I would love to have a reason to be proud of this country. But there is so much about it that is so profoundly wrong I can only feel shame for calling myself an American.

I have some ideas about how to improve everyday life for ALL Americans: Let’s get rid of the oligarchy, the hubris of “exceptionalism” and its concomitant imperialist attitudes. Then maybe I can feel proud.

Let’s rid the country of entitled rich people who believe they are better and more deserving than everybody else. Let’s put a stop to the moronic Bible-thumpers who believe in fairy tales, constantly shoving their draconian anti-abortion laws and censorship demands down our throats.

Let’s end America’s repulsive love affair with guns and weapons of mass destruction and war and killing anyone who disagrees with us. I’d be down with that.

If America can ever pull its collective head out of its ass and become a nation with a government that actually exists for the benefit of the people instead of the corporations – and if we can become a nation that stops thinking it is somehow blessed by God to enslave the planet – then maybe I will have a reason to be patriotic.

In America today, being a ‘patriot’ means waving a Confederate flag and chanting, “We’re number one!” like a mindless drone while glorifying war and the military and refusing to question ANYTHING Donald Trump says or does or might have done in the past – out of fear of being labeled ‘unpatriotic.’

That’s not patriotism. That’s a cult.

The USA poisons our own citizens; we allow basic utilities to be unaffordable, we make laws that literally starve our citizens to death; we allow for-profit healthcare while making it unaffordable to those being paid below-living wages or who are on fixed incomes. We allow Big Pharma to use taxpayer-funded research to create dangerous, useless drugs and then charge us outrageous prices for them.

The government doubles the tax on Social Security while allowing billionaires to pay no tax on capital gains and bonuses. They pay bailouts to banks and airlines and the auto industry at taxpayer expense while allowing pensions, retirement funds and social security to be fleeced. Congress legislates for the benefit of the Forbes 500, while more often than not Main Street America becomes collateral damage in the name of bigger profits.

Who should we really be afraid of?

We call ourselves a democracy, but ‘We The People’ don’t even elect our own president. The Electoral College does that.

They claim we’re free while NSA conducts mass surveillance on our citizens and hunts down whistleblowers with every tool at its disposal.

‘Patriotism’ in America means the right to protest before getting clubbed, pepper-sprayed and arrested and tracked for the rest of your life…

True patriots bond with what their country stands for. Patriotism is declining because our government doesn’t stand for what we believe in anymore. Things like justice, freedom, equality, honor; education for all, jobs, respect for each other, respect for our environment, respect for the sovereignty of other nations, respect for peace and all things righteous and good.

When those things have been returned to the American people: then I will feel patriotic.

Right now we are The Evil Empire. That is what we stand for.