Vice President Mike Pence's decision to walk out of an NFL game on Sunday after several San Francisco 49ers knelt during the national anthem raises a question: If the kneeling football players are patriots — as many keep insisting — does that make what Pence did unpatriotic?
Well, sure enough, Nancy Armour, who writes about sports for USA Today, said Pence had made a "mockery" of the anthem by "co-opting it for a stunt." It was, she said, "a shameless bid for political points" and that "he tried to play the country for a fool."
So, to sum up: When millionaire football players turn the anthem into a divisive stunt, it's patriotic. But when a sitting vice president walks out of a game to show respect for the flag, it's shameless and disrespectful.
Time was, being patriotic meant supporting the troops, honoring the flag, loving the country and its many freedoms. It was pretty simple. But progressive sophisticates have been trying for years to redefine what patriotism means, and the result is a muddle that requires a pro-football-size playbook to figure out.
To that end, we've reviewed a multitude of stories and commentaries from some leading politicians and the best and brightest of the pundit class to put together a brief tutorial on the current thinking about this word:
What Is Patriotic? --->Read the rest from John Merline HERE.
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