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Gathering Place
Keith Haugen |
Questioning Bush isn’t
unpatriotic, it’s freedomIt bothers me that one faction in our country believes that questioning the decisions of our president is somehow "America-bashing." That is so wrong. You don't have to like President Bush to love America.
Although I didn't vote for Bush, I wrote to him soon after he was named president, and I congratulated him. I told him I hoped he would become the best president our country ever had, and I meant it. I think he is inept, ill-advised, unprepared, unqualified, arrogant, sophomoric and not very bright, but not to want him to be a good president would have been un-American. I sincerely hoped he would be a great president. And I said so -- to him and others.
And when the Saudi terrorist pilots attacked our country on Sept. 11, 2001, I wrote to the president and offered to be recalled to active duty. Our country had been attacked, and as an honorably discharged former U.S. Army staff sergeant already cleared for Top Secret, I seriously believed they might overlook my age and call me up. I was prepared to put my careers on hold and serve my country in uniform once again -- even with Bush as commander in chief.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hundreds of people waited to greet President Bush's motorcade Oct. 23 at the entrance to Hilton Hawaiian Village.
I challenge all of the Bush supporters who criticize us American patriots to match my patriotism and my love of country. Did they offer to serve our country after we were attacked? Or did they just wave the flag and criticize us?
Bush encourages Americans to think that those of us who don't agree with him are the "enemy." A number of his followers even suggest that if you don't like Bush, you are anti-America. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have been called all sorts of things by divisive Bush supporters whose patriotism pales next to those of us who put America first.
Speaking out against a sitting president is not anti-American or unpatriotic. Opposing the government's policies is more American than being afraid to be labeled by the president or his supporters as unpatriotic. For the record, I would like to say that those who dare to speak out against the president are the true American patriots. Bush's position that we are the "enemy" for voicing our disapproval is un-American at the very least. Those who put America first and Bush second are the true patriots of our day.
Yes, I've stood shoulder to shoulder with other patriots who marched, held signs and protested Bush's policies (or lack of policy), even when the president's handlers sneaked him into a local GOP fund-raiser via the back door so he wouldn't see his constituents -- fellow Americans -- calling for him to resign or be impeached.
Even at that event, I didn't hear a single voice speaking out against America -- only against Bush.
Keith Haugen teaches music and Hawaiian language at Star of the Sea middle school.
