This post is in reply to this comment left by ReyMac in which he advised me to “learn a little history about the country I live in and claim to love.”
Let’s get something straight from the start, I don’t claim to love America, I do love America. Right or wrong. Good or bad. I love this country no matter what. Surely I don’t love the government. Hell, I don’t even like it half the time and I work for it. But unlike liberals, I am capable of distinguishing between my country and my government and, therefore, I am able to love America the way it is now, not the way I want it to be. And believe me if I were King I would change quite a few things.
Liberals, on the other hand, only love America the way they want it to be. That’s the kind of love they offer. Always conditional. Always with a catch. “If you conservatives would only agree with us and do things our way we would all get along.” “If the military would only sit at home and never fight a war – at least not one approved by us – then we would support them without dismissing their service and blocking their recruiting centers.” This is the way liberals love, so it’s not surprising you would think I am just “claiming” to love America since that is what you know.
Well, I don’t have any conditions. No catches. No demands. I love America and I am proud to be an American no matter how pissed the rest of the world may or may not be about our government and our president. And I will be proud of America even if Barry wins this election. Not because I will be proud of him. In fact, I am quite sure I will be embarrassed by him. That is when I am not crying about the money he is sucking out of my pocket and laughing at the Jimmy Carter-ish incompetence of his administration.
But regardless of any of that I will be proud of America.
That is the difference between conservatives and liberals.
But I am getting off on a rant and need to get back to my point. Since you said I should learn a little history, I figured I would return the favor and educate by sharing with you some history that The Anchoress pointed out in response to Barry’s embarrassment.
But my goodness, comparing 300 million Americans (many of whom have no need to learn “French, German,” and rest because our own country is so vast and interesting they feel no need to leave it) to much smaller countries, interconnected on a continent (where learning other languages seems necessary) is a rather low blow, and it does not take into account the following not-so-subtle fact:
Americans did not need to speak French to save that nation…twice.
Americans did not need to speak German to save the lives of our vanquished German enemy over a long, brutal winter with the Berlin Airlift. (Less glamorous than a photo-op, true.)
Americans did not need to speak Polish or any other language to liberate concentration camps.
Americans did not need to speak anything but the language of honor and compassion to bring aid and comfort to a tsunami-torn land.
Americans did not need to speak Arabic or Urdu to take down a tyrant and liberate his people from the scourge of terrorist insurgents, or to help them to form a democracy that – if you read papers outside of the US – seems to be stabilizing in just a few years.
Americans did not need to speak any of the African languages to help foment real change in a land where people die from mosquito bites, and from an epidemic plague of AIDS.
Is America perfect? No, far from it, but I’m damned sure we are not so awful, so pathetic, so ignorant and backward that a presidential candidate needs to get up on stage and jeer at his country and countrymen for their lack of so-called sophistication to his “sophisticated” and self-hating supporters.
Sophistication is empty and insubstantial. It does not save lives. It does not free people. Sophistication simply dresses well and knows not to choose the chianti. All very important in these serious times, right?
I don’t know, this guy is supposed to be so brilliant, but every decision he makes, he decides was probably not the right one (”yeah, I won’t let my kids be interviewed anymore…” – hey…good idea!) and he doesn’t seem to like his country or his fellow Americans very much.
I’ll take the dumb, liberty-lovin’ Texan and his moist-eyed patriotism over this fellow’s schtick, anyday.
So to close out this subject I say this. It’s a good thing for Americans to learn a second language. Or a third. Or fourth. Spanish especially and like I said in my earlier post, Japanese, Chinese, or maybe a middle-eastern language or two. But don’t for a moment think that just because most Americans do not speak a second language it makes them any less the great people that they are. Or this nation any less the great nation that it is. Because history has proved that we are indeed great. Flawed, yes, but great despite, and perhaps because of these flaws.
And if you’re choosing a person for president, shouldn’t that person believe this, too?
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Amen Brother!
I love it when you answer the lib’s! And kudos to the Anchoress, too!
I heard the beginning of a sound bite of Barry’s, today, in the car. First, the disembodied voice set us up with the fact that Barry was campaigning in Wisconsin and targeting women voters. Switch to Barry: “When women are paid $.77 for every dollar….” That’s about where I turned off the radio. Targeting women voters? “Pandering” would be my word; pandering to those who don’t know an empty suit when they hear it speak.
(But, then, don’t they all pander? I really despise politics, and politicians do nothing to earn my trust.) Sorry; I digressed.
TRO-
Almost you make a good argument. I have to ask though, what is America if not for the government? What defines The United States of America if not for the Constitution? How do you love the country but (and I paraphrase) “not like the government half the time”? And the Anchoress’ list of things which lead her to concluded “I’ll take the dumb, liberty-lovin’ Texan and his moist-eyed patriotism over this fellow’s schtick, anyday,” is more of the non-learning that I was talking about.
We didn’t have to know Spanish to invade Texas and California.
We didn’t have to know Hawaiian to annex the islands.
We didn’t have to know French before France bailed the colonists out in the American Revolution (ever heard of Lafayette?)
We didn’t have to know German before we marched into Germany, but we did have to wait until someone punched us in the nose before we’d go help out (ask Churchill).
There are many, many things that make this country great . . . “we hold these truths to be self-evident”. But saying that there are things wrong, and then laundry listing success as if we werent’ struggling then to live up to our ideals (Executive Order 9981, anyone?) is missing the point.
Why is it when people (politicians, “liberals” – whatever those are, citizens) are patriotic enough to speak about the flaws that we have as a nation in living up to the ideals that we were founded upon and which make us the last, best hope for mankind on this earth, they are somehow not living up to the best our country stands for?
There are many languages, Anchoress, that Americans don’t speak. That’s kind of the point. Do you not know that we can be better than we are, even though we are pretty damn good? Or is trying to reach that ideal somehow unpatriotic, too?
I wish I had more time to answer this but my family is in town and we are heading out sightseeing so here is a quickie answer:
1. You ask, “What is America if not for the government?” and right off the bat I have to say that is SUCH a liberal question. To you guys that is all America is – the government. Which is why all your ideas are about making government bigger and more intrusive into people’s lives. Conservatives believe that government should only be a small part of America. At least at the federal level. Individualism and personal responsibility are more important to us that some collective power of the government.
2. You ask, “What defines The United States of America if not for the Constitution?” and I admit don’t understand the question. At least not for the purposes of this discussion. The Constitution does define America in that it sets out our ideals and rights and so forth but that is a good thing so I’m not sure what you mean. It is a document that helps make us a great and good people because great and good people created it.
3. You ask, “How do you love the country but (and I paraphrase) ‘not like the government half the time’?” and my answer is – because they are two separate things. The government is transitory. It changes regularly. But our nation, and the people who live, work, play, and die here, are forever. It is an idea. A work in progress. An ideal to strive for. The pursuit of happiness part of things. I don’t equate the two so I can be proud of America while not liking my government and trying to change it. The fact that you and other liberals cannot do this is why you can never truly love America or be truly patriotic because America will never, ever be what you want it to be, which is perfect. Or at least your version of perfect. I and other conservatives are willing to accept her with all her flaws and still recognize the greatness in her.
4. You ask, “Why is it when people (politicians, “liberals” – whatever those are, citizens) are patriotic enough to speak about the flaws that we have as a nation in living up to the ideals that we were founded upon and which make us the last, best hope for mankind on this earth, they are somehow not living up to the best our country stands for?” and my answer is conservatives speak about our flaws all the time. Only we speak about our government’s flaws or the flaws of individuals who have done bad things, not America as an ideal. Barry could have made a speech where he said something positive like “we should encourage our children to learn a second language to make them more competitive in the world” and left it at that, but no, he had to say he was embarrassed that we couldn’t speak French. That we were somehow not as good as them because we do not. Why was that necessary? The answer it was not. But he just had to lecture us. To speak down to us and tell us we are bad because we don’t live up to HIS idea of what America should be. That is a liberal tactic. So, no, there is nothing wrong with pointing out America’s flaws, but there is definitely something wrong with the way you guys do it.