I am ashamed to admit that, until this evening, I had never heard of Smedley Darlington Butler. He was a highly decorated war hero who saved the United States from a fascist takeover, and was more or less shat upon and buried in obscurity for his efforts. Crossing the wealthy industrialists of the era who were bankrolling the takeover efforts (and probably greasing a number of Congressmen at the same time) could not have been easy, but wow, that's real patriotism right there. Like the founding fathers, Butler put everything on the line- his reputation, career, and life- for the ideals of freedom and government by the people, for the people. Those so-called "patriots" who wave the flag while spitting on "damn furriners" and stick yellow ribbon magnets on the backs of their SUVs and forget they're even there can just suck it and DIAF.

I plan to raise many a glass to this fellow. It's sad that more people don't know about him.

(Also, Smedley Darlington Butler is such an awesome name.)