Any patriotism, logic left in politics?

Jon Barrick

Jon Barrick

First off, to know how I write, I believe you should know some things about me first. I was born Jonathon Barrick to a couple of Republican parents. As I grew older, I learned I could freely express myself, trust in the institutions I was a part of and truly believe in the equality of the human soul.

On a lighter note, I’m single, a fan of the Minnesota Vikings and I’m left-handed. I hope you can see that my views of expression, discrimination and personal happiness that I’m very liberally-based and a proud Democrat in these days we live in.

So whatever happened to logical thinking in politics? Where has the courage in politics gone? Why do we sit and let the respectability of our nation fall so unbelievably low? President Clinton did an immoral act that emotionally hurt people who felt betrayed by his actions. President Bush has done more than one immoral act in his six years, and the body bags will continue to fly over the Atlantic Ocean until someone finds the courage to stand up and act against our democratically-elected tyrant.

We need to reason once again, and we should all be able to talk freely. This is a time not for greed or selfishness, but to move forward. Let’s not let future elections be run with fear and lies. Go ahead and elect a Republican, but know the real reasons for electing him. President Bush, on his first presidential campaign, claimed to be a “uniter not a divider”; however our country is the most divided it’s ever been. We need – and must – return to compromise and reasoning. We have very little real patriotism left in America. We were supposed to be the haven for free expression, no matter how ridiculous people’s beliefs were. We were also supposed to be the rising intellectuals of the world. We were meant to be better than this. We still can be. All it takes is courage, logic and confidence that no matter what we do, we’re doing it together and, therefore, we can’t fail.

And on top of that, we need patriotism – true and honest patriotism – not to President Bush or our military, but to our original promise to ourselves more than 200 years ago. That here in America, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”-(Declaration of Independence)