How do you define a patriot? Well Dictionary.com defines patriot with two (2) different options:
1. a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.
2. a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, especially of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government.
As you can see while those definitions sound similar they are worlds apart. The definition that always comes to my mind when I hear patriot takes me to the American colonists who supported the war for independence from England. If that is the qualification that we use to define a Patriot, then it is the second definition that fits better.
Recently there was a letter to the editor in the Birmingham News (Alabama) in which the author referred to the occupy Birmingham crowd as "patriots." At first glance that might be true, but take a deeper look at their messages because they are all over the place. On many issues that I hear or read from the Occupy Birmingham group I agree:
Right of assembly
Right to bear arms
Goverment accountabilty
Then there are mentions of national standards for education, paying off student loans (more from the Occupy Wall Street group) and several other discussions of what "the goverment can do to help us." I do not agree that a larger and more intrusive goverment is the answer.
With those ideas I do not see the Occupy Birmingham group as fitting my definition of a patriot. My beliefs are conservative, I am a Southern Baptist Christian. Politically I believe in the American Constitution and that our country should be bound by its rules and wording.
To answer my earlier question, I define a patriot as "someone who stands up and fights for individual liberty, believes in the idea of personal responsibility, and understands that these ideals were granted to us by our creator the one and only God."
We need more patriots like our forefathers who fought for our independence from an overbearing English government not more people who think that a bigger government is needed because "it is not fair." Whatever "it" is. As I heard on the radio this week, American capitalism is not fair. There is risk involved if you want to succeed and there is no guarantee that you will succeed. Most importantly, capitalism gives everyone an opportunity to move from poverty to financial success.
Step up my fellow patriots! You are needed!
David Carmichael
