A liberal dose of patriotism

By Gary Schneider
web posted March 17, 2003

Recent observations of the "anti-war" protests, Hollywood's cynical small mindedness, the dubious conduct of former Presidents and the unprecedented power politics being displayed by liberal Democrats in Congress over the judicial nomination of Miguel Estrada have given me great pause as of late. I find myself frequently re-assessing personally held assumptions regarding the professed patriotism of liberals and I am frankly surprised by the conclusions to which I am led and the resulting trepidation I feel. And, when supplemented by the complicit nature of mainstream media coverage of these events ... well, it further contributes to my disdain.
 
Do liberals really hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal? Do they support a strong defense of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic? … and truly desire equal application and protection of individual, religious and economic freedoms -promote free markets and limited government? Are the separation of powers with uncorrupted checks and balances genuinely pursued to better guarantee justice and equal treatment for all Americans? Does the left in any way subscribe to the position that, as John Adams said: "…Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." If so, why do they often seek to circumvent, distort, or otherwise ignore the Constitution without reservation when it is politically advantageous to do so? For it is the practical support and reverence given these founding principles, the American vision laid out by our founding fathers, against which I assess one's patriotism - and it appears appallingly transparent to me, that liberals have a pattern of falling well short of this standard.
 
Now, liberals will argue that their conduct is, in fact, patriotic -- that the open expression, in whatever form, of dissenting beliefs is an act of patriotism. A Constitutionally given right, yes … an act of patriotism? no. I submit that the abuse and exploitation of the rights afforded you by the American Constitution in and of itself does not constitute patriotism. In America, you have the right to be unpatriotic. You have a right to protest against the very freedoms and protections you benefit from … but it is not patriotism. Only through the incessant and mind numbing circumnavigation of common sense oft employed by the left to justify their behavior can the conclusion be reached that it is. Though, reason, fact and applied common sense have always been the enemies of liberalism.
 
The left has even now, during this time of probable war, begun to proclaim their distress over Bush's Christian faith …going so far as to imply that he may, in fact, be manipulating history to self-fulfill the prophecy of Armageddon. The unmitigated partisan insanity of these people is onerous. According to the abstruse rationale of the left, our very founding fathers, with the beliefs they espoused and incorporated to build this American ideal, are people to be feared, ostracized and regarded with contempt … and if they truly believe this, and I suggest they do, perhaps it sheds some light on the reason liberals, in turn, have such expressed derision for this country.
 
America is a nation, which both institutionally and culturally, embodies the principles of its founders … principles that the left loathes. So, if these American values are so abhorred by the left, how can they then harbor a love of country and support any endeavors that America pursues under the banner of these ideals? The reality is they don't, and we see the expression of this truth in the faces and placards found at the anti-American "peace" protests, through aggressive attempts to limit speech and debate that does not correspond to their own belief system, in the pursuit of restrictions on religious expression, circumvention of the law and roguish political discourse. These, my fellow Americans, are not the actions of patriots.
 
Is it possible, also, that feelings of class envy, racism, sexism, this-ism, or that-ism, now supercede the noble designs of our founding fathers, in the hearts and minds of Liberals? Or perhaps their perfidious actions are driven by some blind allegiance to the Democratic Party, and the liberal leadership finds it acceptable to reject American ideals in order to exploit these feelings for political gain. Now, partisanship is one thing, but when it graduates to partisan extremism and knowingly extends beyond acceptable political protocol it, in effect, supersedes loyalty to country and the interests of the American people for the sake of acquiring power … and it is wrong. Reflexive and blind opposition is not democratic. It is unjust, un-American and yes, un-patriotic.
 
The true value placed upon our Constitution by the liberal mindset can further be ascertained by recalling just a few recent and characteristic realities: The ACLU aggressively seeks to suppress the ability of Christians to openly gather and demonstrate by restricting equal access to public areas that are otherwise permitted for non-Christian groups, the political correctness movement's continues to suppress freedom of speech and expression in the name of "tolerance", the Gore camp actively sought to circumvent U.S. election laws during the 2000 Presidential election, Democrats illegally switched Senate candidates in New Jersey during last year's Senate campaign, The National Organization for Women (NOW), and partner groups, went to court to restrict the first amendment rights of peaceful anti-abortion protesters by having them treated as racketeers under the law and, more recently, liberal Senate Democrats in unprecedented fashion, are obstructing President Bush's judicial nominees to undemocratically retain power. Throw in a few United States flag burnings by "peace" activists and mainstream media repudiation of pro-war demonstrations and I'd say there exists a convincing case that the left suffers from a severe case of Patriotism Deficit Disorder (PDD).
 
Arguably, the America envisioned by our founding fathers is not the America the left holds allegiance to. Therefore, feigned self-righteous indignation often expressed by our liberal countrymen (oh, and countrywomen…countrypersons?) when being accused of being unpatriotic is, perhaps, somewhat legitimate in that they do hold allegiance to some notion of America…albeit one that is difficult to reasonably discern. And, yes there is, and will be, periodic, trite and usually out of context, references to the founding principles of this nation to promote positional legitimacy. However, to subscribe to modern liberal doctrine you must necessarily ignore, misconstrue, or distort the original intent and founding principles of this nation as outlined by our founding fathers.  Objective discernment of American historical fact, combined with reason and the full context of our founding principles, will lead you to only one credible blueprint of American political beliefs…and today we call it "conservatism".
 
The left may be loyal to a vision of America…a socialist America, perhaps an atheist America or both, but certainly not the American vision our founders have laid out for us - Just look for yourself.

Gary Schneider is the President and founder of TheRealityCheck.Org, Inc., a Conservative policy advocacy group established to promote and defend conservative social, political and economic principles nationally, through the origination and dissemination of commentary, analysis, news and research tools via the public Internet and other channels. TheRealityCheck.Org, Inc. is located in Fairfield County, CT. During his 14- year career, Schneider has traveled extensively to Europe and throughout the United States. In addition to Politics and Finance, his hobbies include fitness, mountain-biking and is actively involved in his Church.

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