I’m under the weather and under water at the same time right now, so didn’t realize until just now that Instapundit and Jeff Cooper both linked to me, so thanks guys!
To Glenn, I’ll comment that while my posts are pretty critical of the DNC establishment, they are critical with an eye toward creating an unassailable Democratic hegemony – so watch out!!
Jeff went back and looked at my post on patriotism and his response, and he came up with a very smart thing which I hadn’t completely thought through, which was to disassociate patriotism as love of country from patriotism as supporting a strong national defense.
He’s absolutely right, but reading him sent me off on a tangent (exhaustion does that), so let me suggest something slightly different to go along with his point.
I know two really bad parents. One is a couple that simply refuses to control their children; they love them totally, and so, they explain, they love everything they do. Unsurprisingly, they are raising two little monsters. The other is a single mother who explains that everything bad in her life is the fault of her child, and that everything he does is wrong.
Unsurprisingly, her child is depressed, withdrawn and equally badly damaged.
I’ll define patriotism as love of country. Both the parents above (all three of them, actually) claim to love their children. But to blindly smile and clean up when your child smashes plates on the floor is not an act of love. And blindly smiling and waving flags when your country does something wrong is not an act of patriotism.
But – there is a point where criticism, even offered in the guise of love, moves past the point of correction and to the point of destruction. Its a subtle line, but it exists. And my friend (who is less of a friend because I can’t begin to deal with her fundamentally abusive parenting) is destroying her child. And there are liberals who have adopted an uncritically critical view of America. Who believe it to have been founded in genocide and theft, made wealthy on slave labor and mercantilist expropriation, to be a destroyer of minorities, women, the environment and ultimately they argue, itself.
I’m sorry but their profession of love for America is as hollow to me as that mothers profession of love for her son. Are those things true? As facts, they are an incomplete account of this country’s history. As a worldview, they are destructive and self-consuming.
I believe in progress and change. A long time ago, when discussing those convicted of Central Park Jogger assault and rape, I said:
My reaction is actually surprisingly different. I’m thrilled. And excited. And proud. I feel bad for the youths wrongly convicted (although my bad feelings are somewhat offset by the admitted fact that they had been wilding – randomly assaulting innocent people in the park ). I’m bothered by the fact that poor kids of color get worse legal representation than rich white guys like Skakel.
But none of this changes the fact that I’m proud because we live in a society where we are willing to face up to and admit our mistakes. To correct them where possible. No politically connected prosecutor was able to bury the confession or prevent the DNA testing that ultimately appears to have exonerated them. I’m thrilled that we have been able to take the fruits of our technology and apply them, fairly and objectively to support the interests of people who would normally be beneath consideration. I’m excited because I believe that these tools – the technology and the open legal system – that are the product of this society will be used in the future to prevent bad things from happening – like convicting the wrong people of horrible crimes.
I’m interested in why our three reactions are so disparate, and it cuts to one of my significant core issues, the alienation of many of us from our society and the overt disgust with all the instruments of government. In other words, the collapse of legitimacy.
I’m interested in why it is, when we correct the injustices of the past, and devise tools to ensure that it will be difficult to make the same mistakes again, we are dwelling on the Oh, no, we were so bad rather than the we’re getting better. See, I think that real liberalism – the kind that builds schools and water systems and improves people’s lives – comes from a belief in progress.
Its a difference of worldview, folks, a difference of philosophy. A dash of hope to offset the bitterness of history, thats what I believe it takes to love ones country.
So thanks, Jeff, for making me think about it (and damn you for taking me away from my pressing work!!).
(edited for punctuation and grammar)
AL: I had a similar experience this past summer when in Washington DC. Heading for lunch with my wife at Union Station I stumbled upon the memorial for the Japanese-Americans intered during WWII. A beautiful, simple memorial with the names of the camps and cool, moving water. I’d never heard of it and was simply overwhelmed with the idea that America would put up a memorial to a serious mistake: an apology in granite. I couldn’t imagine any other country doing something like that. Does England have a memorial to Peterloo or France to the Vendee? I literally said “Only in America”.
I don’t know about the Vendee (and if I were less afraid of embarrassing myself I would ask what the Vendee was 🙂 ), France does have a very good Holocaust memorial in Paris across the street from Notre Dame. Given France’s history on the subject, I think that memorial is something along the lines of what you’re talking about.
There’s a difference between self-satisfaction and a willingness to first recognize, then solve the underlying problems. I’m not a big fan of pat-on-the-back self-satisfaction. Call it latent Calvinism.
Those wilding youths were guilty as hell, they all confessed and independently corroborated facts of the rape and each other. That other guy is just running his mouth.
And there are liberals who have adopted an (uncritically critical)?? view of America. Who believe it to have been founded in genocide and theft, made wealthy on slave labor and mercantilist expropriation, to be a destroyer of minorities, women, the environment and ultimately they argue, itself.
Perhaps you could elaborate a little more on these two sentences above but it seems to be me like you’re describing individuals who are such a tiny minority that they really aren’t worth mentioning.
It sounds like your describing liberals that think America is some kind of great evil. (And so it’s a bit like folks that we would classify as thinking that our American astronauts never really walked on the moon and that it was all some kind of great hoax.)
OR like those two religious devotees, Falwell or Robertson whom both seem to believe we deserved the 9/11 attacks but I think they are far too fanatical to have much of an impact on the average American’s opinion.
Elton Beard of the Busy, Busy, Busy weblog has a comment on his log that reads, “There are two kinds of people in the world, those who divide people into two kinds and those who don’t. I don’t.”
I think people spend far too much time categorizing the public into either conservatives or liberals instead of appealing to the “reasonable person” for which any argument should be geared toward and tailored too in order to be effective.
Therefore I think too much argument based in classifying is a bane for which I believe political bloggers should avoid as much as possible.
Just my two cent worth, Thanks.
Cheryl,
America-haters may well be a tiny minority but they 1) have influence out of proportion to their numbers and 2) are a great whipping boy for conservatives (like me) who want to embarass mainstream Democrats.
Best to ostracize them at every opportunity.
Rob, you do know that America-haters don’t just exist on the Left? Check Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and come back to me. Funny how Republicans other than McCain don’t seem interested in ostracizing THEM.
Todd, I suggest you read a bit about the Manhattan prosecutors’ report. Here’s a bit:
“The report also said that the convicted youths’ confessions ·videotaped, written and so powerful that they persuaded two juries who had heard almost no other evidence ·were actually so full of discrepancies and errors regarding the rape, even about where, when and how it took place and who was involved, as to make the statements implausible as evidence of the rape.”
The actual report can be found here:
http://news.findlaw.com/nytimes/docs/crim/nywiseetal120502aff.pdf
That guy just running his mouth has DNA evidence that connects him directly with physical evidence at the scene of the crime, by the way.
Your parenting analogy is the most succinct and clarifying definition of true patriotism I have ever read. Best of all, everybody can realte to it.
A real winner.
I could go into examining why the same folks who treat America like an abusive parent so often go all the way to the other end of the scale with their own kids (big hello to “Taliban Johnny Walker’s” parents out there)… but that’s a whole other discussion.
AL
Thanks for the best analogy of American political beliefs I have read in a long time. You have the different types and their methods and consequences exactly right. Thanks too, for the post about seeing Tora,Tora, Tora. It is good to remember the first Day of Infamy in light of current war against something terrorism funded by wealthy people, none of whom are Saudi buddies of Boy George and Prime Minister Cheney. Thank You, God Bless You and Keep Up the Good Work.
Mogadishu Democrats
This post is about the centrist Democrats who see the importance of the natinal defence issue, but can’t seem to shake some crippling beliefs and behaviours. Let’s call them “Mogadishu Democrats.”