How do I love thee?

In an interview with FrontPageMagazine, author and college history professor Larry Schweikart - who co-wrote one of my favorite books of all time, A Patriot's History of the United States - provides a wonderful analogy about the America-hating, America-bashing left-wingers out there who claim to be patriotic and that "we love this country too!" Being married and all, this analogy made perfect sense to me:

During the hot period of the Iraq “war” (really, a theater in a war) debate, I used to challenge people who said they “loved their country” but opposed the war putting support for the nation in the context of a marriage. A man says he loves his wife but . . . he won’t wear any symbols attaching him to her (a ring, or in the case of patriotism, a flag pin, or fly a flag at his house, or wear a sticker on a car); he says he loves his wife but . . . in public all he does is point out her flaws and note how much the Europeans don’t like her; he says he loves her, but associates with other women (nations) that routinely bash her. And on and on. Any woman in her right mind would say, “You don’t love me.” So it is with patriotism. When people don’t act like patriots, I do question their patriotism.

The biggest problem people make is to to confuse love of country with love of government. I don't like our current government at all, especially one that wants to spend almost a trillion dollars bailing out a bunch of quasi-governmental mortgage lenders whose dirty dealing trickled down to the rest of the financial market. However, I love this country: our ideals, our heroes who have done their best to live up to those ideals, the hard-working, peace-loving, self-sufficient people of this country who just want to live their lives, do the right thing, and be left the hell alone. That is what I love about America, and that is exactly what too many of these so-called left-wing, fellow "patriots" actually hate about this country. They hate the national anthem, they hate the flag; they burn it, step on it, and literally defecate on it. But they love our country, and whatever you do, don't you DARE question their patriotism! Hmpf!

Good Day to You, Sir