 Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultimate Cheapskate
1- In the good old days when there was a run on the banks, was it an act of civic responsibility (or stupidity) to stay on the sidelines and not line up to get your cash out?
2- A friend of mine has "Support Our Troops" bumperstickers plastered all over his car, but he's a fanatical supporter of tax cuts. His position on taxes, BTW, isn't grounded in a belief that lower taxes will necessarily grow the economy (thereby resulting a greater tax revenues in total), but simply that government deserves less fuding. Is there any hypocrisy in those positions?
3- People who insist on buying American-made products: Is that a patriotic act?
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Quote:
Patriotic:
1 : inspired by patriotism
2 : befitting or characteristic of a patriot
Patriotism
: love for or devotion to one's country
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In light of that, I think all three scenarios can be answered by what one's intent is in their actions.
2 and 3 are probably easier to answer.
On 2, one can support their troops but not the war they're being asked to fight. One can also support their troops but not like how money for everything else is being spent. Or, even more specifically, it's not incongruous to be for maintaining a strong military but being against projects such as the V-22 Osprey that appear to be large money sinks.
On 3, personally I shop quality and value. Cheap doesn't equal value and expensive doesn't equal quality. If an American company is the best supplier, then I will buy from them. But, in this day and age, what does that mean?
I drive an American-built car. It's a Honda Accord, built right here in Ohio. In college, I built a foreign car, a Buick Regal built in Canada. Guess which one has caused more flak at family reunions? Half of my extended family are retired GM workers. They were upset that I was buying a foreign car when they saw the Accord. They didn't think it was very patriotic.
When it comes down to it, while I was supporting blue collar car builders like them by preferring American-built cars, I was funneling profits to a company that wasn't paying for their retirement benefits.
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