Obligatory Reading of the Day

Read On Patriotism by Paul Musgrave, one of the final essays before he shuts down the blog. Here is just a short excerpt - go read the rest:

If there is an idealized America–not merely a “purer” version of the United States that exists only in our imaginations like a Norman Rockwell painting, but a concept of the United States in a purely ideational sense–than patriotism for an American must mean loyalty to this idea above all. The leftist slogan “Dissent is Patriotic” expresses one of the implications of this idea, because in certain situations dissent from the policies of an American government will deviate from one’s ideal America; the obverse is that often it is loyalty which is patriotic, an understanding that the bold scribblers of the left (or the right when it is in opposition) are unlikely to champion when it is inexpedient.

(hat-tip: Ed Brayton)