Our Government essays

Our Government essays I felt the article Superpatriotism: The Importance of Being Number One , by Michael Parenti was a very interesting yet disturbing article. The article interests me because most of the people in my family have the attitude of a super patriot. Coming from a big family all four of my uncles could not afford to go to college in the 50s and 60s. Instead they chose to join the army. All of them fought and survived in the Vietnam War. After reading this article I would consider them super patriotic people. It seems no matter what the situation is, they always support the president and the decisions that our government makes for us. They support anything from tax increases to waging a war. They all have their own flag dangling neatly from their home and they all claim to love their country. There is nothing wrong with this attitude however this article makes me wonder how a person can love their country when 90 percent of the things that go on in America is morally wrong or against t he law. How can someone love a country where the crime rates increase every year, murder rates increase, thugs are on every corner, and big corporations launder millions and millions of dollars without getting caught. The article says that these patriotic people claim to love America because of the freedom we have here. Some freedoms however are limited. According to the article, saying certain things could possibly get you fired from your job which should not be the case if we really had the freedom of speech. Also, economic freedom is more centered on those who already have money than those that are poor and want to work for their money. What I found most interesting was the section of the article that discussed the number one syndrome. It also struck me as somewhat disturbing because our political leaders always pump the message into our minds that America is number one when there is no basis for this superior ran...