Friday, May 1, 2009

Happy Loyalty Day

May 1st is a relatively little known holiday called Loyalty Day that was made official by President Eisenhower in 1959 and reaffirmed by every president since Gerald Ford. Click here to see the official White House press release from Barack Obama.

Although innocuous on its surface, the nationalistic idea that one must be unconditionally loyal to one's country evokes the kind of jingoistic spirit reminiscent of Teddy Roosevelt and echoed by the likes of Wilson, FDR, and most recently Bush and Obama. Dissent is the crippling enemy of any state which derives its authority from the consent of the governed, and is thus combated through countless avenues -- including national "holidays".

"The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built."
--Adolf Hitler


"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice."
--Albert Einstein


On this Loyalty Day, remember to be loyal to the spirit of liberty and repudiate the idea that it is interchangable with loyalty to country. Do not lose your individuality and self sovereignty.

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