My country, Right or Wrong?

[shropshire 0]

Well?

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Skyrad 0]

I voted yes. Why? Because to do otherwise would make me a hypocrite.
We were wrong to invade Iraq, I marched against it along with over two million others. Yet when we invaded did I support the insurgency? No. Even though if I were an Iraqi I would most likely have joined the resistance. Instead I support our troops in an illegal war, why? Because I'm British and so are they.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[kbordson 8]

Yes and No.

Supporting the People of the country, does not necessarily mean agreement with the Governmental decisions.

[SpeedRacer 1]

my sig line says it all.

Speed Racer
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[shropshire 0]

Indeed.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[shropshire 0]

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Yes and No.

Supporting the People of the country, does not necessarily mean agreement with the Governmental decisions.

If 'the people' (who ever thay are) were doing wrong (in my eyes) I could no more support them than the leadership doing wrong.

So my answer would be No, I could not support my country whilst it was doing wrong (as it is now).

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Amazon 7]

I did not nor do I now support the war in Iraq. It has been one of the stupidest uses of our military ever. It was ill concieved.. poorly implemented and run in tragic ignorance. And the people who dreamt it up.. the ones whose greed brought it on.. should be prosecuted to the full extent of any laws we have preventing war profiteering on the massive scale we have seen.

I did support the war in Afghanistan... and continue to do so, fully realizing that at some point we will need to go after the people who actually did attack us.. across the border into the tribal areas of Pakistan and kill them in their safe havens.

[shropshire 0]

Whilst I agree with you (on both counts - the same goes for my country too,on the same subjects)... But this question has the potential for being much larger than these.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[tmaricle55 0]

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Supporting the People of the country, does not necessarily mean agreement with the Governmental decisions.

I could not have said it better! It's like working for a company sometimes you have to go along with the CEO even if he is tanking the company. You don't always have to agree but you do have to follow the rules.

Muff Brother # 3883, SCR # 14796 ICD # 1 - Pres.
Yeah, I noticed and I think it's funny!

[shropshire 0]

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You don't always have to agree but you do have to follow the rules.

No, you don't. You choose to but you certainly don't have to.
O.K say you are a German in 1930's, would you follow the rules then?

Or say you in New York during prohibition.... do you stop drinking?

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[tmaricle55 0]

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O.K say you are a German in 1930's, would you follow the rules then?

Well now, that does open up a can of worms. I was speaking more of "real time" such as today in the US. We do our best to "choose" from the lesser of the "goobers" we have to pick from. Short of that, we are a country that was formed by the RICH to stay RICH without tanking the country (or at least I hope). There is no such thing as a PERFECT government because they are all run by HUMANS. Humans have emotions, semi-logic and heaven knows a chip on the shoulder. Laws must change in order to comply with the change of times. Just as you have noted in your reply.

Muff Brother # 3883, SCR # 14796 ICD # 1 - Pres.
Yeah, I noticed and I think it's funny!

[shropshire 0]

See, as I suggested above, the question can be bigger than The Now...

But actually, just because the Government has choseen to take us down this route does not mean that we have to support them. I for one do not.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[shropshire 0]

So, the YESes would support their country even if it's doing wrong - interesting.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[tmaricle55 0]

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Government has choseen to take us down this route does not mean that we have to support them. I for one do not.

I guess the bigger question here is... WHAT do you consider "support"? I pay my taxes of which I don't get to set out where they go, that is support. Do I vote against laws I feel are a violation of rights. So let's talk about support.

Muff Brother # 3883, SCR # 14796 ICD # 1 - Pres.
Yeah, I noticed and I think it's funny!

[shropshire 0]

That's a great question..

The problems is, we don't live in a true democracy, we only ever get chance to vote for a government, every 4 years (or so) based upon a basket of policies, that generally aren't all that different from the other party.

If we could vote for each law that is put forward, I would imagine that the make-up of our countries would be a lot different that they are now.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[tmaricle55 0]

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If we could vote for each law that is put forward, I would imagine that the make-up of our countries would be a lot different that they are now.

Oh my goodness... are we having a bonding moment?

I think we have come to a great understanding on this one. The best we can do is vote and hope for the best. Push the issues we feel we must and bring attention to what needs to be. There is a great snip in the US that shows both parties (Dem & Rep) asking us to URGE the government to go green. That WE can make a difference. One might THINK the government would already be on top of this already and would not need encouragement. Alas, what is the government made of? Board members of very well to do companies that make MONEY!

Muff Brother # 3883, SCR # 14796 ICD # 1 - Pres.
Yeah, I noticed and I think it's funny!

[SpeedRacer 1]

When I read these posts, it makes me realize that we should do what we can to make sure the government has as little power as possible & its roles should be narrowly circumscribed. By, say, a written constitution or something.

Anything outside of those roles, that we want to accomplish as a nation, should be done by institutions OUTSIDE the government. That way, if those institutions become corrupt or incompetent, we can withold funding them without being found guilty of tax evasion.

Speed Racer
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[tmaricle55 0]

A sort of checks and balances if you will? I think it would be a great concept. Early Romans tired that in hopes that their government would rise above greed. It's almost like a big company the more layers you put in it, the more you loose the message.

Muff Brother # 3883, SCR # 14796 ICD # 1 - Pres.
Yeah, I noticed and I think it's funny!

[Skyrad 0]

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See, as I suggested above, the question can be bigger than The Now...

But actually, just because the Government has choseen to take us down this route does not mean that we have to support them. I for one do not.

Neither do I, but your question wasn't do you support the government right or wrong, if it was I'd say no.
How do you define 'country' Shrops?

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[shropshire 0]

Good point... and a difficult question to answer. On many levels, I s'pose that the Government and the Country can be seen as the same and so that's what I was thinking of when I posed the question.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Nightingale 0]

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Well?

A country can't be any more right or wrong than a hammer can be. The government, on the other hand, can be VERY wrong. Loving your country is not equivalent to loving your government.

[billvon 3,120]

>A country can't be any more right or wrong than a hammer can be.

If you had a box of 300 million intelligent hammers, all doing their own thing, sometimes good, sometimes bad, then I'd agree with that comparison.

[Nightingale 0]

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>A country can't be any more right or wrong than a hammer can be.

If you had a box of 300 million intelligent hammers, all doing their own thing, sometimes good, sometimes bad, then I'd agree with that comparison.

By "country" I was referring to geography, not population.

[PLFXpert 0]

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By "country" I was referring to geography, not population.

I get what you're saying (and others w/r/t country vs. government).

While the two are not "equivalent", however, they are not mutually exclusive--geographically speaking or not.

A country can be right or wrong because it's not the geography that drops bombs (whether literal or figurative). I guess you could say it's the country's government but...that's just semantics.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.