An America-hating far leftie weighs in on Independence Day

Further proof that the self-loathing that comprises the far left doesn’t take breaks, even for a holiday.  The Philly Inquirer’s Chris Satullo scribbles:

Put the fireworks in storage.

Cancel the parade.

Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time.

This year, America doesn’t deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.

For we have sinned.

We have failed to pay attention. We’ve settled for lame excuses. We’ve spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago.

The America those men founded should never torture a prisoner.

The America they founded should never imprison people for years without charge or hearing.

The America they founded should never ship prisoners to foreign lands, knowing their new jailers might torture them.

Such abuses once were committed by the arrogant crowns of Europe, spawning rebellion.

Today, our nation does such things in the name of our safety. Petrified, unwilling to take the risks that love of liberty demands, we close our eyes.

We have done such things, on orders from the Oval Office. We have done them, without general outrage or shame.

Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. CIA secret prisons. “Rendition” of prisoners to foreign torture chambers.

[…]

We have betrayed the July 4 creed. We trample the vows we make, hand to heart.

Don’t imagine that only the torturer’s hand bears the guilt. The guilt reaches deep inside our Capitol, and beyond that – to us.

Our silence is complicit. In our name, innocents were jailed, humans tortured, our Constitution mangled. And we said so little.

[…]

So put out no flags.

Sing no patriotic hymns.

We deserve no Fourth this year.

Let us atone, in quiet and humility. Let us spend the day truly studying the example of our Founders. May we earn a new birth of courage before our nation’s birthday next rolls around.

Things like this just don’t compute with me.  Even when I was a leftie, I was never ashamed to fly my flag on any day, especially on days like Independence Day, nor was I hestitant to say how much I loved this country, even during the times when I felt it was veering off course.  That continued even through the Clinton years after I saw the light and became a conservative.  There were many, many things Bill Clinton did during his tenure that made me ashamed of him, but I sure as hell was never ashamed of my country. 

That’s where (or one of the places) where Satullo veers wildly off track.  Ignoring for a minute his exaggerations, misrepresentations and lies about the direction this country’s gone since GWB was elected president, he makes the mistake so many other self-loathing far lefites make when expressing their disgust over a president’s policies: he implicates our country itself.  “America sucks!” they whine because “the President sucks!!”

Show of hands how many of you hated this country when Bill Clinton was president?  I bet there aren’t very many.  That’s because in spite of the many disagreements and outright disgust that many conservatives had for President Clinton, one thing they never forgot was how fortunate they were to live in this country, to be able to fly (not burn) the flag, a right that hundreds of thousands of American troops died to protect and uphold.   Most conservatives flew the flag during the Clinton years in spite of their dislike of both him and his liberal policies, because they knew he wasn’t always going to be president and that one would come along and right some of his wrongs. 

And he did.

Deep-in-the-gut love for this country keeps conservatives in it even though the candidates they want to win an election sometimes in the end turn out not to be the victor(s) on election night.  You won’t find many conservatives threatening to leave this country and move to countries like our neighbors to the north Canada if their candidate doesn’t win.  They stay on and fight.  You don’t find many conservatives who have to “seek therapy” if their candidate loses an election.  They man-up, and prepare for the coming battles.   They realize that, after all, this country is indeed worth building up and fighting for, no matter who is sitting in the big chair.

None of this is to say that liberals aren’t patriotic.  I know many who are, and I’m sure most of you do, too.  But there are, I think, a not so insignificant number of far left self-haters like Chris Satullo just itching to find a reason to drag the country down to their level.  The old saying “misery loves company” applies here, methinks.

Warner Todd Huston says it all  here:

Happy July Fourth, folks. Be proud of this great nation, Satullo’s nonsense aside. The U.S.A. is still the shining light on a hill shining the light of freedom on all the world. Anti-Americans like Satullo might have blinders on, but for those willing to see, we stand like a rock.

Unfurl those flags and let freedom wave.

*salutes* Amen!