August 28th, 2012
Please retire the slogan “We want (It’s time to take) our country back.”
It’s un-American. Who is the “we” in this formulation? Who will we be taking it back from? Do we really think any group or team can own America in such a way that the country no longer belongs to other groups?
“Take our country back” is the type of construct you’d expect to hear in a tribal, riven state like Serbia. It’s not fitting for America.
I don’t know who started this ugly trope, but both parties use it these days and it’s time to stop.
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I’m pretty sure that Sgt. Slaughter coined the phrase, “I want my country back.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD7W58nr9QI
And if you want to tell him off, then be my guest, but you’re going to get a face full of Cobra Clutch.
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Oh, sorry, that’s the answer to the question in the earlier post about what should have been the 1961 Detroit Tigers’ batting order.
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The pic of you and Fred is priceless. You don’t look at all like you’re about to take your country back. You look like you’d rather be anywhere else–even in Charlotte. : )
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There’s another political slogan I’d like to see retired — not sure if it’s a nationwide phenomenon, but I’ve seen both parties use it here in Dallas and it irritates me regardless of who uses it: the placard or bumper sticker or gif simply says “Had Enough Yet? Vote Democrat [or] Republican!” Both local parties have used it when the other had enjoyed more political control locally or nationally (the dems here used it pre-2008 and the GOP has used it since 2010). To me, it makes the offending party look like a bully, holding the voters’ heads in the toilet while swirlies are administered. You could also argue that the slogan also makes the offending party look like the crank at the end of the bar that no one wants to sit next to… or worse, Gore Vidal.
And as we all know, reminding voters of Gore Vidal has never been a viable path to political success.
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I think the only thing that could prevent this in an oppositional 2 party system is a common belief about what the American Idea is. Lacking that, especially in our opinion-drenched world, I think the feeling that the opposition has stolen the heart of your country away is almost inevitable.
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Oh, I get it now, having checked your tweeting feed (for the first time ever, sorry). You weren’t trying to take your country back. You were watching tennis. Well played, Last.
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Agree that the statement can too easily be twisted in ugly ways. But as a fellow American that, like many, was asleep for too long – the far left in the media and academia may not “own” the country but they sure as hell have too much influence and control. And I would submit that the far left also is now in control of one of the only two major political parties in our country.
I don’t want to shut down other voices but the far left does. I’d like honest debate not mockery, ridicule and being accused of vile motives by a group of people that seem like they’d be happier living under an authoritarian regime.
Taking the country back from those tempted by totalitarian ideals strikes me as pro-American. Is it probably a pipe dream that is too easily twisted? Sadly, yes.
Steve Sailer August 29, 2012 at 4:21 am
1. Al Kaline
2. Steve Boros
3. Norm Cash
4. Rocky Colavito
5. Dick Brown
6. Bill Bruton
7. Jake Wood
8 . Chico Fernandez
9. Pitcher