Proud of What? (Mary Lyon)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

The latest from our own, beloved Writer Babe(Hey! She likes the name!), Mary Lyon. You might know her as Calimary.
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"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." Carl Schurz (1829 - 1906)

That's the phrase we hear and see again and again. I can think of plenty of bumper stickers I've spotted on the road for years - no, decades. But we tend only to hear the front part, not the whole thing. It seems there's this yen to stress the first five words only, and conveniently drop the rest. Some info behind that quote for further context follows. You should know more about the background of this monumental statement:

AUTHOR: Carl Schurz (1829–1906)
QUOTATION: The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, “My country, right or wrong.” In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.
ATTRIBUTION: Senator CARL SCHURZ, remarks in the Senate, February 29, 1872, The Congressional Globe, vol. 45, p. 1287. The Globe merely notes ” but according to Schurz’s biographer, “The applause in the gallery was deafening.” This is “one of Schurz’s most frequently quoted replies.”—Hans L. Trefousse, Carl Schurz: A Biography, chapter 11, p. 180 (1982).

Schurz expanded on this theme in a speech delivered at the Anti-Imperialistic Conference, Chicago, Illinois, October 17, 1899: “I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves … too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism: ‘Our country, right or wrong!’ They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free nstitutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: ‘Our country—when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.’”—Schurz, “The Policy of Imperialism,” Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schurz, vol. 6, pp. 119–20 (1913). 1

Which brings me to Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain, and my friend Julie.

World News Trust

[Buzz Clik]

1. k&r. Excellent read.

That's calimary? Cool.

[Old and In the Way]

2. I didn't know...thanks for posting!

[electropop]

3. His 1899 version would be harder to misquote

But what would be the fun in that for a right-winger?