Faith in your government?

I had a friend mention today that one of his most recent struggles is putting faith in our government, that he has trouble trusting our leaders because it seems like all they do now days is lie. For some reason this struck me as an incredibly ignorant statement. But all too often is expressed in one way or another. The reason it seems so dumb to me is that he feels as though he is supposed to have faith in our government. For some reason I've never been a person that felt like I am obligated to be loyal to things. I never cared about my school colors or mascot or alma mater, from the time I was young I thought that the idea of enlistingin the armed servicves was a ridiculous idea, and from the beginning of my interest in politics I've never felt that I should support someone just because they are republican or democrat.

Mark Twain, in the midst of high political tension due to a war in the Philipenes, was called unpatriotic because he, as merely a writer, an artist, felt that it was okay to speak out against the war and against the government. He replied by saying something to the effect of: Loyalty to one's country does not mean loyalty to it's institutions. The country is the eternal thing, the living thing, the substantial thing. The country is the people and what they stand for. The institutions are simply clothing. Clothing can be tattered and worn by harsh conditions, it can cease to protect us from the winter cold, from disease, and from death. To have worship rags, to have loyalty for rags, is a loyalty of unreason.

I like that. It's simple point made on a rather complex issue. I read a quote at my office the other day by C.W. Ceram that said, "Genius is the ability to reduce complicated to the simple." Good job Mark Twain.