Patriotism within Criticism
Within the current political climate of the United States, I find it necessary to underline that political criticism is one of the most patriotic forms of love for one's country.
Simply put, it is loving one's country so much so that one comments on the things that are wrong, the systems that clearly are malfunctioning and elements within the society or political climate than need changing.
Unfortunately the US suffers from a bipartisan system wherein people identify themselves by who they voted for in the last election. This is at least one of the factors that contributes to why political criticism could be mislabel and misconstrued as unpatriotic.
Furthermore, criticism lies at the heart of freedom and democracy. It is by this very criticism that democracy functions as political discussion (which arises from the criticism of one party to another) is the very essence of a liberal democracy (when compared with authoritarianism for example).
Therefore, surely a nation that calls itself the "leaders of the free world" and the "arsenal of democracy" would have some tolerance for criticism within the ideals they claim to believe in and uphold. There is nothing unpatriotic about criticism.
One could of course argue that there is a fine line between justified criticism and unjustified or unjustifiable dissent and the actions that that can lead to. Vandalism, rioting and violent demonstrations are not directly justifiable. This however is dependent on the political climate, the nation, the leadership of the nation in question as well as the political history of that nation.
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