mikema63 wrote:I can't imagine how you'd measure patriotism to your satisfaction Kaiser, but regardless it was literally the least important thing I said in my entire post.
I don't know what you mean here. I've replied to your OP earlier and then to your last post. As far as I can see, there were no other points in that post, but let me know what you want me to address if I missed something.
I'm sure there are measures of patriotism out there, with some being more useful than others, but we can hopefully agree that, first, a single question won't capture the whole sentiment, and second, you need to be more specific when asking the question you mentioned. Take, for instance, the
Pew poll I quoted earlier. The group which has seen the greatest decline (15%) between 2011 and 2014 is Republicans, which should at least raise questions as to how they interpreted the question, e.g. are they partly judging the Obama presidency and/or other things?
mikema63 wrote:You have basically painted all your political disagreements as either on your side, or dangerous elements who seek to undermine society. This is simply ridiculous. These groups think they are improving society, it's what they want to fundamentally do with their political advocacy.
That you have failed to convince anyone that secretly they are going to ruin all that is good in the world doesn't mean they seek to ruin all that is good in the world.
Of course they want to undermine society as it currently exists. After all, it is so unjust, racist, sexist, etc. that nothing short of a fundamental transformation is necessary to improve it.
But I certainly don't question their motives. Rather, I believe the fact that they are acting on a moral imperative makes them such a powerful opponent. Obviously, I think they are wrong, and there is nothing more dangerous than the combination of being wrong and moral self-righteousness.