[Dave Hensley]

Originally Posted by greymule

The "lefties" I like to annoy are the many local left-wing intellectuals who hate the American flag and complain when the town flies flags on Independence Day, who loudly and proudly proclaim that the American flag stands for war and imperialism and stealing oil and oppressing people.

Could you provide some published quotes or links to news stories that identify and quote these people as saying these things? Every time I try to research such references I discover that the boogeymen are mostly figments of overly partisan imaginations, the kind of imaginations that cause their owners to say things like "you're either with us (the current administration and its policies) or you're with the terrorists."

The "lefties" I'm talking about are the people who, when the twin towers went down, filled the local papers with letters about how we had it coming because we had somehow offended "them." To me, the people who fight for America are patriotic. The people who want to undermine their effort are traitors. Any Navy pilot in Iraq is OK by me, whatever his political views.

Again, I'd sure like to see some substantiation for claims that these "lefties" "filled the local papers with letters" making the claims you state. Personally, my vivid recollection of the most newsworthy such whining from the "blame America first" crowd, if you will, came not from the left but from those bastions of American conservatism - Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell:

JERRY FALWELL: ...what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact, if in fact God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.

JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, yes.

JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'.

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government.
-- 700 Club, 9/13/01

The truth is both the left and the right have a few nutjobs on the extremes, and it is unfair and disrespectful to ascribe their extreme views to anyone other than those SPECIFIC few. "Lefties" and "liberals" are labels that have been used by the partisan rightwingers who have, until very recently, controlled the entire federal government, as well as much of the broadcast and publishing media, for the purposes of polarizing and demonizing political opponents and equating them with terrorists and nations adversarial to the United States.

That mindset and attitude has really worked out well for us, hasn't it?

I would never tar anyone with the label "unpatriotic" simply for being against the war or for disagreeing with me. I would label as unpatriotic the people who live here and take advantage of our liberty and then blame America for all the ills of the world.

Then why don't you dust off that old conservative battlecry "America - Love it or Leave it!" I'm old enough to remember where that cliche originated - with the rightwingers trying to quash criticism of Richard Nixon's administration of the Vietnam war.

If you truly do not wish to incite offense and adversity from people like me and my LEFTY nephew in your public postings, perhaps you might reconsider painting with such a broad stroke. Just a suggestion; you are, of course, free to speak your mind and ignore my opinion, as you see fit.