Lovely quote

[mithriltabby]

Found this lovely quote at a site selling Republican Chickenhawk Cards:

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. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.

—Theodore Roosevelt

Comments

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

I found that quote a month or so ago and have been keeping it around to look at. As much of an imperialist as Teds was (and, oh, he was), he had his head on straight about the nature and responsibility of power.