Bush Kills Patriotism

Last spring, I had the disturbing privilege of reviewing history essays by students from Eastern Kentucky. Like a lot of rural areas, Eastern Kentucky provides a disproportionate number of soldiers for the American military. I remember one young woman saying that men from her family had served in the military for every generation going back to the American Revolution. What was distinctive about the essays though was the extent to which these rural Kentucky students had abandoned that patriotism. Some students compared the global terrorists to revolutionaries like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Others argued that the Patriot Act was just as bad as terrorism. I've always opposed this war, but I was frankly stunned by the student papers. President Bush has been conducting the war on terror in a way that's been calculated to divide this country and cut the United States off from the rest of the world. Just as the Bush administration has destroyed out credibility in the world, he's also killing patriotism in this country. It's a sad thing.