Democrats' Pretzel Patriotism

The fuss over Rush Limbaugh and the “phoney soldiers” (is it phoney or phony?) flap is all about patriotism and the questioning thereof.  Jonah Goldberg gets deep into the subject.

[L]iberals routinely and righteously condemn the “questioning” of anyone’s patriotism — until they have a chance to do it themselves. For example, in the debates over the formation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of Patriot Act, Democrats accused George Bush and the GOP leadership of questioning Democrats’ patriotism.

Or John Kerry before the Council on Foreign Relations:

“I know what the Bush apologists will say to this — that it is unpatriotic to question, to criticize and to call for change.”  

You are not allowed to call Democrats unpatriotic, and generally speaking, Republicans don’t.  They merely hint at it.  But the rules don’t apply to Democrats.  Writes Goldberg:

Sen. Bob Graham called Bush’s war policy “anti-patriotic at the core.” Kerry dubbed Bush’s “creed of greed” — you guessed it — “unpatriotic.”

John Kerry?  Calling someone else unpatriotic?  Sure, and he’s not the only one.

And now with Rush Limbaugh, Democrats, starting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are lining up to call the radio host “unpatriotic” and do whatever they can to discredit him.

The truth is, of course, that Democrats are caught in a bind here.  For decades they have been mocking the idea of patriotism and nationalism.  They have been urging us to move on beyond the primitive nation state to a global world order.  They are all in favor of things like the United Nations and the European Union.

Their adepts, the left-wing netroots, are fully invested in the idea. They went to college and listened to their liberal college professors and they agree with their teachers.  Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. They don’t understand why the Democrats don’t stand up for their principles.

The reason, dear netroots, is that they can’t.  The overwhelming majority of Americans are patriotic and they believe in the nation state.  Democrats can tell each other in the faculty lounge that patriotism is a form of bigotry.  They can even say it in liberal precincts like San Francisco and Seattle.  But they can’t say that on the campaign trail if they want to be elected to state-wide or national office.  You just can’t get elected to national political office in America by trashing America. 

In fact, the Democrats tried it once, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.  It didn’t work too well.  President Ronald Reagan was the result.

Since then Democrats have twisted themselves in knots with Pretzel Patriotism.  They demand that nobody questions their patriotism.  That’s because they can’t afford to let that happen.  They have to come up with weasel notions like Howard Zinn’s: “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” 

But when it comes to patriotic Americans like Rush Limbaugh, hey, it’s Katie bar the door. Take anything he says out of context and blast him for assaulting the patriotism of the anti-war crowd.

But wait a minute.  I thought the Peace people had got beyond primitive notions like the nation state.