In the introduction you note that at least one person featured – the military guy who talked to the Los Angeles Times – was Republican. But it still reads like most of the people interviewed were Democrats.
Generally speaking, the book is weighted to the left, but I suggest people — if they actually buy or read the book — especially look at the following chapters to see that political labels are often irrelevant. For example, a New Mexico cattle rancher, Tweeti Blancett, was GOP county chairman for the first President Bush in 1992. Yet when she went after big oil and gas for destroying the environment and making it impossible for her to raise cattle, she was shunned by the GOP. The current Bush Administration won’t listen to her complaints. The Interior Department snubbed her. So what’s she now doing? She’s suing the Bureau of Land Management.
As she told me, “I’m persona non grata now with the Bush people.” Another chapter is my interview with former U.S. National Park Police Chief Theresa Chambers who was fired after speaking to the Washington Post about budget and staffing shortfalls. She is also a Republican.
Then there’s Cincinnati attorney and Marine Paul Hackett, who voted for Perot in 1992, but when he came back from Iraq, he decided to run for Congress in a special election as a “fighting Democrat.” He nearly won, then decided to run several months later for a seat in the U.S. Senate, but his campaign was undermined by senior-level Democratic Party officials who supported another candidate. Hackett felt horribly betrayed by the Democratic Party.
Finally, former FBI agent Coleen Rowley voted for Bush in 2000, yet she's now running for Congress as a Democrat. The political landscape is changing, and conventional Democrat and Republican partisan labels might not be so apt in a few years. Everyone seems to be holding their breath whether a truly viable third-party can finally emerge, take hold, and really stick this time. Imagine a third-party presidential candidate winning the 2008 election. Dissent transcends the partisan and ideological divide.
How do you define patriot?
I will cite Edward Abbey who I quoted in the book’s epigraph: “A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against the country.” Another way to voice this belief comes from John Sellers, who is featured in my book and is the director of the grass-roots organization known as the Ruckus Society. He is active on many non-violent civil disobedience fronts; in fact, he’s been arrested dozens of times for staging highly creative, media-friendly demonstrations or direct actions. He told me, “The people who leave the United States to go fight in our wars are often seen as patriots and heroes. While this is certainly true, I’ve felt for a long time that you... don’t have to leave the borders of your country to fight for your country. In fact, the people I have the greatest respect for are people who nonviolently fight for the heart and soul of this country from within its borders… because we now live in a country that is ruled by unaccountable corporations that are buying up our elected officials and are literally buying up election day itself… They are doing it creatively and nonviolently, exposing themselves to incredible repression and violence to fight for the true ideals of democracy that can and should exist in this country — but don’t."
Article comments
1 - gonzo marx
some really Good Stuff here...
excellent Interview and timely material...
"it's got a great beat, Dick, and I can bug out to it"
/golfclap
well done!
Excelsior!
2 - Lumpy
Sounds like another example of a good book on an important topic where serious analysis is sacrificed on the altar of leftist bias. I should really say partisan bias because right wingers are often just as bad.
But it was a good interview and made me interested enough to at least leaf through the book next time i'm in borders.
Did he really interview krugman? what qualifications he has on any topic relating to patriotism is beyond me.
3 - gonzo marx
one would think that ANY American can have a vlaid view about Patriotism...
that whole Individual thing
i'll hold off on Judgement until i can actually read the book
but the Interview, and the subject matter is very pertinent in today;s circumstances
any disagreement on that?
and one cannot Objectively state with any degree of accuracy that therehave not been numerous documented cases of some partisans labellign ANY dissent with the "anti-american" or "america hater" kind of labels
and THAT is the Point
Excelsior?
4 - Scott Butki
Glad you guys liked the interview. We had to cut it some and the original is here.
5 - Scott Butki
Take 2 - the full interview is at my blog site.
6 - Scott Butki
I was thinking about this interview today because of one comment that was in the interview that I cut out because of space limitations.
I'll post it in full below.
I mention it because of the death of journalist Oriana Fallaci, who Temple Stark wrote a good profile of.
7 - Scott Butki
The excerpt:
"Would I be correct in assuming Studs Terkel, one of the best practitioners of oral histories, was an influence? Who are some of the other influences on your writings?
Absolutely, I am in great debt to Studs. I was introduced to him as a freshman at the University of Michigan in 1975. I read Working straight through Thanksgiving weekend. I had never read something of that breadth before. I wasnt a journalist then. But his brand of reportage influenced me greatly. It just took awhile to germinate. I later went to Berkeley for grad school in political science. While there, I read Oriana Fallacis Interviews with History, which made me realize how much skill and insight are required to really get to the soul of one's interview subject. Shes the best in the game at this. The gold standard. I recommend anyone interested in interviewing a public figure to read her interview with then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger under Nixon. Listening to him talk, she wrote in her intro, is like a dull rain hitting the roof. She made Kissinger disclose how much he thought Nixon depended on him for his expertise on global issues; he compared himself to a Western gunslinger, the man in the white cowboy hat. The net effect of her interview--it first appeared in The New Republic--was twofold: Nixon was furious with Kissinger; and the interview became a major media event.