House of Eratosthenes

After generations of finding their voice in dissidence, some Americans on the left wing are adjusting not only to a new postelection comfort with patriotic symbols, but also to the political reality they represent. Believing in Obama after Inauguration Day will mean identifying with the machinery of U.S. power.

“There’s a left-wing tradition of being systematically opposed to the U.S. government, knee-jerk reactionary – most of our presidents have made it fairly easy to do,” said Jo Freeman, author of “At Berkeley in the Sixties,” a memoir of her student activism. “Those who view everything the U.S. does as automatically suspect already have a problem doing that with Obama.”

Being a leftist is all about having no concept of time, and instead, sporting a massive ego. Patriotism is uncool — because I say it is — WHOOPS NO WAITAIMMINIT OBAMA WON!!! — now patriotism is cool — because I say it is.

Maybe that’s it. Maybe they’re just missing that lobe of the brain that is concerned with time. When I recoil from fair-weather friends, I do so out of concern for the future; my remembrance of the past is simply an inspiration for my concerns about the future. Perhaps our hardcore left-wing “patriots” are missing both of those.

So they suffer no misgivings when they encounter fair-weather friends, and they have no compunction about becoming them. Am I speculating beyond the bounds of sensibility? My theory follows the dictates of Occam’s Razor…it is one single, simple thing, that explains a vast multitude of behavioral aberrations that, otherwise, would be inexplicable or require something far more complex to explain.

It’s like seeing a guy on the freeway drive six miles with his blinker on. The meaning is “I’m stupid as hell! I’m stupid as hell! I’m stupid as hell!” A post-November patriot says, to me, “I have no concept of time! I have no concept of time! I have no concept of time!”

This is tops on the list of what America doesn’t need. I’d ratchet it all the way to the Top Spot: The fair-weather friend. I’d yank it up above more enemies. Fair-weather friends, enemies, higher taxes, price controls, bailouts. Fair-weather friends is Number One.

They’ll be running the show now. Yipee.

It’s right there in the title of the article: “New Patriotism.” There is no such thing as “new patriotism. There is only patriotism, or not-patriotism. You don’t get to just fire it up in the morning like dropping the top on your convertible because it’s a warm day in January.

No concept of time? Damn right. Much the same as just purging the memory on command – or at least the bits that don’t feel good to remember – on purpose. No concept of time, memory of convenience – They’re tools of baseless gratification.
- Andy | 01/09/2009 @ 11:06
It’s certainly true that Obama could be the most popular president ever by being conservative. Let’s face it, he’ll be supported by the left regardless of his policies, and conservatives would support good policies. And the media will praise him for is centrism regardless. Unfortunately he’ll still appoint judges to impose his less popular ideas, as he has promised to do.

I’ve got to find me a shirt that says, “I’ve always loved America, even when loving America wasn’t cool.”
- JohnJ | 01/09/2009 @ 16:26
I think I posted my parody on another of Morgan’s posts several months ago…. but it looks like it’s called for again here….

I Loved My Country, When Lovin’ My Country Wasn’t Cool

I remember wearin’ cut-off Levis
And eatin’ barbeque Fourth of July
And John Wayne was my hero
Not some sap who just knew how to cry

And I was listenin’ to Ron Reagan
When all of my friends
Loved Jimmy Carter and all those other fools
I loved my country, when lovin’ my country wasn’t cool

I thought that it was strange
When Michelle told us that she was finally proud
I was told that I was racist
If I didn’t vote for “The One” to please the crowd

They said America was evil
And I must be insane
That Saddam was really no threat
Though he was shooting at our planes
I loved my country, when lovin’ my country wasn’t cool
Oooh

(Chorus:)
I loved my country, when lovin’ my country wasn’t cool
I loved my country, all the way back to her roots
I still act, and look the same
What you see ain’t nothin’ new
I loved my country, when lovin’ my country wasn’t cool

(Instrumental Break)

They call us Gun Clinging Rednecks
For stickin’ to our roots
I’m just glad we’re in a country
Where we’re all free to choose
I loved my country, when lovin’ my country wasn’t cool

(George Jones)
Hey I loved my country, when lovin’ my country wasn’t cool
I loved my country, all the back to her roots
Now we ain’t always been perfect
But the Constitution’s seen us through
I loved my country, when lovin’ my country wasn’t cool
- philmon | 01/09/2009 @ 18:18
“People finally felt like our generation had reclaimed patriotism,” said Haley Fagan, 24, a Berkeley paralegal who got stuck in a car trying to cross the street as the crowd surged. “It was a moment that we felt comfortable with it.”

In freakin’ Berkeley? I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy this. At. All. I lived in Berkeley for a year (fairly recently, i.e., 2001) and believe me, this just wouldn’t happen. The reporter had to be in some sort of parallel universe. Or on drugs. Or both.
- Buck | 01/09/2009 @ 18:37

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