What is a "patriot?"

DavidS

Anti-Tea Party Member
Sep 7, 2008
9,811
770
48
New York, NY
I define a nationalist as someone who loves their country no matter if their country does good or bad and would never criticize it. Is someone who is a Patriot someone who is willing to criticize their country, because they love their country and feel it's moving in the wrong way?
 
I don't know.
Let's use our handy-dandy internet dictionary.

"pa⋅tri⋅ot  /ˈpeɪtriət, -ˌɒt or, especially Brit., ˈpætriət/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pey-tree-uht, -ot or, especially Brit., pa-tree-uht] Show IPA
–noun 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, esp. of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government.
3. (initial capital letter) Military. a U.S. Army antiaircraft missile with a range of 37 mi. (60 km) and a 200-lb. (90 kg) warhead, launched from a tracked vehicle with radar and computer guidance and fire control.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Origin:
1590&#8211;1600; < MF patriote < LL patri&#333;ta < Gk patrit&#275;s fellow-countryman, lineage member
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
dictionary.com

It looks like you're about half-assed correct.
 
I don't see that you're a patriot for criticizing. I think you're a patriot if you're willing to lay your life on the line for individual rights against your government.
 
"The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men." -- Samuel Adams

"Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country."-- Calvin Coolidge

"Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS&#8230;" -- Thomas Paine

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." -- Thomas Paine

It's pretty clear what a patriot is David as it applies to this nation while some may debate this with me. I believe that a patriot is someone who places the love of country over the love of oneself.
 
So you're a US patriot and an Israeli nationalist. Got it. :thup:

My first post here should have suggested that I'm a very complex human being with a whole range of opinions and that I cannot be boxed into one category.
 

Forum List

Back
Top