In Honor of our Veterans

Just a couple of items in honor of our veterans.

First, this is a link a fan-produced video for Carbon's Leaf's song "The War was in Color."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7umAnAcvE

Second, one of my favorite Thomas Sowell quotations on the nature and definition of patriotism.

“Despite a tendency in some intellectual circles to see the nation as just a subordinate part of the world at large—some acting, or even describing themselves as citizens of the world—patriotism is, in one sense, little more than a recognition of the basic fact that one’s own material well-being, personal freedom, and sheer physical survival depend on the particular institutions, traditions, and policies of the particular nation in which one lives. There is no comparable world government, and without the concrete institutions of government, there is nothing to be a citizen of or to have enforceable rights, however lofty or poetic it may sound to be a citizen of the world. When one’s fate is clearly recognized as depending on the surrounding national framework—the institutions, traditions, and norms of one’s country—then the preservation of that framework cannot be a matter of indifference while each individual pursues purely individual interests. Patriotism is recognition of a shared fate, and the shared responsibilities that come with it. …Conditions may become so repugnant in one country that it makes sense to move to another country. But there is no such thing as moving to “the world.” One may of course live in a country parasitically, accepting all the benefits for which others have sacrificed—both in the past and in the present—while rejecting any notion of being obliged to do the same. But once that attitude becomes general, the country becomes defenseless against forces of either internal disintegration or external aggression. In short, patriotism and national honor cannot be reduced to simply psychological quirks, to which intellectuals can consider themselves superior, without risking dire consequences, of which France in 1940 was a classic example. It was considered chic in some circles in France of the 1930s to say “Rather Hitler than Blum.” But that was before they experienced living under Hitler or dying after dehumanization in Hitler’s concentration camps.”

Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society, (279-280).