I wasn't raised with a religion
And so I was never taught to blindly follow something.
The only thing in this world I blindly follow is my heart
And that gets me into enough trouble.
I couldn't imagine blindly following an idea
Or a leader
Or a religion
Or a country
Or even my own parents.
And so, it's true, I've never had much patriotism.
Because as I learned about our nation
It was always clear to me that we were never great, just powerful.
The ideas we tried to build on here are good ideas, freedom, the pursuit of happiness, all of it, I believe in that.
But we didn't build purely on those.
And too many people blindly follow too many others,
And too much complete certainty is hung on ideas that don't start within.
The only thing, I believe, that is safe to trust that way
Is yourself
And even then you must be cautious.
I'm not a patriot.
I'm not a zealot.
I'm not a follower, it's just never worked for me.