Liberal Patriotism

I often struggle to understand viewpoints that are different from my own, so I like to learn how people who disagree with me think. This article, by a former Time White House correspondent who once offered to perform sexual favors for President Clinton in exchange for his defense of abortion rights, definitely falls in that category.

The following quote was a headline on the story when I bookmarked it, but I can't find it anywhere now:

I cringed as my young son recited the Pledge of Allegiance. But who was I to question his innocent trust in a nation I long ago lost faith in?

This New York City reporter ventures upstate and puts her son in the local school, with whose parents she does not fit in. She and her city friends worry about the education he'll receive in the God-and-country-loving small town. She contacts the ACLU over proselytizing in the school, her son's favorite colors become red, white and blue, and she talks about the mixed feelings she has for this country.

By the end, some things change and some stay the same. For you education buffs out there will love this quote about when the son goes back to a nice school in NYC:

He can, it turns out -- despite the warnings of other city parents -- read at a level twice that of his new peers.

Interesting stuff.


Salon.com: Country Boy


filed: us.politics