My country, right or wrong!

[rbnyc]

Full quote:

“My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” - Carl Schurz

Keep up the good work, friends.

:hi:

[provis99]

1. Schurz's quote was an update of Stephen Decatur's quote:

“Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong”

of course, Decatur was a conservative jerk, while Schurz was a well-known liberal of his times.

[rbnyc]

2. Interesting.

I'd only ever heard "My country right or wring" before used as a jingoistic slogan. Then I was watching some Dick Cavett clips with my folks the other day and Dick Cavett used the full quote from Schurz and I was kind of amazed.

[Scuba]

3. I seem to remember something about....

..."righting my country's wrongs".

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. "My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." Thomas Paine

I like that one better.

[white_wolf]

5. Me too. Thomas Paine is by far my favorite of the founders.

He is one of the few I can truly respect. We need more like him. Here is the full quote from Rights of Man: "I speak an open and disinterested language, dictated by no passion but that of humanity. To me, who have not only refused offers, because I thought them improper, but have declined rewards I might with reputation have accepted, it is no wonder that meanness and imposition appear disgustful. Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good."

[Odin2005]

6. I get POed every time a see the RWers using him, he was a LW radical.

[white_wolf]

8. He's kind of similar to Jesus in the sense that the Right loves him, but never read a word of him.

They would have hated Paine, especially Age of Reason and Agrarian Justice. Hell, he even questions the rights to private property in Agrarian Justice.

[Odin2005]

10. Same with Adam Smith.

They always invoke his name to defend "Free Market" BS, when in fact Smith had very progressive views (he supported progressive taxation and social safety nets), most of his criticisms were towards state-backed mercantilist entities like the East India Company, what we would now call Corporatism, and similar policies screwing over the little guy.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Thanks for the full quote. I'm with you about him being one of the best of a good bunch.

[white_wolf]

9. No. I should thank you.

I did a search for you quote, because you left out the "all men are my brothers" part and it turns out that isn't found in his writings. So we both learned something. It's been a while since I read Rights of Man, so I just assumed the "all men are my brothers" part was in there, but it seems it has been added over time.