GOOD PARENTS DON'T HATE THEIR CHILDREN

The meme, "Democrats/liberals/whoever-opposes-Bush blame America first" is such an old theme that I can't believe it still is getting traction. If you were a parent and discovered that your child was stealing/cheating at shool/doing drugs/bullying other kids/having premarital sex, etc., and corrected or tried to discipline your child, would the right-wingers point to you and say, "There is a parent who hates his child"? I don't think so. So why is it considered by the right as an article of faith that any American who points out a flaw in our policy is to be considered a blame-America-first-er? Since so many Republican voters (especially the Christian right) are obsessive parents, why not present the issue in that light?

What part of American life, whether it be our government, our schools, our families, or our religious institutions can be deemed perfect as it now stands? Isn't the point of life to progress, to constantly re-evaluate and improve? And isn't it proof of the greatest love (the conservatives seem to love the "tough-love concept") that one can see the ugly truth and still love?

I love America. I love the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I love representative government. I love our melting-pot of people. I love that we have a history of gradual amendment, of correcting our faults and moving forward. I loved America when as a young deep-South teenager I was a cast member of "Up With People," mixing with and learning from our diverse cultures and then having to bear the prejudices of my townspeople for being seen walking downtown with "colored people." I loved America when one of our town heroes, a surfer named Dink Mills, returned from Vietnam with no legs and the government for some reason denied him prosthetics until the protests grew too strong and publicly embarrassing. I loved America when our presidents supported covert CIA coups of duly-elected foreign governments.

I suspect that Americans who truly "hate America" are very few and far between. Most are like me -- we love America, "right or wrong," but believe that true love does not mean "never having to say you're sorry," but that it means always trying to keep America as a "shining city on the hill," constantly improving and always with the goal of creating a society that will inspire its own populace and the peoples of the world. Accomplishing that goal requires honesty, devotion to our core principles, and leaders who will not pander but demand the best of all of us. George W. Bush and his Republican sycophants will never meet that challenge. But John Kerry will do his best.