Like my grandmother says, “Lawd, have mercy.” That is how I feel nearly feel every time I see our Costello-like president opening his mouth on the war issue. It is almost a daily incidence of our country getting screwed into submission, believing in Bush finishing his father’s “old business.”

You have some Americans calling other Americans unpatriotic because they do not agree with the Bush’s handling of Iraq. But, couldn’t someone be unpatriotic if they never critically analyzed the government, regardless of what party is in office? Like Dead Prez says, “I am neither Democrat or punk Republican.” Personally, I am more of a progressive individual who is interested in progressive policy, not just a party.

Critically analyzing the government is part of our country’s history. If things are not criticized and looked upon from different angles, things stay stagnant. If it weren’t for the few voices outside the box that went against what the government and president believed true, things like slavery, segregation and voting rights (for African-Americans and women) would not have been legally changed. This war is something as a nation we need to thoroughly think out. Do we need to put ourselves in a war situation in the Middle East? War should be the last option. Is it truly the last option?

I will be the first one to come out and say I totally disagree with our dear President Bush and his Dick (Cheney). I don’t agree with how he is so gung-ho on war with Iraq, especially considering the high expense of our own men and women (none who will probably be any kin to Bush) or with how Bush wants to abolish affirmative action, instead of just modifying it, even though he surely benefited from a sort of “affirmative action” at Yale and Harvard. Bush’s whole term in office has been saved by the Iraqi conflict and Sept. 11, but because of them he is not just a “normal” president.

Now, because of my statements above, Bush supporters are probably saying, “Here we go again — another attack on our great man.” Why is it that some Bush supporters just sit there and agree with all the different aspects and everything the president spews out of his mouth? We are all men; no man is greater than another. We all have faults, but it seems to some people that Bush has none, even when he proposes, “Hey, let’s go to war with Iraq to finish what my daddy couldn’t!”

I admit I was supporter of Bill Clinton (definitely more than Dole). I also took into account that he was a weed-smoking, adulterous, crafty son of a gun, but I still liked him (even though there were policies I didn’t agree with). Why can’t Bush supporters just say I love my cocaine-sniffing, sub-par intelligent, Hooked on Phonics-needing, legacy-benefiting Yale president and say, “Gosh darnit, I still like him, too.”

Just because I don’t agree with the way our government is handling the Iraqi conflict and other policies does not constitute me as being unpatriotic. It just means before I hold on tight to an idea of our nation I think it out wholly. So, there is no reason for you to think you are more patriotic than another. Patriotism has different meanings to different people.

I feel a patriot is a person who fights for what he believes, regardless of what others think. If I don’t believe in what is happening in Iraq, then I won’t fight. Like the great Muhammad Ali, one shouldn’t be persecuted because of their views of the government and war.

So, go ahead and label people like me, ones who don’t agree with everything the Bush administration puts forth, as unpatriotic, pseudorevolutionary (I have been called this one), hippies or even better yet: Peaceniks.

Darryl Frierson is a senior in journalism and mass communication from St. Loius, Mo.