My Patriotism is Bigger Than Your Patriotism...

I was out and about with Mom and Tat Bro today, taking the Little Princess to lunch. Gosh, she's so damn cute, I ask Tat Bro if I can have her. He keeps saying no, but I hope to wear him down someday...hopefully before she hits puberty. Then, I take the offer off the table.

But I digress...

So, after lunch, Mom and I drive by a gas station with a sign in the window that proclaimed "American Owned and Operated". I vowed never to patronize that business.

Long ago, I was dating a guy who lived in Topeka. I went to school and worked part time during the week, and then spent weekends in Topeka. There was a donut shop Deon liked to go to. At one point, it used to be a Dunkin Donuts, but then something happened where the ownership changed hands to a man from India, who lived in Topeka with his family. For whatever reason, the new owner decided not to continue with the Dunkin franchise, and renamed it Dimple Donuts. Same donuts, clean place, brightly lit, the workers were friendly, and I guessed they were all related.

Across the street, there was another donut shop. A little darker, outdated on the inside, but the donuts were pretty good and they had their own loyal following as they always seemed busy.

A donut is a donut is a donut. And Deon had never met a donut he didn't like. So, he patronized both businesses equally. One weekend I was there, and I noticed that the older donut place had put up a sign in their window that read, "OUR PROFITS STAY IN THE US". Here was a guy, who was not born in this country, who was a business owner, and just doing what he could to provide for his family. Meanwhile, the Teabagging Palinites across the street thought he was pond scum for doing just that. Only because he wasn't born in this country.

I was incensed. Just because the Constitution defends your right to be a bigot, doesn't mean I have to bankroll it.

I have a HUGE issue with nation-centricity. Oh, it's okay to have patriotism...wave your flag, shoot off fireworks, say the Pledge, but a lot can be said for humility and accepting that there are people that you share this world with, who are different. And just because they don't share the same creed, race, religion, address as you, doesn't mean they are less than human.

I see and hear about it every day, and it makes me sick. Crispy Christians against anyone else who doesn't share their faith. Americans who look down upon those who were not birthed on American soil. Wealthy people who look upon those less fortunate as they were some sort of cancer. Bigotry is alive and well, prevalent and accepted...but I'm not supporting it.

The label "Buy American" doesn't hold a lot of water with me, not when it is implied that what I am getting is somehow more righteous just because it was made by someone who speaks my language.

Sometimes, I really hate this planet and wish the Big Rock would strike already.