SocraticGadfly: 'Americanism matters' but hypocrisy doesn't

May 20, 2011

'Americanism matters' but hypocrisy doesn't

Beyond writing a blathering paean to American exceptionalism, Mona Charen also wrote a blathering bit of hypocrisy in the same column.

That's because, in the past, in other columns, she's shown that for her, "Americanism matters" must always be "nuanced" by Zionism when it comes to Israel.

That said, her American exceptionalism blather is summed up here:
Liberals always worry that a celebration of American greatness will descend into chauvinism, triumphalism, or denial of the mistakes and crimes of American history.
Actually, many liberals aren't a lot better on that than many conservatives.

And, that said, chauvinism? Let's not forget "freedom fries." Triumphalism? The "bin Laden is dead" sports-like celebration orgies.

Denial of mistakes? She quotes Calvin Coolidge:
“If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy.”
Misinterpretation of the First Amendment in witch-hunting paganism and promoting Christianity, sometimes under the fig leaf of "Judeo-Christian heritage" with the abetting of Jewish conservatives like Charen, comes immediately to mind as a mistake.

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