Good call on “homeland”

From Hit and Run, Reason Mag’s staff blog, “What Does ‘Homeland’ Mean to You?”: Listener complained on NPR about use of “protecting the homeland.”

I wasn’t alive during World War II, but I associate “the homeland” with Nazi propaganda. It’s fascistic and offensive.

Better to say “U.S” or “America,” she said.

For science writer Ron Bailey,

the word “homeland” conjures a kind of antediluvian primitive nationalism (tribalism) based on blood and soil, not a people united by their devotion to political ideals like liberty and free speech.

Not enough is made of this volk culture that led Germans to the national-socialism trough.  Comments on the blog include favoring “domestic” instead.  Opposing it to what, however?  Defending or protecting America is the point.