The Neo-McCarthyism of Patriotism. Rev Wright the Patriot.

I wrote a comment in a similarly themed dairy recently and realized that I had a lot on my mind about this issue and decided to write my own diary about it.  I think the themes and ideas I’m about to lay out have been largely overlooked but have significant relevance to the current "Rev. Wright controversy" as well as the presidential race in general.

I think we liberals have done ourselves a great disservice by allowing to the GOP to frame the debate about patriotism.  In fact, part of our problem in the recent past is that we have allowed the Repubs to frame the debate on many issues to the right of center.  (‘Experience’ and being ‘tough on terror’ come to mind immediately).  

Republicans have done a masterful job of wielding the 9/11 cudgel to their advantage.  They have used it and the fervor of nationalism following the events as a tool to gain widespread acceptance of their definition of patriotism.  This is a large part of the reason we are in Iraq right now.  Hillary Clinton has allowed herself to be bludgeoned into a right of center frame, and Barrack Obama has not.  Let me elaborate below the fold:

These are the things that are now widely (not universally) accepted as being patriotic now that the GOP has entrenched its skewed and simplistic worldview into the zeitgeist:

   Wearing American flag lapel pins.
   Saying and singing "God bless America"
   Saber rattling
   Hating Islam without understanding it
   Saber Using
   Steroids in Baseball (the ends – keeping the sport popular – justify the means)
   Vilifying immigrants
   The Pledge of Allegiance
   Torture
   Warrantless wire taps
   Repeat after me: "The surge is working"
   Corporate profits

These things are now "America hating" and "un-patriotic."

   Saying we might have helped provoke 9/11
   Not wearing American flag lapel pins
   Being Muslim
   Talking to ‘enemies’ (Gasp!)
   Amnesty
   Suggesting that our government or our people have made ever made any mistakes or mistreated anyone
   ‘Cut and Running’
   Taxes and/or fiscal responsibility
   The Constitution
   

I’m sure I could go on.  The point is: why have we let this happen?  How has the Right been allowed to go on a McCarthy style witch hunt against "un-patriotic" sentiment?  They have made ‘un-American’ the new ‘Communist.’   And we are letting them.  It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now.

Let me make this clear, it makes no sense to me at all why Barrack Obama should be held responsible for the statements of Jeremiah Wright.  The reason this punch is landing while in other almost identical circumstances it has not, is that the undercurrents of ‘anti-American’ suspicion being injected by the GOP have finally found a foothold within the electorate.  Our capitulation of these points above has laid the groundwork for losing this battle.  This issue isn’t about race except that some have used the racially charged ‘black church’ meme to more strongly tie Obama to his former pastor.  Something about the boisterous and sometimes politically oriented sermons of black pastors scare people more and therefore engender a less benign view of Sen. Obama’s involvement in the church where these things are said.  

These points notwithstanding, we have to push back where it counts.  We can’t simply say that Barrack Obama has denounced the comments and made a fantastic speech about this issue.  We can’t simply say that he should not be dragged down by Wright’s extreme viewpoint because of guilt by association.  (These things do need to be said however).  We have to follow Barrack’s lead and cut to the quick of this debate.  We can’t disown Wright any more than we can disown a certain Senator from Illinois.  To use a contemporary analogy:  We can’t obsessively say "Barrack Obama is not a Muslim."  We have to be saying: "so what if Barrack Obama is a Muslim?"

Some of the things Wright said were misguided and more than a little inflammatory, but it is unjust to write him off as a nut when he is being convicted as anti-American in the court of public opinion.  I do not agree with him but he has the fundamental right to say things like this and Barrack has the fundamental right not to be judged by statements he heard second hand.  

The Faux News Logic: "Wright is bad, therefore his church is bad, therefore anyone who ever attended and doesn’t immediately denounce and leave the church in its entirety is bad, therefore Barrack Obama is Bad."  A lot of liberals have been capitulating to the first two assumptions and arguing the second two.  This is not the way to handle this.  I recently heard Frank Luntz say: "we will judge you by the company you keep" in regards to the Rev Wright affair.  Ignoring the obvious examples of other candidates having worse connections is necessary.  The O’Reillys, Hannitys and Luntzs of the world aren’t going to accept the "everyone does it" argument on this one.  The battlefield is drawn on these lines and if we don’t fight this battle we lose the war.

Rev Wright, no matter how much I disagree with him, is not un-American or racist for saying the things he said.  He is a patriot.  

Let’s not play into the GOP’s assertion that they know what a patriot is and liberals do not.  Jeremiah Wright is as American as Chinese food.  He’s a completely American creation that is dismissed as a foreign entity.  A history not experienced by white America is not, in and of itself, un-American.  Rev Wright stands up for a group of Americans that need to be stood up for.  He is making exaggerations and half true statements to help force a group of people to stand up for themselves.  He is perfectly within his rights to criticize America for its past injustices, and I applaud him for it.  I certainly don’t agree with everything he said, but I would be un-American to suggest he shouldn’t have a right to say them.  By the same token it would also be silly of me to think that Barrack Obama isn’t a patriot because he doesn’t wear a flag pin.  

I beseech thee, liberals need to take us back to the founding fathers school of thought.  We need to be free to question our government in order to prevent corruption and tyranny.  The more they are allowed to use rabid nationalistic fervor to repress our freedom the closer they are to changing the W to a III.  Let’s show them what patriotism truly is.