Country Joe: Cakewalk to Baghdad. Los Lobos: One Time, One Night. Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son. BB King: We're Gonna Make It. Pete Seeger: The Star Spangled Banner.
Some folks are born
made to wave the flag
Ooh, they're red white and blue
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no senator's son
This Vietnam wartime song (1969) puts a spotlight on the unequal sacrifices hidden by patriotic spouting.
Although living in exile from the country he loves, Snowden is warm, centered and engaged and follows debates about surveillance with a keen legal acumen.
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To some, patriotism means "my country -- right or wrong." To others, it means loyalty to a set of principles, and thus requires dissent and criticism when those in power violate those standards. Not enough Americans are aware that much of what we consider our patriotic culture, especially our iconic music, was created by artists and writers of decidedly left-wing sympathies.
The Pentagon Papers that Ellsberg exposed were not military secrets. They were historical secrets - a history of U.S. intervention and deceit that Ellsberg believed, if widely known, would undermine the U.S. pretexts in defense of the war's prosecution. Like today's whistle-blowers Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden, Daniel Ellsberg knew the consequences for his act of defiance. He was indicted on 11 counts of theft and violation of the Espionage Act.
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