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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I was waiting in the doctor’s office yesterday and I happened to pick up an issue of Forbes from November of ‘06.  It was a little outdated, but that didn’t stop me from finding a great editorial written by Steve Forbes himself.  As I have said in the past, I am a strong supporter of dividing Iraq into autonomous states with seperate governments according to the religious lines in the country.  However, the one major roadblock to this goal has been the uneven distribution of oil throughout the country.  We have the Kurds in the North, the Sunnis in the middle, and the Shia in the South.  The oil is deposited mostly in the North and South, leaving the proposed Sunni province with little black gold of its own.  So once again, greed is the main factor preventing us from leaving Iraq. 

How can we make everyone happy in this situation?  Steve Forbes points us towards Alaska.  How can Alaska help us to solve our Iraq problem?  Most people will be surprised to know that there is a fund that is managed by investment experts hired by the government called the Permanent Fund.  When the government pumps oil from the wells in Alaska, about one quarter of the profits are placed into this fund.  Each year, every registered and eligible Alaskan recieves about $1,100 from the fund.  Forbes argues that this would solve the oil distribution issue in Iraq, and I tend to agree.  It would end the argument over where the oil wells are geographically and it would provide an incentive for unity.  Each Iraqi would be compelled to provide an address if they wanted to recieve their money, effectively registering the location of every Iraqi citizen for the government.  While the government may have a problem with relinquishing control of a portion of their oil profits, it might just be the spark that Iraq needs to begin to realize the potential benefits of cooperating with the new government. 

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The official death toll for government contractors in Iraq has spiked to record setting highs during the first three months of this year, according to statistics released by the Department of Labor.  These figures place the total number of contractors killed at 917, with 146 of those deaths occurring in January, February, and March of this year.  An additional 12,000 have been wounded on the job, with 3,430 of these casualties in the same three month period.  With military death’s at about 3,400 right now, that means that there is one contractor killed for every four soldiers. 

Some analysts attribute the incredible amount of deaths to the strategy of attacking “soft” targets that is employed by the insurgents, but others feel that we are not providing the troops with enough military security and backing.  Senator McCain has been outspoken about his view that the US needs to send more troops to Iraq so that the entire country can be secured.  He feels that nothing can be accomplished in Iraq until we have secured all of the important sites in the country.  In addition, some representatives in Congress are pushing for a bill that would force companies to release the names and job titles of all casualties in Iraq.  This does not seem likely because businesses have more of a right to privacy and are not required to disclose this information under today’s precedents. 

It seems to me that we have a real problem on our hands when the people who are trying to repair the damage we have done to Iraq are being killed left and right.  The fact that 1/5 of the US casualties in Iraq are government contractors is definitely cause for concern.  First of all, I think that McCain is a little bit off track.  The US can’t afford to provide any more soldiers to Iraq and still have a safe reserve in case of other developing conflicts.  Even if we were to add more soldiers to the fray, we would never be able to secure all of the important sites in Iraq.  It’s a huge country, and we just don’t have the man power for that kind of occupation.  In addition, each of these contracting firms invests a great deal of money into private guards that they keep on site out there.  In one article, it was mentioned that these security specialists were paid in the range of $6,000.  I think the problem is that these sites are sitting ducks for insurgent attacks.  They never change location, they are always staffed and populated, and they are important goals in the US war effort. 

Whatever the reason for the spike in casualties, it is clear that the contractors are one of the most important factors in succeeding in Iraq.  There are many out there who believe that we can’t leave the country until it is fully repaired and strengthened, and this repair can’t occur when the people responsible for it are constantly under attack.  While we can’t spare more military units, perhaps we should think about switching the majority of our units to the sites that we are trying to repair.  I think that the security of these key projects is much more important than sending patrols into neighborhoods in Baghdad.  The government might work itself out if we give them a solid infrastructure to start building off of. 

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