Are my opinions of this county those of my father?

I believe our children's is rooted in our upbringing of them.. but I'm nothing like my parents.. Our son is getting more patriotic than we are!

I would think somehow that kids have it tough in being patriotic today. What I mean is, kids are a lot smarter and aware of things than say we were when we were kids...but then maybe the time was a lot more innocent in our time. In those days we would stand behind our government leaders with blind faith simply because they were our leaders...for instance...I grew up in the Kennedy years...people thought he was wonderful...but in many ways he was just as much as a hypocrite as any of our current leaders--of course we didn't know that then. We got for instance Clinton out due to his extramarital affairs...yet Kennedy was just as bad...of course the news media reveals more about our leaders now than they did back then. As I said, kids are so much more aware of what's going on now.. Kids can sense the disgust for instance of how many of us older Americans feel about being involved in a war we shouldn't, having political leaders that let us down, yet make lots of promises then don't keep them and in effect lying to the people. It's almost ironic that one of our rights is freedom of speech, yet if we dare say something against this country or its leaders we're not patriotic...This was really true during the Vietnam years...many of us protested against that war and were labeled unpatriotic...how times have changed, since more people are just as vocal about the current war we don't belong in...but are they less patriotic...I have no qualms against the men fighting in the war...they don't want to be there either for the most part. My neighbor for instance, has a son...the son joined up with the Marines just to get that "dangling" free college education this country offers...they were panicked strickened when he had to go over to Iraq to do his tour of duty Your father's insistence of saying "American" reminds me of another neighbor of mine...woe to you if you say she's Irish-American...she's AMERICAN--LOL Since I'm part Native American, I really am an American...hehe---I remember someone interviewed a Native American who served in Vietnam....the interviewer was in a bit of shock cause he questioned the person, "How can you fight for a country that has treated the Native American so badly?" And the Native American replied..."Because this my country!" With all that is going on in the other parts of the world to be honest I am glad that I am an American...I wouldn't want to be a woman in Afganistan for instance---but this country is far from perfect--I too grew up in a family environment that was deeply rooted with strong patriotic beliefs. but then as I said...the Vietnam war came along and that changed a lot of things..even with my folks..they even said...had I been a son...they would have sent me to Canada to avoid the war..were they unpatriotic for saying this?? ...While many people for instance think he's a great actor....not many are fans of Viggo Mortensen due to his very strong political beliefs...they call him unpatriotic...why?...just because he speaks out on the truth of things the way this country is? Then I guess I'm unpatriotic...since many of my viewpoints run the same vein

My belief is that almost everything children think, and how they function.. it just about all comes from upbringing. Of course, I hate generalizations and I shy away from absolutes, so I'm not saying everything, but it seems to be very close to it. A lot is picked up in school.. a lot of political views, at least. But things like nationalism and patriotism, I think, are very much passed from parent to child. I know that my sense of patriotism isn't particularly strong, and I think that's partially because I spent 6 of my formative years overseas - America was a secondary thought, always.

Oops, no, not me. I live in a house full of dual nationals, and at least one of us also has the possibility of choosing t be a third country's citizen, although he would have to give up one of his existing nationalities. I think my understanding of my country(ies) is beyond my upbringing. Leaving my country and seeing it through the eyes of others has been enlightening over the years.