E. J. Dionne falls short of inspirational in his July 4th Washington Post column. His Independence Day article is an explanation, really. Why progressives don't wave the flag.
Have you ever noticed a certain hesitant quality to the expressions of patriotism by progressives or left-wingers?
The patriotism of the conservative goes unquestioned. It's assumed that every politician on the right will wear a flag on his lapel and effortlessly hold forth on ours as "the greatest country in the history of the world."
While gauche conservatives speak proudly of America, the circumspect progressives withhold high praise because America is not perfect. But the difference is not just the half empty, half full argument. To the conservative the U.S. is the greatest county in the history of the world because it is a place of greatest human liberty. But liberty means capitalism. Allowing people to be free to pursue their dreams, materialistic though they may be, the U.S. capitalist system has raised the world's standard of living in ways that seem to be quite beyond the imagination of poor souls like E. J. Dionne.
For them, capitalism is exactly what is so objectionable about America. In their impatience progressives seek out every possible inequality of outcome and equate it to injustice. Equality of opportunity is not enough, freedom is not enough. In fact the conservative antiquated concept of freedom is not a good thing. There are new concepts of freedom like "freedom from hunger", as if slavery on a full stomach is something to be tolerated. Just look where FreedomFromHunger.org places blame for the world's starvation.
There are five things that do contribute to most of the world's hunger:
Poverty. Poor people do not have the resources -- whether land, tools or money--needed to grow or buy food on a consistent basis.
Armed Conflict. War disrupts agricultural production, and governments often spend more on arms than on social programs.
Environmental Overload. Over-consumption by wealthy nations and rapid population growth in poor nations strain natural resources and make it harder for poor people to feed themselves.
Discrimination. Lack of access to education, credit and employment -- a recipe for hunger -- is often the result of racial, gender or ethnic discrimination.
Lack of Clout. In the final analysis, hunger is caused by powerlessness. People who don't have power to protect their own interests are hungry. The burden of this condition falls most acutely on children, women and elderly people.
Notice that "over-consumption by wealthy nations" comes in at number three. They mean America, and E. J. Dionne seems to agree. It's as if they don't understand that there is a production side of the equation that depends upon liberty. Let me refer to it in another way and say the evil words "supply side". In the simple minded world of the progressive the important goal is the appearance of equality, and unfortunately, policies that favor boosting production are policies that might allow somebody to get rich, and if that happens when there are poor people to be found, it would be a crime and a sin. It would be capitalistic.
And it would be conservative. So Mr. Dionne charges those gluttonous conservative non-reformers with proclaiming America to have achieved divine perfection.
Most reformers guard their patriotic credentials by moving quickly to the next logical step: that the true genius of America has always been its capacity for self-correction. I'd assert that this is a better argument for patriotism than any effort to pretend that the Almighty has marked us as the world's first flawless nation.
Stunning. He seeks to justify progressive leanings by attacking a straw man. And such a straw man! While he dares not mention it, those he accuses of most passionately waving the flag this Independence Day are those of us who dare to think the liberation of Iraq is a necessary and right thing to do. So we along with the Christian right -- the Almighty has gotten into the act -- are lumped into a hubristic straw man character, resistant to any sort change.
Meanwhile progressives yearn for change. But they are hesitant in their patriotism because for them the great American flaw is what we libertarians and conservatives believe is its very essence -- capitalism, freedom. In the progressive world view it must be restrained, it must be curtailed because things don't come out even in a capitalist economy. Some people might do better than others, they might take more than what good progressives would consider their fair share, and that has to be stopped. Progressives love America, but they would improve it. If they could just get rid of some of that freedom, they could make things come out even. They might wave the flag then.
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