Patriotism

"More and more he [Mark Twain] doubted the ability of the American public to exercise independent judgment and believed that most people parroted what they heard from politicians and the press. Questioning what constituted true patriotism, he grew enraged by the expression 'Our country, right or wrong!' In his notebook, he commented: 'We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had:--the individual's right to oppose both flag & country when he . . . believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; & with it, all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism.' In an unpublished essay, 'As Regards Patriotism,' he discussed the culture's frightening power to brainwash or bully people into their political beliefs and 'debase angels to men and lift men to angelship. And it can do any one of these miracles in a year -- even in six months.' -- Chernow, Mark Twain