Patriotism and Dissent

As the coming election draws near, it seems the volume of political spam email has reached a state of unparalleled levels. Despite my liberal leanings, as part of an LDS family that goes back generations, I find myself a constant target for the righter winger of the political email spectrum. There are several recurring themes among these email epistles, but one stands out: the labeling of dissenting or questioning views as unpatriotic. The most recent email (which happens, like most of these emails chains, to be a complete fabrication) purports to be a diatribe by David Letterman about how unpatriotic it is that more than half of the country disapproves of the job Bush has done. According to this email, we should all just be grateful we live in a free country, have running water and have brave soldiers abroad protecting our way of life. The comforts we enjoy, the argument goes, makes any dissenting view or questioning position, an unpatriotic display of ingratitude. To deny this is to forget that we are a blessed nation and favored by God. 

I could not agree more that we should give thanks for the comparative peace and comfort we enjoy in this country, especially when we look at places like Darfur (which, ironically, might be better off if we as a country would do something instead of just talk about it), Afghanistan, Haiti, Myanmar, and dozens of countries I’ve never heard of.  However, if Obama wins, I am 100% confident that the conservative email gods will not be starting email chains self-righteously admonishing us to stop whining and thank the Lord for the blessing of living in America.  Instead, they’ll probably be sending around emails accusing Obama of running America based on the Koran (even though Obama’s Christian) or principles of the Black Power movement and identifying Obama as the beast referred to in the Book of Revelation.  That’s why I have such a problem with these emails—it’s political opinion cloaked in the garb of righteous patriotism, which seems to me the height of hypocrisy and is one of my biggest gripes with the whole talk radio culture.