Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Patriot Games?

The Kansas City Star, The Washington Times, and The Chicago Tribune seem to be reporting on the estimable Senator Reid and his penchant for spreading athlete’s tongue. It seems a Senator might want to pay closer attention to his own comments than Rosie O’Donnell pays to her own blather. Now I realize this is old news, but the more I’ve read – the more it chapped my… irritated me. What’s more appalling to me are those citizens who bad mouth their country to foreign nationals, or spew the vilest of hate about their country of choice while maintaining their citizenship. For example:.


Not long ago I met a 70-year-old man who lived on a boat at the local marina. He had sailed the world's oceans for many years, and he hated America. He hated the music, the money, the television, the government; but most of all, he hated the people. In his opinion Americans were selfish and ignorant. After all, they enjoyed a social system called capitalism. America was therefore composed of a nation of thieves, polluters and economic imperialists (Nyquist, 2000).

I mention these tidbits, in part to raise your ire, but also to channel it into a small piece of a poem by Sir Walter Scott. It’s The Lay of the Last Minstrel, in the last canto of the poem. Though it is a small piece of the poem, I admire the skill with which Scott makes his point. Make no mistake, I loved Ivanhoe, but this, to use a new word with new meaning, is sublime:

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd,
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung. (The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Sir Walter Scott)

Indeed Senator, any songs of honor will be sung to those men and women in uniform you so callously cast off and apparently attempt to silence. What do I mean? Take a trip over to Michelle Malkin’s initial post concerning the Army crackdown on milbloggers and email and then read the follow up where a soldier asks, “Who will stand up for the rights of soldiers? Fight for us. We fight for you.” … Let’s be selective in our choices of leaders – Republican, Democrat, or otherwise.