"Kicking the tires and lightin' the fires"

"My patriotism is all-embracing and I should reject that patriotism which sought to mount upon the distress or the exploitation of other nationalities." Speech at a Public Meeting, Rangoon, 9 March 1929

I wrote in my very first blog post that I was a veteran.  I am a veteran because Ronald Reagan made all Cold-War military personnel veterans and I am thankful for that.  I have a VA loan on my house.  Tomorrow, I go for my first orientation and examination at a local VA clinic.

Despite President Reagan, I did not fight in any war.  We were at peace.  The Soviet Union was collapsing.  My service was six years of repairing and launching an ancient, but stalwart aircraft on a daily basis, practicing for the end of the world.

The Air Force taught me a lot and I am proud to have served.

Does that make me a patriot?
I feel lucky to live in the United States of America. 
I am rich beyond much of the world's wildest dreams. 
I have leisure to contemplate and write about philosophy. 
I have choices about how I live my life. 
Survival is not my top priority.
I vote.  I vote relatively faithfully.  Except for Obama, I have voted Green Party since 1984.   I voted for Obama so that every African-American child could have the same dreams as every other child in America, not because I believed he would bring something new to the White House.  I will go back to voting Green Party.  I remind my fellow Democrats and Republicans that "One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."

I am sad for my country.  Given a great gift, we squander it.  We mount upon the distress of other nations.  We exploit other nationalities.

We invest our treasure in guns and we reap the interest from our investment.

Am I a patriot?