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No, America Is Not “Irredeemably Evil.” Democrats: Show Our Love of Country
Democrats have long gotten a bad rap — and a bad rep — from Republicans. Somehow, the conventional knowledge now goes, Republicans are the flag-waving patriots and Democrats “hate” America.
This bad rap was brought home vividly for me in late 2009. I had just given a talk on my commentary titled “Recovery Without a Reckoning,” about Wall Street’s recovery from the 2008 financial crash — the crash it caused but from which it appeared to learn little, going back to its old risky ways.
Afterwards, a man came up to me and introduced himself as a Republican. He said he gathered from the publicity for the event that I was a Democrat, but he came anyway because of the word “Reckoning” in my talk’s title: He remained a free-marketer but he agreed with my argument that Wall Street needed to factor in Main Street far more than it had in the past and, going forward, post-crash. And, yes, there was a moral aspect at issue, thus the reckoning: Wall Street’s continuing heedlessness of Main Street was wrong. I said I loved this country too much to see its beautiful principles abused.
This was when he — Mike — made the point that has stayed with me: “I wish I heard other Democrats say they loved this country,” he said. “I never hear that.” He went on: Democrats seem only to criticize America, run her down (I remember he said “her”), and they never express love of country. In the warmth of our exchange, I suddenly could see how Mike, a conscientious Republican, perceived “the other side.” We ended with a handshake and thanks.
I have continued thinking of what Mike said, because I think he has a point.
But the bad rap has continued and, in the extreme polarization now besetting us, it drives — inflames — rhetoric. Sadly, it suffuses the editorial pages of our lead conservative paper, The Wall Street Journal, which, in addition to our alleged America-hating, propagates other categorical (and wrong) thinking: that Democrats “blame America first,” that as “elites” we sneer at regular Americans, that we want a “radical,” “socialist” revolution in this country.
