| |
|
| |
logomachy--1. A dispute
about words. 2. A dispute carried on in words only; a battle of words.
logomachon--1. One who argues about words.
2. A word warrior.
|
|
| |
|
| |
2004-07-28
Can Liberals be Patriots?
Can Liberals be Patriots?A friend just sent me this e-mail.
I just saw a clip on CNN -- part of an interview (at the Dem convention) with Richard Dreyfuss. He was, in his best "Mr Holland" hat, trying to explain intellectually the situation we face in America. He said (as far as I can recall) that we have two opinions in this country:
One group dogmatically believes that America is a fixed entity, bound north and south by Canada and Mexico, that must be defended at the cost of our children and grandchildren.
The other group, he said, believes that America is more an "idea" or an "ideal," existing more as a state of mind . . . intimating that as such, it must be flexible, open to change and progress, etc.
The CNN flack was eating it up.
Thirty or forty years ago William Buckley or someone commented that liberals can't be patriots because their loyalty is to an idea of the perfect country that is to come, rather than to a real place where real people live. Starting with anti-antiCommunists, liberals have become more and more touchy about that insight. During WW III, they replied to any question about their foreign policy proposals by instantly crying of "McCathyism!"; more recently, they have taken to whining "You're questioning my patriotism".
Now Richard Dreyfuss has let the cat out of the bag.
It makes sense of Ed Rendell's speech this evening on the DNC's "Make America Stronger" theme. The secret is Kerry's plan of energy independence through an industrial policy (Fascism), price controls (Fascism), jobs program (Fascism), trade wars (Fascism), new technologies (more Fascistic dreams, promised also by Teresa), and a cleaner environment (eco-Fascism).
Paired with "Make America Stronger" is another catchphrase, "We can do better". The Democrats don't want America ever to be strong. They can't stand that America is strong and that President Bush has used America's strength to strike our enemies. But they do have a plan for future strength, their future strength, by leading America in pursuit of an unattainable goal. Their prescription for "making America stronger" is the same as their pie-in-the-sky prescription for anything: give us power, let us cower lest someone mean hurt us, let us try to control all the little and big uncontrollable things in life, keep giving us more power until we reach that goal.
|
|
|
|
