The American left has painted itself into a bit of a corner where patriotism is concerned. For political reasons its leaders (especially Democrats) don't want to appear to be unpatriotic -- in fact will get very indignant at the suggestion -- implied or explicit (remember the rant from the Senate floor by Daschle about a year ago?). The mudcatters on the left sometimes reflect that same indignance (There's a thread to that effect from about the time of the Daschle rant).

But patriotism presents some real conflicts for the American left...

1. The American left has trouble loving who we are (that would imply a level of acceptance that I think they fear would result in complacency toward change), or who we were (their focus has been almost entirely on anything negative in our history rather than how we might have risen above those weaknesses -- even at a faster rate than the rest of the world). The left's patriotism is almost soley rested in what they think we could become. Unfortunately, that doesn't unite them as lovers of the US because: 1. we haven't yet met that goal. 2. the left itself is more united in agreement that we haven't met goals than they are in what those goals are and how they should be prioritized. Thus, they can't even agree on their own level of patriotism, or even what patriotism means.

2. That brings up the next stumbling block. There is a huge misunderstanding among the left -- they can't seem to find any percievable difference between "patriotism" and "jingoism". Intellectualism has carried a great deal of the weight for modern liberalism, and because "jingoism" is anathema to the intellectual -- even though there may be a difference between "jingoism" and "patriotism" it is just easier to avoid all appearances and reject both.

3. The left is very much like Groucho Marx who "wouldn't join any club that would have him". The left's loathing of the USA is very much a reflection of self-loathing. ANYTHING else seems more attractive -- more esoteric, more exotic, less "meat-and-potatos". Kinda like how it's hard here on the mudcat to tell the Brits from the Americans because the Americans just love to use Brit expressions -- like shite, bollox(sp -- I'm not brit, nor do I use the expressions for affectation),etc. -- in an attempt to sound more, y'know, international.

4. the left has always been more internationalist in its goals -- the UN is VERY highly regarded -- almost sacred.

5. The left has pretty much tied itself to the intellectualist concept of "diversity". That is -- there is no superiority of culture or philosophy (religion is a different matter -- it is all......wait......here's the word.....shite). All cultures are to be embraced equally -- but implied therein is the "zero sum game" that if one thing is good then another is somehow diminished. Thus, the left avoids tying itself to any culture as "good" for fear of being percieved as diminishing any other culture.