Does being a patriot mean you always have to be proud of and agree with your government?

Question

or are you allowed to think for yourself and still be patriotic?

Answer 1

It is your patriotic duty to question what your government does.The government is not  your country.

Answer 2

No, it does not. Insisting that one must be proud of one's nation, right or wrong, in order to be a patriot is absurd and narrow minded. I am patriotic, think for myself and detest what the current administration has done to our country.

Answer 3

The latter.

Answer 4

That's what the Bush admnistration wants you to believe.

Benjamin Franklin said True Patriots criticize government wrongdoing.

Answer 5

Our founding fathers has this problem and they started oiur counrty.  Seems like very little has changed since then and now.  But at least we can biitcht!!  REAL LOUD if we want too!

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

This is quoted from the American Declaration of Independence!

     Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

      George Orwell

CAPITAL, n. The seat of misgovernment. That which provides the fire, the pot, the dinner, the table and the knife and fork for the anarchist; the part of the repast that himself supplies is the disgrace before meat.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

    Ambrose Bierce

No government ought to exist for the purpose of checking the prosperity of its people or to allow such a principle in its policy.

     Edmund Burke

      The government is merely a servant — merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.

       Mark Twain  1835 -1910

Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.

    Mark Twain  1835 -1910

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.

   Mark Twain

"The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men."

          Samuel Adams

We should dare to read, think, speak, and write.

    John Adams  1765

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."

          Thomas Jefferson

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence. It is force, and like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

       George Washington

"Our country's honor calls upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion; and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world"

       George Washington

“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”

     Franklin D. Roosevelt

Answer 6

no that do not

Answer 7

Charles Schurz expressed it well when he said,

"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."

The Declaration of Independence is also very inspiring on this subject....  "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."

Dissent and well-rounded discussion are what this country was founded on!

Answer 8

We should be allowed to think for ourselves.

Answer 9

agreeing to protect your country, letting people have more money by lowering taxes, letting babies live the only life they will get.

that's about it.

Answer 10

It means that you stand for your COUNTRY, not necessarily for your government.

It doesn't mean that you go and bash your country at every opportunity either.

Answer 11

No

Answer 12

You can be a patriot and not agree with your government.  A patriot is defined as soneone who stands behind their country and defends it.

Answer 13

Patriotism is all about being true to your country and has nothing to do with supporting the current government.

Answer 14

well Pastor Wright defended his country so I'd say he is Patriotic...but Americans are often afraid or incapable of thinking for themselves...that's why we have fox news and CNN...

Answer 15

Let us see how patriotic these so called patriots are when Obama is in the White House.

Answer 16

it's actually quite the opposite.  being a true patriot involves living freely.  you should question authority, but stay within the law.  disagree with mayors/councils/senate etc.  but offer an alternative to your disagreement.  don't just b*tch because you can.  join the military, or volunteer at soup kitches, shelters, boy scouts.  anything.  become a part od making things better not just knocking them down.  agree to learn, because with our great freedom, comes great responsibility.  to educate others, not force freedom upon them.  help them understand how great a democracy is.  heck, if you would have told Honest Abe 130 years ago that a woman and a black man have a 1 in 3 chance of becoming President in 2008, even he would have been doubtful.  learn a little bit about the founders of the USA and that may help you better understand what a true Patriot is.  (they were considered traitors in England-heroes in the States.