True patriotism goes beyond flag, becomes a way of life

True patriotism goes beyondflag, becomes a way of life
EDITOR:
Several days ago, there was a letter published ("This veteran doesn't agree with Ryan on flag-burning," June 25) in favor of preserving the American flag, thus scolding Tim Ryan for his decision to vote against that preservation. The writer, a World War II veteran, states that "many Americans died to keep our flag safe." The problem with this idea is that the patriotic symbolism is inaccurate.
The flag, obviously, represents our country, however; amazingly enough, it is often those that proudly respect our flag who inadvertently do a disservice to our country as a whole. The writer reminds us to remember 9/11 and the way that patriotism and flag-waving "let the people know where they stand." While many patriotic citizens believe that they know where they stand, they also refuse to move on and face real issues facing our nation today.
Patriotism has become an escape, a distraction and a vice. Since Americans are no longer held accountable for what is happening around them, they blindly support their leaders and continue to wave their flags. Nothing will ever be accomplished if this counterproductive cycle continues.
True patriotism is a more low-key and difficult affair. Ideally, the flag should be representative of a nation of humbly informed citizens striving to make a difference in the world. There is a long way to go before that symbolism makes sense. I salute Tim Ryan for turning down an irrelevant matter and moving on to more pressing problems.
BENJAMIN J. WEAVER
Austintown
High approval rating deniesevidence against president
EDITOR:
It's been said that you can fool some of the people some of the time, but George Bush and his administration can fool most of the people most of the time.
Let's see. We won in Afghanistan, yet the warlords are in control throughout most of the country, and we've yet to capture Osama bin Laden. We won in Iraq, but still no sign of Saddam Hussein, and Americans are still being ambushed and killed almost daily. More and more it looks as though we'll be in Iraq for at least five years, something the administration didn't tell us when it was trying to sell it to us in the first place. I won't even mention the lack of weapons of mass destruction.
The tax cut, consisting of a few hundred dollars for us middle class folks will be eaten up by increases in the state sales tax and gasoline tax not to mention double-digit increases in tuition and health care costs. Compare that with the tens of thousands and millions of dollars the country club set stands to gain from the tax cut, and it's not hard to see who the current administration favors.
The economy under Bush has been a disaster. Because of the fall of the stock market, retirement funds like the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) has lost billions, thanks in part to the friends of the Bush administration at Enron, Worldcom, Tyco and Global Crossing. Many other retirement funds, including 401(k)s of the vast majority of Americans are well below where they were three years ago.
The nearly $5 trillion surplus? Gone! In fact this year the government will have a deficit of at least $400 billion. Why? Because of the little payback the top 1 percent got for helping to get Mr. Bush elected.
Now comes Medicare reform! Can Social Security reform be far behind? By reform, the Republicans really mean cutting back on benefits or privatizing these social programs. They've tried for years to cut these programs to no avail. The next best thing is to starve them! That's right, if you create huge deficits by cutting taxes for the wealthy, then eventually you'll have to make drastic cuts to the two big social programs.
And to think that Mr. Bush's popularity rating is that high.
BILL JOHNSON
Boardman