She seemed to be saying that small, red-state towns are the real America:
"This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us."The rest of the country, the urban areas, the states that might go for Obama-Biden...well, she didn't elaborate. We can all be thankful for that.
Look, I love small-town America -- hell, I live in a small town and, if I have my druthers, I'll be here the rest of my life -- but I take exception to any hint that patriotism and service somehow reside only in wonderful little pockets populated by citizens who espouse a particular political philosophy.
I long ago tired of Republicans acting as if they've cornered the market on love-of-country -- it lives in The People, dammit, not in one political party or only in certain precincts. Patriotism and service beat strong in the chests of liberals and conservatives, in Democrats, Republicans, independents, libertarians and yes, even socialists.
I’ve been surrounded by kind, good and courageous Americans everywhere I’ve lived, from small towns to cities to college campuses. I’ve known factory workers, dirt farmers, selfless educators and gold-star mothers in blue states as well as red.
I may disagree with many of my fellow citizens on how best to serve and preserve this nation, but I have neither the standing nor the right to assault (or attribute) patriotism on the basis of party, politics or postal code. Common sense tells me that different people will confront the same facts and distill different truth, common decency instructs me to respect those differences, and common purpose compels me to work alongside people with whom I differ.
I reject Gov. Palin's patriotically provincial America, her fractured nation of isolated pro-America communities, secured by the gates of political dogma and flanked on all sides by enemies-of-state.
No, that's not the America I know and love -- that's not my country.
