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Publius,
Please consider whether, as a patriot, you might not be so deficient as you suppose. Patriotism takes more than one form. You yourself are, to be sure, no “my country, love it or leave it” patriot.
However, I believe a valid characterization of you would be as a Taw patriot, analogous to Ezekiel, chapter 9:4. In Ezekiel’s Old Testament vision, the Lord has his angels separate the demographic wheat from the chaff by going through Jerusalem, the capital city of ancient Israel, and inscribing a mark, a Taw, “upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” (KJV) Correct me if I’m wrong, but I see you with a black arm band, “sighing and crying” over the abominations that have come to afflict America during your lifetime.
Applying the analogy of Ezekiel’s vision further, the Lord counts Taw Israelites as worth sparing, but considers worthy of annihilation all who lack the Taw. Likewise, citizens who cheerlead for the country in its present condition, and who shed hardly a tear over national decadence, are Tawless patriots. In the long run, their form of patriotism serves the national interest poorly. Whereas patriots like yourself, who lament the sorry condition of America’s culture, exhibit salutary patriotism. Such patriotism is a sign of contradiction providing real service to God and country in a nation marked by dire moral decline. Elburts (talk) 08:10, 14 August 2008 (UTC)