The term Patriotism is defined as “devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty” (dictionary.com).  In other words, caring enough about one’s country to take action in times of need.  Each of us has a responsibility to our country, a “contract” we enter into when we decide that we want to live here.  This responsibility is based on one concept: community.  We have a duty to act in a manner that does the greatest good for those within our national community.  The key aspect to remember when looking at patriotism is that a patriot is not loyal to his country.  A country is comprised entirely of people, all of whom collectively represent this nation.  Patriotism is loyalty to the people of this country, not the country itself.  The flag is not our country, the constitution is not our country, the court system is not our country, congress is not our country, the president is not our country, and the so-called “American Ideals” are not our country.  The only thing that our country represents is the collective will, opinion, and welfare of the American people.  Our country could exist without all of the above stated items, however no country could ever exist without the people. 

I have been called unpatriotic in the past.  I will be the first to admit that I rarely see eye to eye with any of the politicians that run this country.  The reason I feel that their ideals are so misguided is because they represent themselves, and not the people they were elected to speak for.  I speak up when I feel something is wrong.  I always have.  My common sense tells me that if people are not alerted to a problem, nothing will be done to fix it.   When it comes to our nation, I am outspoken about the war in Iraq, the constant presidential scandals, the ridiculousness of certain bills going through congress, the lack of improvement on aspects of society that desperately need it, and the ever growing deficit that our country is accruing.  All in all, I just want change, though I am so cynical that I have no faith in that wish ever coming true. 

So back to patriotism.  I look on TV and I see people supporting the troops and telling others that even if this war was not warranted, we should continue to rally behind it because it is our country fighting.  I hear people saying that our president is the one we consciously elected, and therefore we should support him unwaveringly.  Anything less is just plain unpatriotic to many Americans today.  So here is where I take a stand.  TRUE patriotism is exactly as the definition above states; “devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty”.  Love for ones country is taking an interest in what is being done on every level of our society, including the executive level.  Support of our country is standing up for our fellow countrymen who somehow are not being heard.  When you see someone’s rights being trampled all over and you stand up for that person, and support that person in his or her time of need, you are being a patriot.  Defense of our country, excluding armed combat, is the act of speaking out for what you believe is best for this country.  That is, speaking out for what you think is best for the people that ARE this nation.  When you follow your government without questioning its actions, you are being disloyal to your country.  You are abandoning your own sense of what is right for this country and surrendering it to a select few individuals.  You are not fulfilling your obligation to the people of this nation.  History is full of nations who followed their leaders blindly, the worst of which was Nazi Germany.  You see, patriotism is more complex than waving a flag.  It involves more thought and analysis than most people in this nation are willing to give.  It requires that you be a vigilant watchdog against actions that could hurt the people of our country, and sadly most of these actions come from the top rung of our government.  Supporting our troops in Iraq is important, but putting a flag outside your front porch, or slapping a bumper sticker on the back of your SUV is not supporting the troops.  If you want to support your troops, BRING THEM HOME.  Don’t just sit here and agree with your president on the basis of election in an effort to support the troops, when all the while the president is the one keeping them in a combat zone.  These men and women are being shot at, bombed, mortared, and kidnapped every single day, but our “patriots” are the ones allowing more money to pass through to fund another year of war.  Our “patriots” are driving around with bumper stickers and holding up banners.  Who are the fundamental patriots of this nation?  The first names that would come to anyone’s mind would be George Washington and the rest of the founding fathers.  However, these patriots rebelled against England, their government at the time, which according to “patriots” today would be pretty unpatriotic.  These men are held in esteem today because they fought for what they believed was the greatest good for the men and women of the American colonies. 

There is a time and a place for patriotism.  It is unpatriotic to hold ideals or take actions that could injure hinder our government, and as much as we can criticize the government, it brings a great deal of good to our lives.  It organizes the school systems, it maintains our roads, it provides us with safety and healthcare.  Despite all of this, you cannot stop speaking out against what you believe to be wrong.  Our government was designed to be run by the people.  The politicians are elected to represent us in making decisions that are in our best interest.  If we don’t speak up today, the changes that we desire will never come to be.  Perhaps we can sit back and cynically watch as government tries to correct its own mistakes.  That just isn’t for me. 

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There are certain boundaries that are not meant to be crossed in life.  We all recognize them without giving them a second glance, strictly because our common sense, ethics, morals, and sense of right and wrong alert us to the fact that these acts are just plain wrong.  Many times these boundaries are crossed accidently, such as racist joke or violent threat.  Just as often, these boundaries are crossed on a personal level, affecting very few people.  However, sometimes boundaries are crossed at a level and magnitude that affects our society as a whole.  Not only does an act like this hurt many, but it rocks the very stability of our nation. 

There are few who have the power to cross a boundary that could have such a devastating impact.  Essentially, the act is limited only to the leaders of nations around the world.  Unfortunately, from my perspective, these boundaries are stepped over too often for the world’s own good.  Recently, our president stepped over a boundary that I believe threatens the very foundation of our nation. 

We have all heard of Scooter Libby.  The man lied under oath about the source of the Valerie Plume leak.  He was sentenced to prison after being convicted of perjury.  Due to a pardon that came directly from President Bush, he will never spend a day in a cell.  While a presidential pardon can potentially clear someone who needed to protect a secret that threatened national security, they are generally an abuse of power.  If you think about the entire concept of a persidential pardon, you start to see just how flawed it truly is.  We have a justice system that convicts based upon the judgement of our peers.  These peers represent our society as a whole, albeit figuratively.  This system was laid out under the constitution and is an integral part of our nation as both a social tool and a governmental tool.  However, a presidential pardon circumvents the decision made by our peers.  In other words, a presidential pardon circumvents the decision made by our society.  This pardon allows the president to place himself above the laws of this country, above the justice system laid out in our constitution.  In effect, our president becomes the law.  While Scooter Libby is a trivial matter, it serves to remind us of the power that our leader has, and just how that power might be used.  There are boundaries that should not be overstepped, and President Bush crossed the line when he cleared Libby of a crime he clearly committed.  Sadly, speculation and commonsense tell us that lied to protect the very men who pardoned him.  It’s easy to protect yourself when you face no consequences from the law. 

The sad thing about the Libby incident is the lack of public outrage.  It is almost as if society expected this course of action from Bush, and when it became reality, it was no surprise at all. 

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I just arrived back from my vacation a few hours ago and was shocked to find that someone stole one of blog entries!  A new linkback led me to a site called LifeTechnology.org.  The article in question is one I wrote a while back about I-Doser.  It has since been the most popular entry on my site, and drives the majority of my traffic.  If you follow the link, you will see that they copied the entry word for word, leaving only a link under the title to my site.  If you ask me, that is a blatant case of plagiarism.  They don’t even leave a direct link to the actual entry, and never once asked my permission to use it.  I have written them an email, but somehow I doubt that will solve the problem.  Who would have though that a tiny blog like mine would be the victim of this kind of theft?  I know I have seen things like this on more popular blogs like Fracas, but I never would have expected it to happen to me.  Anyone have any ideas of how to deal with this?

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Today was a hectic day to say the least.  I have been up for close to 48 hours after pulling an all nighter last night in an attempt to catch up on all the reading for my Business Law exam today.  Since it’s an online course, I had to take the written exam with a test proctor who was convieniently working two hours away.  The one thing I love about long drives is the rare opportunity to just think.  No distractions, just pure, unadulterated thoughts.  I began thinking about politics, our nation, and the world, as is often the case.  When I approach politics, I try and brainstorm very unconventional ideas that fall outside of the norm, but all the while still appear not only feasible, but effective as well.  The reason for this out of the box approach is my unwavering opinion that our current policies and schools of thought are simply driving this nation in the opposite direction that we want to be moving. 

Over the last few decades, although it has been a trend of the century as a whole also, America has dug itself a hole.  We are too deep in debt to ever overcome it, and we consistently run a deficit in everything.  We continue to spend massive amounts of money on Medicare, the military, the prison system, environmental research, and just about anything else under the sun, but yet we still perform below expectations in each of those categories.  So how is it that we consistently perform poorly when we have that much government funding being pumped in?  Some would say that they are not receiving enough funding.  Even if this were the case, we can’t afford to push more money into these areas.  My personal opinion is that we are inefficient.  Money is being wasted on research when there are other alternatives. 

My proposal is simple, and though it may seem biased because of my demographic as a college student, I promise I will stand by this even 40 years into the future.  In order to improve our economy and society as a whole, our colleges need to be completely overhauled.  Right now, college is costing the average student somewhere around $5,000 a year.  This figure is inflated massively in the North East, where private schools are averaging $40,000.  As an out of state student at Penn State, I am paying about $20,000 a year, not counting the extra $5,000-$10,000 in room, board, and living expenses.  I think it’s safe to say that college is outrageously priced.  While the price tag does not discourage many students from attending college, it does affect the distribution of majors and what careers these graduates go into.  If you are planning on being close to $200,000 dollars in debt after college and grad school, you aren’t likely to choose a career path that is going to make you $50,000 a year.  The number of students going into law, medicine, and business are skyrocketing while we lose valuable brain power that could be going into the research fields that can’t compete salary-wise.  The proportion of students who go into environmental sciences and research global warming and new sources of fuel are going to be vastly outnumbered by high paid white collar workers. 

It is my theory that by improving the affordability of colleges, we will improve the efficiency of every aspect of our society.  I don’t think anyone will argue with the fact that educated populations are always more advanced and generally more successful than those with poor educational institutions.  Instead of becoming doctors, students could afford to pay off their loans easily by working a lower paying medical research position if they were only maybe $40,000 in debt after grad school.  These increase in medical research would lead to an increase in the quality of medical technology and care.  The same applies to the environmental fields. 

The major question here is how do we decrease the price of college so drastically for each student.  Even if you disagree with my theory, you probably at least agree that the cost of college is getting out of hand.  I don”t have an answer to the funding question, but I do have an approach.  Two years ago, my high school law class took a visit to Rahway Prison in Northern New Jersey.  On that visit, we were given a quick lesson on the history of facility.  While it is not the case anymore, Rahway had been a self-sufficient prison for most of its life span.  They funded the prision by having a world class wood shop, as well as operating a laundry service for 3 other prisons.  Those prisons would ship their laundry to Rahway and the prison would charge for the service.  Of course, they also rented out inmate labor to construction projects and other various tasks.  What if we were somehow able to apply this concept of self-sufficiency to universities.  I realize to think along the lines of renting out labor, since colleges are a bit different from prisons (massive understatement), but the might just be a way to create programs that carried a very large chunk of the college budget.  In order to kick-start these self-sufficiency programs, perhaps the new trend of states selling their toll roads to private companies would allow the states to put a billion or so into their respective state universities.  We should also skim a bit of the budget off other areas, like the ones mentioned before, in order to improve them this way. 

The underlying premise is that knowledge is power.  With a more educated workforce, our research would create cheaper alternatives thus relieving the budget.  It would take creativity to lower college costs, but perhaps it really is possible.  If the universities become successful enough in their self-sufficiency programs, they would fund their own research into the various issues we are so concerned about, effectively eliminating the need for much of the government research funding. 

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