Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: State full of patriots

Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002 | 8:22 a.m.

I'VE NEVER had my patriotism questioned before.

For sure, there have been inquiries into my lineage. And there have been some who are certain that my IQ is somewhat limiting. And, still others, seriously consider me a menace to polite and civilized society, especially the way they would like that society to be. But never, I don't think, has my love and dedication to country been called into question.

I remember in the really ugly years -- those that marked the early days of Las Vegas' growth toward maturity -- there was a small but very vocal and overly obnoxious crowd of people who questioned my father's loyalty to country. Here was a man who served his country proudly and bravely in World War II, earned a chestful of decorations while doing it and spent the last months of the war in a hospital not knowing whether he'd ever walk again let alone have the feet upon which to accomplish that task. It was a rough and tumble time in America, and it was marked bad by numerous fringe elements questioning the loyalty of many Americans.

Fortunately for my father, he not only had the record to refute the charges but the willingness to defend himself against those who liked to bully and browbeat those who were practically voiceless or powerless to act in their own defense. He also had two items that always shut off the debate and put a lie to the scandals the attackers tried to create. He had a picture of himself and Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower -- both dressed in combat gear -- inspecting some bombed-out convoys in the middle of France after D-day. And if that weren't enough, he had a letter from then-Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover, calling Hank Greenspun a great American. In those days an approval from Hoover was the equivalent to a nod from God. In Hoover's mind it could have carried even greater weight!

All my dad had to do was trot the picture and letter out of mothballs, put a story around them and the rest took care of itself. The doubters and name callers quickly subsided and life got back to normal -- until the next time.

I thought about those tactics the other day when John Sununu questioned not only mine but the entire state of Nevada's patriotism for disagreeing with his position that the high-level nuclear waste dump was not only good for our state but that it was our duty as Americans to accept it with barely a whimper of protest. He followed his foolish comment with a statement that threatened the livelihood of every man and woman in this state.

He said that if we did exercise our rights as citizens under the First, Tenth, Fourteenth and any other Amendment to the Constitution of these United States that gives us the right to speak our mind against what we believe is an oppressive government action, then the rest of the country could very easily decide to vacation someplace other than Las Vegas. In short, he gave us a choice: Either accept this dirty, deadly destructive waste that nobody else wants in their back yard without a fight, or be prepared for a backlash against Nevada that will not quit.

Now I have never been one to believe that the former chief of staff for President George H. W. Bush was the be-all and end-all of public opinion and veritable thought. As far as I know he still maintains the fiction in his own mind that global warming does not exist and that all of those glaciers at the north and south poles that aren't there any more are just part of nature's grand plan to drown us before we choke ourselves to death on the dirty air we aren't creating.

So now he shows up as the highly paid lobbyist for the nuclear power industry telling not only Congress and President Bush what to do but Nevadans what they shouldn't do -- especially if that means anything we can do to protect the health and safety of our children and grandchildren. At least Nevada's own Benedict Arnold, Bob List, hasn't gone that far!

Well, I've got a little news for Mr. Sunnunu. I don't have any pictures with President Eisenhower and I certainly don't have the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from J. Edgar Hoover to prove my case, although, I admit, they would be helpful. But I don't think I will need them to prove my loyalty to country on this one. That's because every mother, father and grandparent I know who lives in Nevada or has children or grandchildren living here believes just as I do. We have not only the right but the duty and responsibility as patriotic Americans to defend the people we love and the home we love from any oppressive actions -- regardless of their source.

American history has been replete with examples of government overreaching being stopped only when citizens rose up to cry, "Enough!" Slavery did not end because the elite in Washington and the wealthy Southern landowners determined it was wrong. It ended because the people knew it was wrong and spread the word house to house and state to state. Voting rights were not afforded to all citizens, regardless of race or color, because those who were vested in the status quo woke up one morning and said, "What we are doing is wrong." It ended only after a small but vocal minority of people determined to fix the inequality and, in the end, were willing to die to make it happen.

The nuclear waste issue is not any different. It is an affront to the Constitution. It is a trampling upon the rights of one group of citizens by a majority of others who are doing it just because they can. It is bad science, bad law and bad enough in the eyes of any decent American that once they hear the issue they are forced to agree that Nevada should not be put upon just because we lack political clout and the other side lacks for nothing -- especially the money to get its way.

So, Mr. Sununu, when you call Nevadans unpatriotic -- especially in these most trying of national times -- you remind us not of the true patriot Patrick Henry, who wanted death if he could not have liberty, but more of the demagogue Sen. Joe McCarthy, who wanted a political career at the expense of American freedom.

Whatever it is you want, Mr. Sununu, don't come looking in Nevada for it. All we have here are a bunch of patriots.