Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
In America, if you criticize your country, you get called unpatriotic. To be a patriot, they say, is to follow the traditions and leaders of your country, right or wrong. Love it or leave it, the saying goes.
They say your country is like a friend, or a spouse--you don't try to change them. If you don't like them, you can leave them.
The only person we have a right to change is ourselves.
But what these so-called patriots miss.. is that in America... our government IS... ourselves. It's not something external like a spouse or friend.. that we have no right to criticize or change.
No, America is OURS. It is our right, indeed our duty, to critically examine our country, as we would ourselves, recognize when it is doing wrong, and love it enough to demand change.
That's patriotism. In a democracy, the uncritical patriot is no patriot at all.
In America, if you criticize your country, you get called unpatriotic. To be a patriot, they say, is to follow the traditions and leaders of your country, right or wrong. Love it or leave it, the saying goes.
They say your country is like a friend, or a spouse--you don't try to change them. If you don't like them, you can leave them.
The only person we have a right to change is ourselves.
But what these so-called patriots miss.. is that in America... our government IS... ourselves. It's not something external like a spouse or friend.. that we have no right to criticize or change.
No, America is OURS. It is our right, indeed our duty, to critically examine our country, as we would ourselves, recognize when it is doing wrong, and love it enough to demand change.
That's patriotism. In a democracy, the uncritical patriot is no patriot at all.
