nationalism: the unification of all mens hearts by:Andrew Kerr

I will not raise my hands in praise to my country if i do not believe that country is for my own good as well as the good of others. We hide underneath the banner of nationalism, the collective conscious placing hands over hearts, singing my country tis of thee and God bless America. This collective conscious is the group of mankind to which we are born without choice. We are born thinking God is on our side because the united states of america always stands for freedom and nothing else we as the U.S are never in the wrong we are innocent, strong, war torn, heroic and the world belongs to us. When we do not pledge our allegence to the country of our birth without question and consideration we are frowned down at by our elders and fellow man. When you ask why we do this it always just because we are honoring the founders of our country, soldiers,navy men,etc. and this is a tradition we uphold as an honor but why? where and how do these traditions start? why do we feel the need to offer blind alligence to the country of our birth without investigating its laws, structure, history and current events, wars, etc. do you not study up on different cultures before visiting different nations? then why do we not study up on ourselves before declaring ourselves americans? can anyone be an american, in this day and age it is a very loose term. I do not harbour anger towards our men and women in the service but in fact feel pity for them in this current time and in no means am I a pacifist. I believe there are times when war though digusting vile, inhumane and never forgotten must take place. For example WW2 was a well warrented war they really did attack us on our soil killing un prepared men and women whilst talking peace with us just over the dinner table. Japan and Germany were in league together tearing apart the pacific as well as europe. Hitler was a very real threat who really would take over the world if we did not stop him. I would if drafted give my life in that war without second thought do to the consequences for our children if I and my fellow men did not. That was a war of necessity not a war of only blind nationalism and allegience. In our current occupation i feel the most pity. We are binding together under a banner of disillusionment, greed and manifest destiny drapped in blood. Our nationalism is raging without cause we wear the flag inside of our eyes and out, the men and women who volunteer for the service are given a jaded glass orb to hold and are told this is Iraq this is wear we are giving them the gift of freedom and democracy, what does that mean they do not know but they want to do good by uncle sam in their lifetime. in this current time nationalism is a diease of uneducated people being taken advantage of from their first sights out of the womb. We are told from young childhood that america is a land of promise, freedom and are given the belief that we always need to expand our borders and protect are foreign and domestic interest no matter the cost, even if the cost is lies and padding corporations and politicians already full pockets while the working men and women and people in service are given promises of college funds, 401 k's and a good life all around as the economy chokes on its own vomit in the backroom of the white house. My own grandfather and many vet's are given false hope that if they even survive the ordeal of war they will be given money for their family, childlren and general welfare upon return, parades, memorials, etc. This is not the case my grand father didn't even get proper medical and when he was dying of cancer had to go to a base three hours away instead of twenty minutes away because they gave the active duty officers first picks as the old men cried and fell asleep in death. This country is young ,niave and invincible. nothing can touch us, we must stop the terrorist before he slaughters our children and unleashes weapons of mass destruction on the U.S. America is a country in which we do have freedom and the sacrifice of soldiers is not to be taken litely, we are free to worship as we please, have guns in our homes so that we can keep our children safe from themselves, our freedom is a false security. Our country is prideful and pompous we are young and succesfull but then again so was Rome at the time it died out. We will die from the inside out with the apathic youth refusing to vote and continuing to become illiterate and let others tell them what truth is, the older folks rejecting the young's culture saying its vile and has no truth, the politicians telling the public what they want to hear as young men and women are slaughtered for deomcracy and freedom. what is freedom? what does it become when we die for no reason other then economic greed and excuses to pad congresses pockets and a select corporation of the good old fellows . This current brand of nationalism is leading us to a empty grave in the woods full of our last generations blood. We will continue to fill it and have it overflow with our blood and ignorance until we question our government, our traditions as a country, our reasons for war's that are not declared but still inflict death and deficite. Upton sinclair said it best when he said"facism is captialism plus murder" in that same vain nationalism is ignorance plus death. truth only grows stronger when tested what is false will shine like christmas, God Bless America and her holy foreign interests, nationalism is a diease in which the young have no voice to question, the old up hold it against the questions telling them to have some respect for the vets, etc. and in this way it is never changed and a false doctrine is upheld, nationalism should spring from within the breast of all men and women as an outlet of their gratitude for a country they are apart of, a valuable member of society adding to their culture as they sleep and awake, are born and then die, it should be a feeling that comes with knowledge, inquiry and graditude. Will you bless the U.S.A when it no longer is a place of freedom but rather of blind faith and blind mice?