"Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do. They don't have the energy”. – Ann Coulter
It infuriates me to hear hypocritical Republicans spout off about how “liberals hate America”. In the first place, it’s a meaningless and stupid thing to say, because the phrase “hate America” (or “love America”) can mean so many different things. But saying that “liberals hate America” makes a damn good sound bite, and there are many voters who are swayed by that phrase, under the principle that if you hear something said enough times it must be true. And anyhow, what else do Republicans have to talk about?
The fact of the matter is that, according to some definitions of “America” liberals do in fact hate America, and Republicans love America. But according to other definitions of “America”, liberals love America and conservatives hate it.
It is imperative that we make that distinction because otherwise liberals are usually seen to be on the losing side of the argument, since our corporate media acts as a megaphone for Republicans to spread the “liberals hate America” cliché. But if we can successfully make the distinction as to which “America” WE love and hate, and which “America” THEY love and hate, then we will have destroyed a politically powerful talking point for the Republicans – one of the few that they have left.
Why I present this issue as Republicans vs. liberals It may seem odd that I talk about this in terms of Republicans vs. liberals, rather than conservatives vs. liberals or Republicans vs. Democrats.
By Republicans I mean today’s Republicans – our current presidential administration and all their supporters and enablers in Congress, our judiciary, and in the general population. There are many conservatives who do not support our current administration, and I do not intend this essay to apply to them (although it may in fact apply to some or many of them).
And I speak of “liberals” rather than of Democrats because not all Democrats subscribe to the liberal principles that I discuss here. And furthermore, the Republican “hate America” accusation is generally directed at liberals, rather than Democrats as a whole. They realize that there are so many Americans that consider themselves Democrats that they would sound too strident if they directed their attack against all Democrats, so they have decided to pursue a “divide and conquer” strategy instead. By demonizing liberals and at the same time claiming that liberals have taken over the Democratic Party, the Republicans hope to peal away some Democratic votes.
The “America” that is loved by liberals and hated by RepublicansI can think of at least four different definitions that people use to define the America that they love or hate. Two of them are loved by liberals and hated by Republicans, and the other two are loved by Republicans and hated by liberals. I’ll start here by talking about the America that is loved by liberals.
America as defined by its founding documents – The Declaration of Independence and its ConstitutionThe first founding document of America, its
Declaration of Independence, expresses the ideals which were meant to provide the rationale for its very existence and general guidance for the establishment of its government and all future actions. There are two basic principles of this document that are crucial to the point I am trying to make. The first is this:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
What we should take away from this great statement is that ALL men (and by implication, women and children too) should have the opportunity for a decent life – AND that it is the purpose of government to ensure that they have that opportunity.
And it is also very important to point out that the AMERICAN Declaration of Independence does not distinguish, in its human rights declarations, between American citizens and other people. ALL people have these rights. And by the way, Jesus expressed a very
similar sentiment when he said "Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me"
Liberals fervently believe in this.
That is why liberals eventually
abolished slavery in our country.
That is why liberals passed laws that
limited the power of corporations to control the lives of ordinary citizens of our country.
That is why liberals passed the
Social Security laws and
worker compensation laws – to ensure some degree of financial security for the citizens of our country.
That is why liberals even believe in a
social safety net (which today’s Republicans call Communism) – to ensure that the least fortunate of our citizens have some opportunity for a decent life.
That is why liberals passed
Medicare, to ensure that our older citizens have some access to adequate health care, and why liberals have tried to pass a
national health insurance plan – to extend that access to all citizens of our country.
That is why liberals favor raising the
minimum wage in our country – so that the working men and women of our country don’t have to live in poverty.
That is why liberals favor adequate funding of
public education – so that children will have the opportunity to make a decent life for themselves.
That is why liberals believe that war should be used as a national policy ONLY as a
last resort, after other measures have failed – so that the lives of millions are not destroyed for the profits of the few.
That is why liberals believe that we need laws to preserve
our environment, which is necessary for a continuing decent life for all people of the world – so that future generations will continue to reap its life preserving and enhancing benefits.
And that is why liberals reject the idea that that private companies have the right to count our votes with
secret “proprietary” software] programs that don’t provide assurance that our votes are actually counted – so that ALL people can be assured of the opportunity to participate in our Democracy.
The other basic principle in our Declaration of Independence that I wish to emphasize is this:
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…
I emphasize this because Republicans often use as a rationale for their claim that “liberals hate America” the criticisms that liberals direct against their government. Well, as the above excerpt from our Declaration makes clear, there is nothing more American than criticizing our government when one believes that our government is being destructive of the ends for which it was created.
Liberals take the Declaration of Independence very seriously, and that is why they criticize our government when they believe that criticism is warranted – NOT because they “hate America”.
The purpose of our
Constitution was to provide a legal framework for the enactment of laws that would eventually make the ideals expressed in our Declaration of Independence a reality. The first ten amendments to our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, were created in order to ensure basic liberties for our citizens. Liberals fervently believe in our Constitution as a means of protecting our Democracy, and that is why they get upset when they observe attempts to undermine our Constitution.
America as defined by its peopleAnother way of thinking about one’s feelings about America is in reference to its people. Of course there are so many millions of people in America that it is difficult to think about this in the abstract. Liberals, like most other people, love some people and dislike or hate others.
But if I had to describe what it means to love people as an abstract principle, I would go right back to the Declaration of Independence. Loving America as defined by its people is very similar or identical to a fervent belief in our Declaration of Independence, since that Declaration expresses the ideal that ALL people have the RIGHT to an opportunity for a decent life.
The America that is hated by liberals and loved by RepublicansAmerica as defined by its current governmentUnfortunately, since the Bush administration came to power in 2001, they and their Republican supporters, by their actions, have shown nothing but contempt for our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, the people of the United States, and all the people of the world. Liberals do indeed hate this, just as Republicans, as shown by their support for these actions, obviously don’t have a problem with it:
By George W. Bush’s use of hundreds of
signing statements to state his intention NOT to follow the laws passed by Congress, he has expressed his contempt for Democracy in general.
By our administration’s unprecedented use of “
first amendment zones” to limit the right of protesters against our government to be heard, it has expressed contempt for our First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. Free speech is a useful guarantee of liberty ONLY IF it can be heard. The right to protest against tyrannical government was THE main rationale for our First Amendment.
By our administration’s declaration that it is
illegal for news reporters to report on government actions if our government unilaterally declares those actions to be secret and of national security interest, our administration again has expressed its contempt for our First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech.
By our administration’s program for
warantless spying on American citizens, it has expressed its contempt for our Fourth Amendment’s guarantee of freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.
By our administration’s
holding of prisoners “suspected of terrorism” indefinitely and without the bringing of charges or giving them the right to defend themselves, it has expressed its contempt for our Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of the right to face one’s accusers and to defend one’s self against government accusations. By its abuse and torture of many of those prisoners it has expressed its contempt for international law.
By our administration’s preemptive war against a country that posed no threat to us, and their
lies to the American people that were designed to make that war politically feasible, they expressed contempt for the American people.
By our administration’s failure to even attempt to take timely action to rescue victims of
Hurricane Katrina, it expressed its contempt for people who lack the resources to protect themselves against such natural disasters.
By our administration’s eagerness to side with corporations and wealthy and powerful individuals against other citizens of our country on every single issue, it has expressed contempt for the good majority of people of our country, as well as the principles in our Declaration of Independence. These issues include massive tax breaks for the wealthy, the removal of environmental regulations on the actions of corporations, the attempted destruction of the Social Security Administration, opposition to an increase in the minimum wage to close to the poverty level, the failure to adequately fund our public schools, and many many more.
Lastly, Republicans for decades have expressed so much contempt for the American Civil Liberty Union that they actually use it as a term of abuse. The purpose of the
American Civil Liberty Union can be summed up as follows:
The American system of government is founded on two counterbalancing principles: that the majority of the people governs, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights.
Majority power is limited by the Constitution's Bill of Rights, which consists of the original ten amendments ratified in 1791, plus the three post-Civil War amendments (the 13th, 14th and 15th) and the 19th Amendment (women's suffrage), adopted in 1920.
The mission of the ACLU is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees:
In other words, the purpose of the ACLU is to protect the American system of government, as defined by our Constitution. Republicans make no secret of their hatred of the ACLU.
America as defined by “American exceptionalism” “American exceptionalism” is the term that is used by today’s Republicans to refer to their belief that America never does anything wrong (well, ok, they only use this doctrine when Republicans are in power), and therefore criticizing our government indicates at best hatred for “America” and at worst treason. I don’t know how else to explain this bizarre concept. I don’t even know if most Republicans would say that I am mischaracterizing them in the way I attribute this belief to them, or if they would proudly admit to it. Either way, I don’t see how they can deny it.
This belief is evident in the way that Republican claims that “liberals hate America” are almost always linked to another phrase that they attribute to liberals – “the blame America first crowd”. To these Neanderthals, criticism of an American (Republican) government provides all the grounds they need for their claim that “liberals hate America”.
The concept was expressed perfectly by Republican talk show host Hugh Hewitt, when he referred to Democrats as “a party of bitter hostility to the idea of American exceptionalism”. This statement was directly tied to his scathing criticism of Senator Richard Durbin for daring to
complain about the torture of American prisoners of war on the floor of the U.S. Senate. In his scathing criticism of Durbin, Hewitt never once denied Durbin’s charges. There was no need to deny the charges to the kind of people to whom Hewitt’s tirade was addressed. His point was simply that America should be allowed to do whatever it wants to do, and criticism of American actions, no matter what they are, constitute “hatred of America”.
ConclusionLiberals are the staunchest defenders of America as defined by our founding documents and as defined by the American people. What they hate is the bizarre and inhumane concept of America that is put forward by today’s Republican Party. When liberals criticize that version of America, and are consequently accused by Republicans of “hating America”, they should be very assertive about making the distinction. Few Americans approve of today’s Republican agenda once they understand what it is.
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