Patriotic Librarians Unite!

Daniel writes “Kathleen Roegge wrote a stirring letter that was published in the March 15, 2004 issue of Library Journal about the patriotism of librarians.

Ms. Roegge recalled the words of Theodore Roosevelt who reminds all of us to realize that “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country.””

April 23, 2004 by Uncategorized 2

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2 Responses

  1. ChuckB says:
    April 24, 2004 at 12:16 am

    Roosevelt’s definition of patriotism

    I like the definition of patriotism from Roosevelt cited by Roegge, but I do think it leads to some uncomfortable conclusions if we follow it consistently. Lincoln’s detractors in the Civil war would have to be considered patriots, since Lincoln clearly wasn’t standing by the terms under which the nation was originally constituted. (Just to be clear: I believe that the South was on the wrong side of the slavery issue, but on the right side of the states’ rights issue). And at least some of Lincoln’s detractors (U.S. citizens, no less) were imprisoned without charges, trial, or appeal.

    Much of what a person means by “patriotism” depends on what one considers to be the purpose and virtue of the nation. For some, that is big government. For others it is a small, unobtrusive government. For some it means avoiding foreign entanglements while for others it means being able to project our diplomatic influence and military might. Some regard “protecting” American jobs as patriotic, while others see free trade as embodying American virtue. I’m not sure the word has much intrinsic meaning left in common usage.

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  2. Samantha says:
    April 26, 2004 at 11:47 pm

    Some context
    Here (at the bottom of the page) is the letter that Ms. Roegge was replying to. I was glad to see her response to the initial letter. The implications made by the first letter was that liberals were unpatriotic for not supporting Bush and Ashcroft, who are only trying to “protect Americans from terrorists who want to kill us.”

    I know that libraranship is not exactly a bastion of conservatism but there are still those out there saying, “If you don’t support Bush/the Patriot Act/the war in Iraq YOU ARE UNAMERICAN.” Last year when I was still in grad school, we had a heated discussion on the Patriot Act which ended with one of the other students telling me that I must want terrorists to attack us if I don’t support the Patriot Act. It’s always nice to have a reminder that I’m not a bad American for questioning our great leader.

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