[Cryptophylaxis]

Ever since I read a speech from Theodore Roosevelt that I felt was so true and great I have again and again read it and reflected on how it pertains to things today. The speech:

“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all.
This is just as true of the man who puts “native” before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.
But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as any one else.
The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English- Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian- Americans, or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality than with the other citizens of the American Republic.
The men who do not become Americans and nothing else are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American.
Addressing the Knights of Columbus in New York City
12 October 1915 “

I agree with this speech and one area of life among many I have applied this to is celebrating holidays that don’t come from this country. Two of the most popular are St. Patrick’s day and Cinco de Mayo.

I am of Irish heritage and am proud of this however as the another speech suggests there is room for only one flag. I don’t believe this means that I should disown my heritage but the question of whether or not to celebrate this holiday has conflicted me for years. On one hand as an American I see no reason to celebrate this Irish holiday but on the other hand I think it’s a great way to celebrate my heritage.

I have other reasons to not celebrate this holiday such as the holiday being one of two holidays I refer to as amateurs night, the other being New years eve. Amateurs night is when all of the non-drinking clowns decide to show off and get completely tanked at the bars. I try to avoid these people if at all possible. The other personal reason why I have avoided St. Patrick’s day is due to the obnoxious “fake Irish” clowns who think drinking green beer while shaking the biggest four leaf clover they can find is what the Irish are all about. However these are two personal reasons which are a bit off the point of the above speech.

Here is another bit of a speech by Teddy Roosevelt regarding immigrants which specifically mentions St. Patrick’s Day:

“He must revere only our flag; not only must it come first, but no other flag should even come second. He must learn to celebrate Washington's birthday rather than that of the Queen or Kaiser, and the Fourth of July instead of St. Patrick's Day.”

I was wondering what others thoughts are on the speech and maybe how it relates to celebrating non-American holidays. Has anyone else been conflicted as how to best celebrate their heritage while not causing rifts in our country.

Crypto

 

[test]

Thewall brought this crap up a few months ago. That is what I think about it. A bunch of crap. Celebrating a holiday or calling myself Italian-American (I don't, but not because of crap thinking like this) does not mean I place that country above America. It is my family heritage and it stops there. Can you say brain washed!

This only causes "rifts" for extremist wackos. That is what I think about it.

 

[thewall]

Only a true anti-American puke would think this is crap.. It is right on, 100%... If you don't like it, wait awhile and when we reclaim our country, people like this will be sent packing, at best....

 

[Dwind]

Christmas doesn't come from this country either

 

[Cryptophylaxis]

Dwind I didn't include Christmas or any other religious holidays. Religion is not the same thing as nationality in that it doesn't take anything away from America to celebrate the holiday of your chosen beliefs.

As for Kodie1, thanks for your response. I didn't know this topic was already posted on. I had this saved to my hard drive for awhile and decided to share with the site. The speech itself is from our 26th president Theodore Roosevelt, who has made many excellent speeches.

What Roosevelt was trying to get across in his speech was that America needs to have a common thread. When asked "what nationality are you?", the answer should be without hesitation or modification "American!". He meant we should be proud of our country and not continue to separate yourself from other Americans by hyphenating American with another nationality. For example I'm an American not an Irish-American.

Food for thought.

 

[rridgeoutlaw]

One of the problems this Country faces is the lack of patriotism. The mainstream wants to divide society into small groups that bicker among themselves and divides the Country. This same group is what keeps "racism" alive, they feed Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to keep things stirred up so we focus on them and not what Washington is doing.
While we're divided, they slip in the back door and rob us blind.

 

[chris]

One of the problems this Country faces is the lack of patriotism.

Everyone has their version of what is patriotic. In doing so, they activley divide us as well. Most times what people mean is "if you don't believe as I do, then you aren't patriotic."

 

[rridgeoutlaw]

I dis-agree Chris. What patriotic means is Country First. Doing and wanting what is best for the Country and it's citizens.
This is where our Goverment has failed us. If we all stood together as Americans we could force a change in Washington.

 

[chris]

I dis-agree Chris. What patriotic means is Country First. Doing and wanting what is best for the Country and it's citizens.

If you don't agree, then maybe you're one of the good guys. Let's see.

For a second, let's forget everything negative about Obama. It'll be tough, but try for the sake of argument. If his only negative was that he refused to say the Pledge, would you say that he's unpatriotic?

 

[mongoose]

T.R. you racist, nativist, xenophobic, isolationist, gun toting, ******* SOB

where are the presidential candidates like you now that we need them

 

[ActionJackson]

Ever since I read a speech from Theodore Roosevelt that I felt was so true and great I have again and again read it and reflected on how it pertains to things today. The speech:
I agree with this speech and one area of life among many I have applied this to is celebrating holidays that don’t come from this country. Two of the most popular are St. Patrick’s day and Cinco de Mayo.

I am of Irish heritage and am proud of this however as the another speech suggests there is room for only one flag. I don’t believe this means that I should disown my heritage but the question of whether or not to celebrate this holiday has conflicted me for years. On one hand as an American I see no reason to celebrate this Irish holiday but on the other hand I think it’s a great way to celebrate my heritage.

I have other reasons to not celebrate this holiday such as the holiday being one of two holidays I refer to as amateurs night, the other being New years eve. Amateurs night is when all of the non-drinking clowns decide to show off and get completely tanked at the bars. I try to avoid these people if at all possible. The other personal reason why I have avoided St. Patrick’s day is due to the obnoxious “fake Irish” clowns who think drinking green beer while shaking the biggest four leaf clover they can find is what the Irish are all about. However these are two personal reasons which are a bit off the point of the above speech.

Here is another bit of a speech by Teddy Roosevelt regarding immigrants which specifically mentions St. Patrick’s Day:
I was wondering what others thoughts are on the speech and maybe how it relates to celebrating non-American holidays. Has anyone else been conflicted as how to best celebrate their heritage while not causing rifts in our country.

Crypto

The only holidays I observe are Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Washington's Birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, National Day of Prayer, and Colombus Day. I don't observe any day's based on paganism.

As for hyphenated Americans. If a person doesn't like the term "American" there are lots of other places on the planet where they can live.

 

[Jevaud]

Our forefathers founded this country for a reason. It is that same reason that people keep coming to his country. Freedom. If America is held in such high esteem that people would flee their native country to come here, I think then we found our common thread. I believe, that as long as we look at a person's origins, and continue to separate people into categories, we will always be divided and sight of that common goal is lost.

Even in nature, survival becomes a group effort.

 

[rridgeoutlaw]

If you don't agree, then maybe you're one of the good guys. Let's see.

For a second, let's forget everything negative about Obama. It'll be tough, but try for the sake of argument. If his only negative was that he refused to say the Pledge, would you say that he's unpatriotic?

IF he was just a regular person working for a living and refused to say the pledge, I would just shake my head and spit at his feet. Since he is running for President of this Republic, and as such, he would be the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. IF he refused to say the Pledge of Alleigence (which he has) then yeah, I would say he is un-patriotic.

 

[Straight Razor]

We have a semi-american running for president.

 

[chris]

IF he was just a regular person working for a living and refused to say the pledge, I would just shake my head and spit at his feet. Since he is running for President of this Republic, and as such, he would be the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. IF he refused to say the Pledge of Alleigence (which he has) then yeah, I would say he is un-patriotic.

Thomas Jefferson never said the Pledge. Neither did George Washington, or the entire Continental Army. So when did recitation of a statist slogan written by a communist become a bench mark of patriotism?

You say that patriotism isn't subjective, yet it most certainly is. Turns out a disgusting little socialist motto makes all the difference.

 

[Cryptophylaxis]

Thomas Jefferson never said the Pledge. Neither did George Washington, or the entire Continental Army. So when did recitation of a statist slogan written by a communist become a bench mark of patriotism?

You say that patriotism isn't subjective, yet it most certainly is. Turns out a disgusting little socialist motto makes all the difference.

Why would an American have a problem with the pledge of allegiance?

Have a problem saying the pledge is like saying your ashamed of being an American. Its just mind boggling how someone who's running for the highest office of the land wont say the pledge. To whom or what is his allegiance to if not this country's flag?

I have nothing but contempt for anyone who calls himself an American but will not say the pledge of allegiance.

 

[chris]

Why would an American have a problem with the pledge of allegiance?

Why do we need a Pledge at all? We certainly didn't need it for the first hundred years as a nation. The Founding Fathers didn't' need it. The millions of Americans who settled the nation before 1895 didn't need it.

Have a problem saying the pledge is like saying your ashamed of being an American.

No it isn't. Having a problem with saying the Pledge is like saying I don't cater to YOUR form of patriotism.

To whom or what is his allegiance to if not this country's flag?

It's freedoms. It's people. It's soldiers. Etc. One can owe their allegiance to many things, many ideals, and none of them need be concrete objects.

I have nothing but contempt for anyone who calls himself an American but will not say the pledge of allegiance.

My point exactly. Patriotism is subjective, and those with a certain bent, like yourself, feel anyone not like you is contemptible.

 

[TENNGRIZZ]

Yes 100% Obama is a anti-American,unpatriotic,communist SOB!

 

[Cryptophylaxis]

Why do we need a Pledge at all? We certainly didn't need it for the first hundred years as a nation. The Founding Fathers didn't' need it. The millions of Americans who settled the nation before 1895 didn't need it.

The founding Fathers have given this country more than we can repay. There were plenty of things that were patriotic and used to drum up pride in this country such as the star spangled banner of 1814. A tribute to our flag and all it represents.


No it isn't. Having a problem with saying the Pledge is like saying I don't cater to YOUR form of patriotism.

There is no reason to not say you love your country, your home, if you in fact do. Why is this objectionable?


It's freedoms. It's people. It's soldiers. Etc. One can owe their allegiance to many things, many ideals, and none of them need be concrete objects.

All of those things are represented in our flag and the pledge to it. Again if you love this country then why object to saying you love this country?

My point exactly. Patriotism is subjective, and those with a certain bent, like yourself, feel anyone not like you is contemptible.

Patriotism is subjective in certain instances I agree. Saying the pledge of allegiance is not a bit subjective.

I just don't understand it chris.

 

[chris]

Patriotism is subjective in certain instances I agree. Saying the pledge of allegiance is not a bit subjective.

I just don't understand it chris.

This country grew and propspered for more than a century without it. But my main objection is what the Pledge is, and what it was intended to do. It was written by a socialist, to teach the virtues of state worship.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all."