Disturbing Attitudes on the 4th of July

I'm disturbed by the growing number of people who are intolerant of anyone criticizing this country, its government and/or the president.

On a mailing list, I saw a very heated discussion where a black man indicated that he wasn't so gung-ho about Independence Day because the US hasn't done much about independence for blacks (or something like that - his argument seemed very convoluted to me). My response would have been, "OK, you're entitled to fell that way but the rest of us are celebrating." But a number of members attacked him -- ON LIST, no less! -- for exaggerating the plightof blacks and for criticizing the USA. And a couple of them even said, "If you don't like it here, there's nothing stopping you from leaving"!

Wow! That sure isn't what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution -- although there's a passage somewhere in the documents of the time that says something like if you're not a landowner, you only get 3/5 of a vote; anyone know where that is? Maybe it came after emancipation? There's plenty in their writings and those of later statesmen that says that criticism of the government is an essential part of democracy.

This attitude seems to be part of the Bush administration mindset, typified in the idea that if you are critical of the Iraq war, you're "against" our troops! Very sad.

My poor wife has been suffering from a stomach virus since Friday and that's kept us close to home all weekend. She's up and about today, but only time will tell if the cramping and the "urgent" visits to the head are over.