist governments, as is the federal government, and two provinces have more-or-less centre-left governments.)
As then-Mayor of New York City John Lindsay observed regarding anti-Vietnam War protests in 1969: "We cannot rest content with the charge from Washington that this peaceful protest is unpatriotic. ... The fact is that this dissent is the highest form of patriotism." (The last part is often attributed to Thomas Jefferson but Monticello has found no evidence of this: https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/dissent-highest-form-patriotism-spurious-quotation/) Lindsay was a Republican at the time, pushing back against claims from the Republican Nixon administration.
For a specific example from the United States, consider Colin Kaepernick. He objected to what he saw as unjustified, excessive police brutality against racial minorities (especially black people) and in 2016 sought to use his platform as a celebrity to protest that. But he also knew that, given the political rhetoric of the time, he would likely be accused of "disrespecting the troops" if he protested that sort of governmental action.
What did Kaepernick do? He consulted serving members of the military and veterans, asking them what he should do to respectfully and peacefully protest police brutality. The answer he got from most of them was, one, that they felt that his right to engage in such protest was exactly what they were fighting to protect, so they did not see it as disrespectful at all, and two, that the most respectful form of protest would simply be to go on one knee while the anthem was being played before a game.
This is exactly what he did, and the backlash from a segment of his sport's fan base (and from many owners) was such that he was driven out of the league for good. Even as more players have taken up doing the same thing that Kaepernick did, and owners have come to accept it, his career has never recovered.
He dissented, and saw his livelihood abruptly ripped away from him for "disrespecting the troops", even as those very troops told him that what he was doing respected what they fought for.
In 2019, Nike, sensing that their main market demographic tended to be sympathetic toward Kaepernick and the positions he took, included him as part of their advertising campaign for the 30th anniversary of the "Just Do It" slogan.
This is all a failure of the media. Every time they fail to mention everything Trump is doing is illegal and attempt to normalize it the nation falls a little bit further
The MAGA folks are confused as to what the definition of a republic is hence the name of their party the Republicans and do not know the definition of the word democracy hence the word for the other party the Democrats . Maybe we should teach these terms to them and rename the parties the Redbirds and the Bluebirds so we can talk about what Democracy and a Republic is and learn we are really on the same page and Trump is not either party! He is an outlaw! We need to see someone enter the scene on a white horse and have all folks say, " Who was that Masked Man????🧐or better yet where is Walker when we need him! Oh wait, Texas ...
Indeed. Well-said, as usual. I'll take it a step further. It's not just the inversion of patriotism, but the reversal of reality itself. Truly Orwellian. And it's not so much efficient strongman rule, it's more like a blunt instrument, which may be effective after a fashion, depending on how this turns out (assuming it's not a done deal and we're all cooked). For my part, I'm puzzled by why a critical mass of Americans continue to support this reality inverting president. Is it because the puppet masters who turn lies into truth do a damn good job of it? Keep fighting the good fight. We all need to.
I saw one thing that didn't sound right: "confusing loyalty to the country with loyalty to whoever controls federal power". These people do not shift their loyalty to "whoever" controls federal power.
It is only for their 'representative'. They shift to obstructionism when their favorite is out of power.
In parliamentary constitutional monarchies, at least the Commonwealth realms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_realm), the main opposition party in (the lower House of) Parliament is referred to as "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" (or "His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition").
This is a reminder that even though the Opposition disagrees with His Majesty's chosen Government on many important policy questions, all of them are still loyal to His Majesty (that is, the country as a whole; in Crown law, the monarch in a governmental context represents the institutions of government and the state as a whole, not the person of the monarch). Dissent is not disloyalty.
Further, in a federal system such as in Canada or Australia, His Majesty has likely chosen governments of numerous ideological stripes at the various levels, signalling that he considers all of them to be loyal, which serves as a further reminder that ideological differences do not translate to treason. (For instance, in Canada, six provinces have more-or-less centre-right governments, two provinces have more-or-less centrist governments, as is the federal government, and two provinces have more-or-less centre-left governments.)
As then-Mayor of New York City John Lindsay observed regarding anti-Vietnam War protests in 1969: "We cannot rest content with the charge from Washington that this peaceful protest is unpatriotic. ... The fact is that this dissent is the highest form of patriotism." (The last part is often attributed to Thomas Jefferson but Monticello has found no evidence of this: https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/dissent-highest-form-patriotism-spurious-quotation/) Lindsay was a Republican at the time, pushing back against claims from the Republican Nixon administration.
For a specific example from the United States, consider Colin Kaepernick. He objected to what he saw as unjustified, excessive police brutality against racial minorities (especially black people) and in 2016 sought to use his platform as a celebrity to protest that. But he also knew that, given the political rhetoric of the time, he would likely be accused of "disrespecting the troops" if he protested that sort of governmental action.
What did Kaepernick do? He consulted serving members of the military and veterans, asking them what he should do to respectfully and peacefully protest police brutality. The answer he got from most of them was, one, that they felt that his right to engage in such protest was exactly what they were fighting to protect, so they did not see it as disrespectful at all, and two, that the most respectful form of protest would simply be to go on one knee while the anthem was being played before a game.
This is exactly what he did, and the backlash from a segment of his sport's fan base (and from many owners) was such that he was driven out of the league for good. Even as more players have taken up doing the same thing that Kaepernick did, and owners have come to accept it, his career has never recovered.
He dissented, and saw his livelihood abruptly ripped away from him for "disrespecting the troops", even as those very troops told him that what he was doing respected what they fought for.
In 2019, Nike, sensing that their main market demographic tended to be sympathetic toward Kaepernick and the positions he took, included him as part of their advertising campaign for the 30th anniversary of the "Just Do It" slogan.
I’m buying Nike as my next pair of kicks 😎
This is all a failure of the media. Every time they fail to mention everything Trump is doing is illegal and attempt to normalize it the nation falls a little bit further
None of them want to get hit with a SLAPP suit, or have the FCC start poking around at the President's direction.
The MAGA folks are confused as to what the definition of a republic is hence the name of their party the Republicans and do not know the definition of the word democracy hence the word for the other party the Democrats . Maybe we should teach these terms to them and rename the parties the Redbirds and the Bluebirds so we can talk about what Democracy and a Republic is and learn we are really on the same page and Trump is not either party! He is an outlaw! We need to see someone enter the scene on a white horse and have all folks say, " Who was that Masked Man????🧐or better yet where is Walker when we need him! Oh wait, Texas ...
Spot on, Mike.