Doak - True patriotism means always having to say your sorry

Richard Doak gives us a sweeping, Transnational Progressive history lesson to celebrate the 4th this year. On parade are all of the old progressive chestnuts... the ones that were just beginning to take hold when I took American History my junior year in college 26th years ago.

* We've pissed away our gift of democracy to the world.
* Above all... and I mean all... beware of pride and hubris. We may think we're great... but we're nothing but money grubbing, bourgeois capitalist toady scum.
* National economic success is not a virtue... it's a sign of avarice... and exploitation of the masses.
* Power corrupts. Shun it. Victim-hood makes for more polite cocktail party conversation.

If Washington were president today, the leader of the "great nation" he foresaw, it's still impossible to imagine him alienating old friends or launching pre-emptive wars. He would have known that the American version of democracy could not be imposed on lesser countries by force of arms. America was to lead by example, not muscle.

Wow! Dick Doak is channeling George Washington. And then he keeps on goin'.

lEchoes of Washington's vision were heard as recently as Ronald Reagan's presidency, with his frequent references to America as the "shining city on the hill." Reagan grew up in the small-town Midwest in an era when the original spirit of America could still be felt.

Boy, he's a sharpie, that Dickie. First, he cynically praises Reagan. And, in the same sentence lauds "...the small-town Midwest...". Excuse me... my gorge is rising... rrrralllph! Then he celebrates Independence Day by bemoaning the loss of "... the original spirit of America...".

Make's ME want to wave a flag. Oh... I'm sorry... this is revised 4th of July. Flag waving is insensitive and gauche. This is a holdiay for deep and peaceful reflection. This is a time for self-analysis paralysis.

And no fireworks boys... they're dangerous. You could put your eye out.

Cities on the hill have a strong defense, but they do not march down the hill to change the lessor cities below. They concentrate on renewing themselves from within, so that their example remains worthy of imitation. So that their city always shines.

Except perhaps when those "cities" threaten our common defense. Yep, we're nothing but a big schoolyard bully, throwing our weight around.

It's still 9/10/2001 for Dick and his crowd. There was no connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Just because Saddam was reaching out to Osama beginning in 1994, well… never mind.

God, I hate that it's come to this. I fear that we need another attack to wake us up. This one could be much less spectacular than the WTC, but with a much higher death toll. I hope I'm wrong.

And, I wonder what Doak's reaction will be next time.

More of the same? Why do they hate us? Don’t take the fight to the terrorists and the states that back them, but… Don’t do anything to limit civil liberties at home. Just set a good “shining city on a hill” example and hope that they stop hating and attacking us.

What a childish, ’60 pipe dream.

And Dick… guess who said this…?

If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War. - George Washington

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