Now That Dissent Is No Longer Patriotic...Update

what is?

Perhaps paying taxes is patriotic. No, that can't be, see: Obama-entire Cabinet. So how is patriotism defined these days?

Is it simply taking a pledge to be a better person? If patriotism is defined as the love for one's country it would be constant, and not dependent on the occupant of the Oval Office.

Patriotism "is something that almost everyone thinks is good," says Nolan McCarty, professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton. "So if you can attach your idea to something that is good — Mom, apple pie, patriotism — that's a particularly effective way of selling the idea.

Well there we have it. The Left has discovered patriotism and made it their own. They won and the definition belongs to them. They have defined health care as a human right and with it, support of health care as an act of patriotism.

It is what it is. For the remainder of Obama's term, those of us who believe in small government, free speech, self-determination should accept that we have inherited the titles and symbols the Left once gave to Pres. Bush. We will be associated with swastikas and we will be called stupid . This should not bother us and it should not deter us. The Left is only renting patriotism and the current situation is temporary.

Granted, there is a lot of harm that the Left can do before their lease is up. We must stand up to them and do everything in our power to ensure that we still have a country left when they've vacated. But we shouldn't expect them to pat us on the back, or their minions in the media to congratulate us, for pointing out that they are trashing a country that true patriots shed their blood to build and protect.

My advice to people on the Right, stay vigilant but find the humor in the Left and learn to laugh. Only forty-two months to go.

Update-Mark Steyn writing along these same lines:

Reporting dissent is the highest form of patriotism! Is your neighbor suspiciously "well-dressed"? Is he mouthing off about cancer survival rates under socialized medical systems while wearing a cravat? Give us his name, and we'll give you his spats! Just go to flag@whitehouse.gov, not to be confused with flagging@whitehouse.gov., which is the e-mail address for reporting President Obama's latest approval rating. Go to flay@whitehouse.gov if you'd like Speaker Pelosi to walk across your back as a whip-wielding SS dominatrix barking "Vee hoff vays of making you tokk less casually, dumbkopf!" Go to flange@whitehouse.gov if you need parts for your new government car, or your new government hip replacement. Go to flaunt@whitehouse.gov if you'd like a special preview of President Obama's latest bare-chested pictorial for Vanity Fair. Go to flatulent@whitehouse.gov if you'd like to report your neighbor's cow for excessive CO2 emissions.

Well I certainly didn't need the Pelosi image and I am over the Obama pictorials. Steyn makes the point that Conformity is now the new dissent. So, under Obama, there is not dissent, only compliance.