Right up front let me tell you that today’s column is almost entirely the product of someone else.

That “someone else” is Cal Thomas. At the time he wrote it, 2008, he was a columnist for Tribune Media Services and a commentator for the Fox News Channel. He possessed conservative bonafides, for sure.

He wrote this while in Washington, Indiana, where he was attending a family reunion.

Here then are some of his thoughts:

“Last week, senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama said that religion is not the exclusive property of conservative Christians. He is right. Neither is patriotism a trademark of the Republican Party.

“As with religion, some people on the right have used patriotism, which should be a unifying theme, to divide Americans. My liberal friends love America as much as I do. They might disagree on some, or all, of my political and religious beliefs, but that does not make them less in love with America.

“Many political and religious liberals have family members who have served or are serving their country in war and peace. These have spilled their blood and given their lives to guarantee our freedom to disagree and to still live together.”

He also wrote, “Last year I visited Normandy, France, for the first time. At the American cemetery, there is not an ‘R’ (for Republican) or ‘D’ (for Democrat) on the grave markers of those who died on D-Day. The 2008 presidential candidates should be asked not to question the patriotism of their opponents.”

And this, “Leaders of many nations, including America, have used patriotism to persuade citizens of policies that are not always in their country’s best interests … a person who criticizes a particular policy does not necessarily love his country less than one who supports that policy.

“G. K. Chesterton said, ‘My country, right or wrong’ is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case …”

As I said near the beginning, these thoughts of Cal Thomas are just a portion of that which he wrote, well over a decade ago.

One might reasonably conclude that he would be a persona non grata in today’s Republican party, and as a commentator for Fox News now.

And that’s the way it is.

Enjoy your weekend, my fellow Americans.