\u0085and to thank the veterans alive and dead for protecting me and mine.
\nAnd worried that what I wrote kept coming out sounding either too qualified or would be interpreted as being too nationalistic.
\nAnd I realized something about my own thinking, a basic principle I\u0092ll set out as a guiding point for the Democrats and the Left in general as they try and figure out the next act in this drama we are in.
\nFirst, you have to love America.<\/b>
\nThis isn\u0092t a perfect country. I think it\u0092s the best county; I\u0092ve debated this with commenters before, and I\u0092ll point out that while people worldwide tend to vote with their feet, there may be other (economic) attractions that pull them. But there are virtues here which far outweigh any sins. And I\u0092ll start with the virtue of hope.
\nThe hope of the immigrants, abandoning their farms and security for a new place here.
\nThe hope of the settlers, walking across Death Valley, burying their dead as they went.
\nThe hope of the \u0091folks\u0092 who moved to California after the war.
\nThe hope of the two Latino kids doing their Computer Science homework at Starbucks\u0092.
\nI love this country, my country, my people. And those who attack her\u0085from guerilla cells, boardrooms, or their comfy chairs in expensive restaurants\u0085better watch out.
\nI don\u0092t get a clear sense that my fellow liberals feel the same way. And if so, why should \u0091the folks\u0092 follow them? Why are we worthy of the support of a nation that we don\u0092t support?
\nSo let me suggest an axiom for the New Model Democrats:
\nAmerica is a great goddamn country, and we\u0092re both going to defend it from those who attack it and fight to make it better.<\/b>
\nAnd for everyone who is going to comment and remind me that \u0091all liberals already do that\u0092\u0085no they don\u0092t<\/u>. Not when the chancellor has to intervene at U.C. Berkeley to get \u0091permission\u0092 for American flags to be flown and red-white-and-blue ribbons to be worn. Not when the strongest voices in liberalism give lip service to responding to an attack on our citizens on our soil<\/u>.
\nLoving this country isn\u0092t the same thing as jingoism; it isn\u0092t the same thing as imperialism; it isn\u0092t the same thing as blind support of the worst traits of our government or our people.
\nIt starts with recognizing the best traits, and there are a hell of a lot of them.
\nThey were worth defending in my father’s time, and they are worth defending today.
\nSo thanks, veterans. Thanks soldiers and sailors and marines and airmen. Thanks for doing your jobs and I hope you all come home hale and whole, every one of you.
\n(11\/12: edited for clarity and grammar)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u0085and to thank the veterans alive and dead for protecting me and mine. And worried that what I wrote kept coming out sounding either too qualified or would be interpreted as being too nationalistic. And I realized something about my own thinking, a basic principle I\u0092ll set out as a guiding point for the Democrats […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3016"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}