I have been fascinated lately by how easily politics in general, and Right Wing politics in particular, can pervert and destroy language, even reduce the most decent words to something genuinely quite vile. Take “patriot” for instance. To be a patriot is, I think, a good thing. To defend your nation against enemies, and advance…

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Reflections on its Scope and Limits and the Priority of Justice By Michael E. Berumen Some years ago, I read something in the newspaper that Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt said about patriotism that has stuck with me. To paraphrase, he said that it was glib and facile to think patriotism merely means love of country,…

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