Once upon a time, a patriot was someone who defended not only the borders, but the very ideals of his nation. "[W]hat country," Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1787, "can preserve it's [sic] liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?"

On September 11, 2001, the President told our nation that "America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining." No one, apparently, except our country's own leaders — whose swift response was the USA-PATRIOT Act, which took steps to curtail that freedom. Earlier this year, it became apparent that John Ashcroft was seeking to go further in that direction, pushing the United States even further away from freedom in the name of Homeland Security.

Those who object to such abrogation of our precious liberties, or who voice dissatisfaction with the direction our leaders are taking us, are branded "unpatriotic". Seeking to keep America true to its ideals is considered treasonous; submissively permitting those ideals be scuttled is the New Patriotism.

Similarly, the only way to Support Our Troops is to wholeheartedly endorse our leaders and the war in Iraq, to close one's eyes to the unpalatable possibility that we're the bad guys this time. In the past, we have thrown our might against those who invade their weaker neighbors; now, we are the aggressors. For decades we have denounced Germany for its belligerent history; but when they press for peace, we condemn them on that account. We decried Saddam Hussein's "contempt for the United Nations"; yet when things didn't go our way in the UN, we were just as guilty of that contempt. We have urged warring countries to stop taking an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; to set aside past injuries and work towards a brighter future. When our nose was bloodied, however, we screamed like savages for revenge — and when we could not obtain it, we shifted our wrath to a more visible target, repeating unsubstantiated accusations until they were believed despite the absence of evidence.

Yet those who demand the evidence are deemed unpatriotic, accused of hating their "homeland". The right to criticize one's government — once considered an important right of a free society — has given way to "love it or leave it." Like the Oceania of Orwell's 1984, it is wrong to express doubt; it is goodthinkful to accept the Party's proclamations without question.

Where was the outrage from the New Patriots when the elder George Bush desecrated the American flag a few days ago? For desecration it is, specifically forbidden by the US Code's section on respect for the American flag. Then again, he was only following in his son's footsteps, as our sitting President committed a similar desecration only one week before the World Trade Center was attacked. How sad it is when two Presidents of the United States have less respect for our nation than a professional golfer.

If this is how New Patriots are supposed to act — to compliantly strip ourselves of those liberties we once held dear; to shut off our brains and consciences, meekly accepting that which our leaders tell us to think; to contemn the very symbols of our country's long fight for freedom — then I will have none of it.

A man who loves his country will not stand idly by when its ideals are raped by the leaders entrusted with their safekeeping. No, a true patriot stands in defense of those ideals; he does not leave them to be savaged.