海角大神

Recently I publicly debated a regressive Republican who said Arizona and every other state should use whatever means necessary to keep out illegal immigrants. He also wants English to be spoken in every classroom in the nation, and the pledge of allegiance recited every morning. 鈥淲e have to preserve and protect America,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the meaning of patriotism.鈥�

To my debating partner and other regressives, patriotism is about securing the nation from outsiders eager to overrun us. That鈥檚 why they also want to restore every dollar of the $500 billion in defense cuts scheduled to start in January.聽

Yet many of these same regressives have no interest in preserving or protecting our system of government. To the contrary, they show every sign of wanting to be rid of it.

In fact, regressives in Congress have substituted partisanship for patriotism, placing party loyalty above loyalty to America.

The GOP鈥檚 highest-ranking member of Congress has said his 鈥渘umber one aim鈥� is to unseat President Obama. For more than three years congressional Republicans have marched in lockstep, determined to do just that. They have brooked no compromise.聽

They couldn鈥檛 care less if they mangle our government in pursuit of their partisan aims. Senate Republicans have used the filibuster more frequently in this Congress than in any congress in history.

House Republicans have been willing to shut down the government and even risk the full faith and credit of the United States in order to get their way.

Regressives on the Supreme Court have opened the floodgates to unlimited money from billionaires and corporations overwhelming our democracy, on the bizarre theory that money is speech under the First Amendment and corporations are people.

Regressive Republicans in Congress won鈥檛 even support legislation requiring the sources of this money-gusher be disclosed.

They鈥檝e even signed a pledge 鈥� not of allegiance to the United States, but of allegiance to Grover Norquist, who has never been elected by anyone. Norquist鈥檚 鈥渘o-tax鈥� pledge is interpreted only by Norquist, who says closing a tax loophole is tantamount to raising taxes and therefore violates the pledge.

True patriots don鈥檛 hate the government of the United States. They鈥檙e proud of it. Generations of Americans have risked their lives to preserve it. They may not like everything it does, and they justifiably worry when special interests gain too much power over it. But true patriots work to improve the U.S. government, not destroy it.

But regressive Republicans loathe the government 鈥� and are doing everything they can to paralyze it, starve it, and make the public so cynical about it that it鈥檚 no longer capable of doing much of anything. Tea Partiers are out to gut it entirely. Norquist says he wants to shrink it down to a size it can be 鈥渄rowned in a bathtub.鈥�

When arguing against paying their fair share of taxes, wealthy regressives claim 鈥渋t鈥檚 my money.鈥� But it鈥檚 their nation, too. And unless they pay their share America can鈥檛 meet the basic needs of our people. True patriotism means paying for America.

So when regressives talk about 鈥減reserving and protecting鈥� the nation, be warned: They mean securing our borders, not securing our society. Within those borders, each of us is on our own. They don鈥檛 want a government that actively works for all our citizens.

Their patriotism is not about coming together for the common good. It is about excluding outsiders who they see as our common adversaries.聽