Quote Of The Day: The Reactionary Left’s Motto

by John Hawkins | December 19, 2003 12:40 am

Here’s quote of the day from James Taranto[1],

“…(C)ommunism, evil though it was, at least was premised on a universalist vision of a better world. Why does the left now defend fascist regimes? Because they’re no longer for anything; what’s important is what they’re against: America, Israel, “Eurocentric” civilization. The motto of today’s reactionary left ought to be “The enemy of my country is my friend.”

I hate to say this; I really, really, do, but Taranto is dead on target with that quote. If you don’t believe it, just look at any program or piece of legislation that’s being seriously considered by the President and Congress and ask yourself, “Would our country’s enemies support or oppose this?” and then look and see where each political party comes down on it. You will find that nine times out of ten, the Democrats will be coming down on the same side as America’s enemies.

Just think about it. Do you think Al-Qaeda would rather see the Patriot Act stay in place or would they prefer to see it scrapped? They want it gone and so do the Democrats. Which party always seems to be trying to cut defense and intelligence spending…hint: it’s not the Republicans. The overwhelming majority of which party favored removing Saddam Hussein, an implacable enemy of our country, the GOP or the Dems? Which party in essence wants to give the UN a veto over the use of our military, the GOP or the Dems and what do you think…oh, let’s say Syria would prefer we did? Iran and North Korea — do you think they want us to build a national missile defense shield? Of course they don’t and neither does Howard Dean who plans to cut off funding for it…just like the Democrat Party cut off funding for the Vietnamese which led to a Communist takeover of the country we spent so much blood and treasure trying to save.

Now don’t get the wrong idea; I’m not calling anyone a traitor or a member of the 5th column, but I will say that there are a lot of Democrats, perhaps even a majority of them in Congress, who systematically oppose almost every attempt to make our country safer and more secure while offering up only the most flimsy of excuses in the way of an explanation.

I chalk their behavior up to an empty-headed-utopianism, reflexive opposition to Republicans who usually end up on the right side of security issues, a generalized desire to see America weakened or punished, the pervasive dislike for the police, military, and our intelligence agencies that runs rampant on the left, or some combination thereof. That assessment of course doesn’t include Dems like Joe Lieberman or Zell Miller, but at least since the McGovern years, the hawks have been outnumbered on the left.

What I’ve said before is sad but true; defending America has truly become a partisan issue. I can only hope that Bush hammers whoever the Democrats put up in 2004 so badly that it emboldens the hawkish Dems to rally the party to the right on foreign policy & security issues. That has happened — at least to some extent — on gun control issues and I’d love to see a repeat on defense. Having only one political party that can be trusted to make a serious effort to protect America is dangerous for our country, especially during the war on terrorism. Let’s hope we see some changes in the Democratic party, for all our sakes…

***Update #1***: After reading the comments, I think some people are missing the point. Even among honest, informed, conservatives, there are going to be significant differences of opinion. I support the Patriot Act; others don’t. I think removing Saddam Hussein was vitally important to the war on terrorism; some other conservatives don’t agree. All that’s well and good.

However, what I’m trying to get across here is that there are a lot of Democrats, perhaps even a majority of Dems in Congress, who seem to oppose almost EVERY policy that makes us safer. They’re not just against the Patriot Act or the war in Iraq; they want to cut the military budget, intelligence funding; they want to give the UN a veto over how we use our military, etc, etc, etc. These Democrats seem to support whatever position most undermines our security unless the party leadership really cracks the whip on them because a hot political football is involved. I think it’s important to acknowledge that’s happening…

Endnotes:
  1. James Taranto: http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110004447

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