What is most irksome about the Tea Party Patriots is their expropriation of the word patriot, with the implication that if you disagree with them, youre not a patriot, or at least youre less patriotic than they are. Without getting all ask-notty about it, I think a movement labeling itself patriotic should have some obligation to demonstrate patriotism in a way other than demanding a tax cut.
From My Country, Tis of Me – Magazine – The Atlantic
Samuel Johnson said it best. Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. The Tea party seems to be made up of people conflating their personal self-interest with the interests to the nation.
