[Buddha-l] a question

[Jim Peavler]

On May 3, 2005, at 9:20 AM, Richard P. Hayes wrote:

> On Tue, 2005-05-03 at 02:41 -0400, Dante Rosati wrote:
>
>> what would the Buddha say to Walt Whitman?
>
> If Whitman were alive today he would
> be trying to justify the illegal invasion of Iraq in about the same
> terms he once tried to justify the illegal invasion of Mexico.... And
> Gotama (my Gotama, at any rate) would still be remonstrating with him
> about being such a knee-jerk patriot. I can't imagine Gotama having any
> sympathy at all with any kind of patriotism, especially the totally
> diseased sort of blind patriotism that has conquered the American mind.

Here is a nice little piece of knee-jerk patriotism from Mr. Whitman at 
mid career. I never saw him more patriotic than this:

						To the States
Why reclining, interrogating? why myself and all drowsing?
What deepening twilight -- scum floating atop of the waters,
Who are they as bats and night-dogs askant in the capitol?
What a filthy Presidentiad! (O South, your torrid suns! O North, your 
arctic freezing!)
Are those really Congressmen? are those the great Judges? is that the 
President?
Then I will sleep awhile yet, for I see that these States sleep, for 
reasons;
(With gathering murk, with muttering thunder and lambent shoots we all 
duly awake,
South, North, East, West, inland and seaboard, we will surely awake.)