Americans who protest against a war that is purportedly in the national interest of Amer- ica to wage may have a reason to explain why they are against it, but not necessarily their patriotism.

On the other hand, when, as in the case of dear Eleanor, she also includes in her declara- tion of loving America a jab at America's "evil" past, maybe, just maybe, she cannot ex- plain how that bolsters her contention of her patriotism.

On cable news the other night, there came a debate which started out, at least for the first sentence, to be about the virtues or evils of America's war in Iraq.  Finding that it is hard to argue with success, Liberal columnist and "journalist," Eleanor Clift decided to do what most people on the Left who hate America do.  She changed the subject and made things up.

Eleanor quickly dismissed any notion that the war freed the Iraqi people from a ruthless dictator and, true to the Liberals' contempt for average people, ignored any possibility that Iraq's population would embrace freedom.  She immediately switched to postwar Iraq and America's position as the arbiter of a Saddam-free Iraq.  According to Eleanor, America has no right to be in charge of Iraq following hostilities.  Only the United Na- tions has that right.  For the political Left, anything that displays America in a leadership role is bad.

As explained by the political Left's hero, French President Jacques Chirac, "Any com- munity with only one dominant power is always a dangerous one and provokes reac- tions."

One can only wonder about the brain processes that someone who claims to be an Amer- ican patriot has to go through to rationalize the need for a diminution of America's standing in the world, the call for an end to America's position as sole superpower, and the notion that America has no legitimacy to determine the peace that follows a war that she wins.

On top of that, these folks on the political Left have a need, now that the "little people" have started asking questions, to explain how their plan for the future of America makes them not only patriotic, but looking out for the best interests of America.

To the great chagrin of the political Left, being skeptical has transferred from how Americans view our government to America's view of the political Left.  The fact that the folks on the Left are the ones who demanded the skepticism in the first instance, makes the shift of skeptical attention all the more sardonic.

It is no longer in vogue for Americans to automatically doubt their government's veraci- ty. And it is becoming understood that, while the honest questioning of government poli- cy is important, having a knee jerk cynical reaction to the ostensible motives of govern- mental policy is not helpful and certainly not patriotic in and of itself.

The utmost shame is that this epiphany--this shift from the popularity of trashing U.S. foreign policy by Americans not loving America to widespread realization of the error and disgraceful character of the attitudes and behavior of Americans not loving America --has come late in the game.  The fact is that America, by any objective standard, is the greatest gift of humankind to freedom and justice the world has ever known in its entire history.  However, the opposite notion of America as a villain has been transmitted or originally placed in the minds of many in America and many more in the rest of the world.  This false representation is a relatively new phenomenon and has gained tremen- dous strength since the end of the Cold War.  The reason for this is simple.

Whether it is Canadian leaders badmouthing American leadership and Americans, col- lege professors wishing for America's defeat on the battlefield, or American journalists depicting American victories as defeats and American leaders as not planning well--all of this in contradiction to the reality on the ground--the political Left, either as leaders of the movement or useful idiots for the movement's leaders, view America as an obstacle to freedom, justice, and world peace.

It is obvious that believing you are a citizen of the world has to, by definition, diminish patriotic zeal.  You simply cannot view the well being of the enemy you fight on the bat- tlefield on an equal footing with America's warriors and still be considered patriotic, or nationalistic.  Nationalism is part and parcel of patriotism.

By the same token, Nationalism is the antithesis to the Lefts' global view.

Is it any wonder then why it has been the Left's raison d'etre to promote the illusion of American malevolence the world over and more particularly in America's history?  American heroes are viewed as flawed.  Even our Founding Fathers are depicted as slave-owning racists and misogynists.

According to the Left, we Americans have no real heroes.  Rather, anyone can be a hero or role model, so long as they don't actually fill that role.  If they do, the Leftists quickly apprise us of skeletons in the heroes' closets.  The Left wants us to be citizens of the world, to have no country, to have no national heroes, to have no role models other than someone who hits a golf ball or tosses a basket ball into a hoop, or an actor who plays a movie "hero" who brings down an evil and corrupt governmental official.

The Bush administration has embedded hundreds of news reporters among the troops fighting in Iraq.   The reason for this is simple.  America has nothing to hide, and what the government reports is accurate.  The Left has done their best to distort the truth anyway, and it has backfired.

America is good.  Americans do not need to be reminded of that fact.  We just need to take a closer look at the folks who want us to believe otherwise.

Paul Walfield is a freelance writer and member of the State Bar of California, with an undergraduate degree in Psychology and post-graduate study in behavioral and analytical psychology. He resided for a number of years in the small town of Houlton, Maine, and is now a California attorney. His articles appear in numerous periodicals and on numerous websites. He has been the featured guest on KTSA News Talk Radio.  CONTACT INFORMATION:  Email:   paul.walfield@cox.net

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