American Patriots (unedited)

Watching Ken Burns’ shattering narrative about Vietnam has us thinking about who’s an American Patriot.

Certainly, we’d include many who served and continue to risk their lives for our country. Senators Wayne Morse and Ernest Gruening cast the lone votes against the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution, allowing President Lyndon Johnson to escalate that war. In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., knowing Johnson’s crucial support for the Civil Rights Act, said, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” In 2001, Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee cast the only vote against giving President Bush the authority to invade Afghanistan.

Patriots, all.

“Fake patriots,” like GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell and other Republicans, vowed to obstruct President Obama’s every proposal, to make him a one-term president, ignoring how Americans might suffer. President Trump pretends he’ll make America “great again” by building walls and deporting thousands.

Then there’s our own Rep. Claudia Tenney, who just can’t wait to boogie again in the Rose Garden, in celebration of taking health care away from 30 million Americans.

Come November 2018, Americans will have the opportunity (assuming Republican voter-suppression can be ended) to vote out these fake patriots. Let’s start with Claudia Tenney.