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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Grainne who wrote (21166)	4/30/1998 2:06:00 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Christine, you incorrectly seem to believe that being patriotic means that you agree with everything the government is doing right or wrong. Why does that define patriotism in your mind? It's always healthy to have a certain amount of skepticism. The problem is your words do not express skepticism but instead deep cynicism. No, country is perfect. America is no exception. What makes this country uniquely is it's ability to learn and grow and change with the times. Too many countries of the European union haven't changed for centuries. Ireland is no exception. Believing the past is some sort of mystic salvation is fool-hearty at best. The lifestyle you describe in Ireland can be had in nearly every state of the union. All you have to do is buy a small farm, turn off your T.V. and purchase a few goats. Real peace of mind doesn't come from geography but from your daily inner enjoyment of life. Your belief that the Christian right is somehow interfering with your daily happiness is nonsense. You can simply choose to ignore whatever you see as objectionable. You wonder why the rich seems to be getting richer and the poorest of poor poorer. Simple. The tax and spend mentality of the past 40 years. When will we finally pay our taxes this year? July?? More of our per-capita income is going toward paying for a bunch of wasteful programs, today then ever before. 21 billion dollars of fraud in the medicare system is a national disgrace! 40 cents per gallon tax on gas is a national disgrace! Real Estate taxes which have tripled the inflation rate for the past 3 decades is a national disgrace! Fee's and levy's, fill the state coffers like never before. Everyone pays for these. Rich or poor, single or married, black or white, male or female. The Republican Congress is attempting to pass legislation which would require a super majority to raise taxes in the future. Have you seen it discussed in the news? Guess which party voted 80% against it?? Too many people simply listen to what politicians say, we need to watch what they do instead. Michael

To: Grainne who wrote (21166)	4/30/1998 6:10:00 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

Christine, I believe the Irish are very very nationalistic, clannish and patriotic. As for America, patriotism is a double edged sword. If people had not been stirred up by patriotism then they might not have been so willing to send their sons off to World War 2 (which you think was a good war) and yet you must have patriotism to support such undertakings. Patriotism is not the kind of thing you can completely dismantle when you think it is of no more use, and then haul it out again when you need it. Unfortunately, patriotism must be inculcated into the young in ways that children find easy to understand and emotionally identify with- The Pledge of Allegiance, a focus on the greatness of the country, etc. To give children too much negative history of their country- when they may not have a full grasp of the relative negativity that has gone on in SO many other countries- will lead them to discount the real greatness of this country.