The political left has largely abandoned such ideas, an effort emphasized by President Obama himself, who made it clear in 2008 that “fundamentally transforming the United States of America” was an integral part of his agenda. Such academic nonsense misses a central reality: the political right has not “appropriated” 237 years of American history, tradition, and culture. According to this interpretation, there is a political congruence between the patriotism promoted on Fourth of July and the values associated with the Republican party. Survey evidence also confirms that Republicans consider themselves more patriotic than Democrats. The political right has been more successful in appropriating American patriotism and its symbols during the 20th century. ”Fourth of July celebrations in the United States shape the nation’s political landscape by forming beliefs and increasing participation, primarily in favor of the Republican Party,” says the report. It found that celebrating America’s independence accrues to the interest of Republicans. Perhaps what liberals fear the most about Independence Day is contained in a 2011 report by Harvard University. That would be the same liberty that allows terminally ungrateful people like the late Zinn and Rothschild to spew their noxious nonsense without fear of imprisonment, or the kind of “reeducation” that occurs in genuinely fascistic societies. It is America’s patriots, many of whom have sacrificed their lives, who have preserved that liberty. That American superiority complex, better known as American exceptionalism, has made this nation a beacon of liberty throughout the world. Rothschild’s solution? “We’ve got to get over patriotism, and we’ve got to cure the American superiority complex.” Plus, it’s a war toy, wheeled out whenever a leader needs to improve his ratings by attacking some other country–often after invoking God’s name, too. And it destroys the ability of people to get together, within the United States and across boundaries, to take on those with the most power: the multinational corporation. It masks those who benefit most from state policy. It gulls people into believing their leaders. When ingested, it corrodes the rational faculties. Patriotism is not something to play with. And patriotism is but the father of nationalism. I’ve been studying fascism lately, and there is one inescapable fact about it: Nationalism is the egg that hatches fascism. Progressive editor Matthew Rothschild wrote an equally obnoxious “me too” piece that same year, “Why I Don’t Celebrate July 4.” “You can call me unpatriotic if you’d like, but really I’m anti-patriotic,” he whines. “Is not nationalism–that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder–one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?” The late leftist historian Howard Zinn’s work was given a platform by The Progressive magazine in 2010, when they trotted out his 2006 screed, “Put Away the Flags.“ ”On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blesse,” Zinn wrote. Independence Day is thus a time for commemorating their hatred of the country and waving it for all to see. For these oh-so-enlightened and morally superior souls, a racist and irredeemably imperialist America is something to be mourned, not celebrated. (/sites/default/files/uploads/28×471.jpg)The Fourth of July is over, and despite most of America taking great joy in celebrating our independence and freedom, many members of the American Left are glad that what they consider to be an unseemly spasm of over-hyped jingoism is finally over.
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