A note on our title

I chose the name True Patriots as the title our blog for a few reasons, and so we don't look like total jerks I will try and explain it. First off we are patriots, we are all truly proud to be living in this country and can't wait to explore its diverse geographical and cultural composition. The United States of America covers about 3,793,079 square miles, spans across 4 time zones, and is home to approximately 302,927,000 people.

The three of us have been privileged to grow up in middle-class households, and although we have on occasions abused opportunities given to us, I think we understand how blessed our young lives have been. That being said, we certainly have no illusions that our lifestyles, and those of the people around us are the only ways of living. In fact, we all feel that some the people our backgrounds have surrounded us by, our decidedly out of touch with the country they live in. With the hopes of better defining the word American, and its countless variations, we will drive through as much of this country as time and our limited budget will allow. I believe that this truly is patriotic.

I must now take second to recognize the very legitimate and obvious fact that there is a whole world outside of the U.S.A. While this undoubtedly true, and I know there are many places across the globe that would astonish me, greatly expand my world view, and hopefully bring light to my understanding of the human condition, this trip is partially about understand our development, current standing, and future within modern American culture. Hopefully, after achieving this, I can one day explore the world and get a better perspective on my significance as a human being, and American.

Getting back to the title, and reason for this post, I will now cut the shit and revile the actual, and very shallow, reason I choose this title of True Patriots, to guilt and shame friends into coming on the adventure. It is a tactic we have all seen the picks in the GOP use countless times, often quite effectively (I must note that our Democrats are morally above this strategy, they just lack the balls needed to make it work). Here is an example of my intended use:

Me: Hey, you should come on our road trip next summer.
Friend: Eh, dude, thats a lot of driving. We should just, like, backpack across Europe or something?
Me: Europe? Don't you love your country? Are you terrorist? A real patriot would love to be dragged by a car across America.
Friend: What are talking about? That doesn't even make any sense.
Me: Of course it doesn't make sense to you. You unpatriotic bastard.

Seriously, thats why I thought of the name. Does that make everything you've read to this point bullshit? Absolutely not! I honestly feel that way, and did before I picked the name. I just had not yet put it words. In the end I think that though the title may have come about because of a stupid joke, it did feel right to me, and it contains truth about us and our ambitions for the voyage. By the end of it I hope we prove ourselves worthy.