Pirate's Cove

You’ll remember from July 4th, I had a post up in response to one at the HuffPo by Mike Lux called “All Of  A Sudden, The Left Likes July 4th.” Today, Mike has a post up in response to RS McCain, Mike Gibson, and myself at the Huffington Post and Open Left entitled Conservatives (Re)acting Badly Let’s take a peek, shall we?

As I have written before, nothing makes me happier in politics than being attacked, because you know by the reaction you are getting that you have hit paydirt with what you are doing. When Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) took the ideas from my book The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be and used them in a floor speech in Congress, and the reaction from far-right-wing Congressman Steve King from Iowa was a bitter, rambling tirade about socialism, I knew we were winning the argument. And yesterday, when my post about the July 4th holiday being the embodiment of the progressive values of equality and democracy, three different conservative bloggers (here, here and here) saw fit to attack. That’s a very good sign.

What bothers these conservatives so much is the idea that progressive values are at the heart of the American idea. They love wrapping themselves in the flag, and going on and on about the founding fathers, and really hate the idea that anyone else might lay claim to that history. Their arguments- that the issues were very different then, that classical liberalism has a different definition than modern liberalism, that American revolutionaries must have hated big government because they hated King George, etc.- mask the fact that the fault lines in American history, from 1776 on, have always been about expanding equality and democracy, and that progressive-minded thinkers have always been for that, and conservatives have always been against it.

Mike continues on in that vein for two more paragraphs, but, completely fails to address any of the salient points myself, RS McCain, and  Mike Gibson brought up, including, well, there was no such thing as a Progressive movement until the late 1800’s-early 1900’s. Oh, and that said Progressive movement had more in common with the fascist movement in Europe during that time period than any sort of Classical Liberalism, particularly as practiced during the movement for American independence.

Progressives are not at the heart of the American idea. The America idea is freedom of the individual, freedom of religion, people banding together for the common defense, limited government, and States’ Rights, among others, not Statism, a forced reduction in religion, and forcing people to band together for the common good, like Hillary’s “it takes a village to raise a child” tom-foolery. Plus all the personal restriction the Left loves to place on individuals and States.

Nor does he, nor can he, answer as to why the Left seemingly hated everything patriotic from January 20, 2001 thru January 20, 2009. They hated people who flew the flag, people who wore flag pins. They openly rooted for the United States to lose in Iraq, and some even wanted to lose in Afghanistan.

Those of us on the Right do not love our country less because the other party is in charge. A few quotes will suffice to explain

• Patriotism is easy to understand in America. It means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country. Calvin Coolidge
• Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. Mark Twain
• Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. Adlai E. Stevenson

Folks like Mike believe in short bursts based on who is in government. Conservatives just believe in love of the best country ever.