"I don’t believe in ‘my country right or wrong’. My country wrong needs my help.” – Peter Tork of the Monkees, as quoted in TV Guide, September 23, 1967.

There is a despicable kind of hypocrisy rampant in America when it comes to patriotism. The ultra-conservative crowd (is there any other kind of conservative today?) would have everyone believe that they hold a monopoly on patriotism, and that their more progressive fellow citizens are not only opposed to, but conspiring to destroy, all that true Americans hold near and dear. This shift from the misguided patriotism of “my country, right or wrong” to the phony patriotism of “my country is always right and screw everyone else” is one of the most disturbing and dangerous trends of our time. How ironic that America’s roots were planted and nurtured by rebels, malcontents and unpatriotic criminals. At least that’s what the British said about them then. Today’s conservatives would have sent them all to Gitmo.