When the Bush administration pirated this word and applied it to anti-terror legislation that is a threat to civil liberties, it renewed Ambrose Bierce's meaning of the word ("Patriot, n. One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors"). Of course, we know that true patriotism means standing up to such scoundrels.

submitted by Frederick Emrich

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