Comments on: An Embarrassingly Patriotic Passport

The New Republic: New Design Slaps Foreigners In The Face With American Jingoism

[keithle1]

"...illustrations as predictable as a junior-high American-history project."

Oy vey. Funny but embarassing.

I do need to get my passport renewed. One of these days. Now I''m not so sure I want one. Why do we always go overboard? Can''t we do anything in a low-key way? Don''t enough foreigners resent the USA? Please explain why we need all that junk in a passport. Foreign customs officials don''t need to
see it. It''s like something that''s required for U.S. citizenship.

They should worry more about making it difficult for terrorists/criminals to produce a fake passport.

What do the passports of other countries look like?
Say, Germany. Do they have pictures of people in lederhosen & busty wenches holding huge mugs of beer? Does France have a guy in a beret with a loaf of bread under his arm & the Eiffel tower in the background?

[adian1-2009]

Something strange has happened. Such a bad-taste design must have come from one or more of the rightist-fundamentalist conservatives that have made their way through their identification with the evangelicals. I bet that if they did not include a full Christian Bible in the new passport it was only because it would have been too costly! Anyway, I will watch all those people in airports around the world smile, or even laugh, when they try to decipher our new passports. You just can''t fix stupid!

Can this nutcase hate America more? Images of our proud past & future should make all Americans proud. And to that black American who thinks America doesn''t offer them the best chance to be all they can be, then move to Africa, or Europe, or Asia, I am sure they will welcome the black man with open arms and purity of heart.

What a bunch of morons!

[brianbwb-2009]

I can see it now, I, a "Black" American, carrying a passport with patriotic jingoistic statements of freedom that the whole world knows was never meant to apply to people of my ethnic heritage.

The cynical smile on the faces of the customs officers will be priceless.

[tnt1954]

excellent article mr. schaffer. the new republic''s
imperialist longings are foremost in the forests
of ice cream bandstands and popsicles made from
icicles. it should have stars and stripes forever
play when it is opened. i''ve gotten cards for
people like that before. you open the gift card
and a musical tune plays. how about ''playing with
fire'' by the rolling stones as a sympathy card
for southern californians, who are keeping the
home fires burning? so we can all, learn baby learn,
not burn baby burn? but if you''d rather marry
than burn? and after you marry, she becomes
merry on your money? such a sad merry widow by
franz lehar. well, schaffer i you prefer black
widows and black widowers, may purple haze 40
years after be your ''rider of the purple sage'' by
zane grey. as the heinz 57 of the land of catsup
or is it ketchup flows gently like sweet afton.
a sonnet assignment might be nice. sonnet about
a bonnet. imperial margarine that is.

[brianbwb-2009]

"...Most conservatives regularly attend church. the reverse is true among liberals. they are intolerant of any expression of religious belief in the public square and even heaven forfend christians being elected who feel they should depend on the bible to inform their legislative choices."
Posted by alanrobisch2

Mussolini''s Fascists attended church, As did Hitler. As do the KKK, Aryan Nations, and Bush. So what? Pat Robertson is one of the most virulent racists and fascists alive, he claims Chrisatianity, and has a lot of followers. Bush claims God "speaks to him", and tells him to murder innocent Iraqis, so what is your point? These same "church going Christians" to whom you refer have no problem supporting the slaughter of innocents simply because they are Muslim, and you dare speak of "liberal intolerance"? If "liberals" don''t wish to hear proselytizing from a government sponsored podium, I have yet to hear any significant number call for the death of innocents only because they are "Christian."

I personally don''t wish to be forced to obey laws that enforce any religion, and the constitution guarantees my right to live so. Freedon is freedom, so freedom of religion is also freedom from religion.

As for your viewing of passports from around the world, the extremely provincial nature of your posts suggests you probably don''t even have your own, let alone have seen others.

[extremophil]

I''m soooooo embarrassed to be an American, and it''s all because of those tacky passports. I just wish I lived in a country like China or Korea or Iran or some country with nice tasteful passport designs (sniff).

[burneb]

There is a difference between patriotism/pride in America and jingoism/cheerleading to the point of being annoying or offensive to people of other countries.

Passports are official documents meant to be seen often by people of other countries. As such, foreigners are bound to feel their character reflects America%u2019s attitude toward its place in the world. That is not trivial when the Bush administration has already convinced the rest of the world that Americans must be arrogant and dangerous jerks.

This new design is crudely overdone, with a lot of cheeseball content having nothing to do with its function, but it perfectly reflects the Bush administration%u2019s second-grader view of what American citizenship and patriotism is about. I am glad my old passport is good until 2015. It looks dignified and functional and goes well with an American flag pin on my shirt.

[ozonmojo]

I have seen the new American passport.It is not bad compared to the other similar things in our life.It sure does not have the dignity of the old passport.But that is true of a lot of new versions of old things...and people.

[alanrobisch]

i look at passports from all over the world and don''t give a *** what they look like I do admit that I think the picture of washington is a good one. the writer should get a life