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July 25, 2004

"If you dislike Bush, are you really anti-American?"

Our long, hot summer of politics has been brought to a boil, it seems, by several events, not the least of which is the Michael Moore film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." As temperatures rise outside and air conditioners run most of the day, there's no cooling in sight for the bitter political divisions that define us in 2004.

In Lynchburg, people are fairly stunned that "Fahrenheit 9/11" is actually playing in town. Nobody expected it to show here. Such is life in a town that has long existed under the oppressive shadow of the Rev. Jerry Falwell. But when a movie has made $30 million in its first three weeks, that's a capitalist reality that gives any theater owner the guts to defy even the Pope of Thomas Road.

The Lynchburg newspaper story that announced the movie included a quote from an 18-year-old. He said he would not see the movie because it was "anti-American." He lamented that it "does not support the president." I read a column in another paper by a Christian minister who also deeply deplored Moore's movie and said that he thought Moore should find another country in which to live, because he was "unpatriotic." The popular refrain about Moore that we now hear from the right is that he "hates America."

Now, let me make sure I've got this straight. If you think our country can do better than George W. Bush, and if you think the war in Iraq is wrong and made no sense from the beginning, and you make a popular film about it, well, clearly, you're someone who hates his country, right? My question is this: How do human minds reach such simplistic and wrong-headed conclusions? What about those of us who have seen Moore's film and consider it brilliant? Do we hate our country, too? Are we anti-American?

We hear a lot about our bitter political divisions. But what I'm seeing across America is that those of us who have been on the receiving end of this bitterness for so long are finally starting to fight back. Guess what? Many conservatives - who were so good at dishing it out during the Clinton years - are proving that they can't take it when they are the target.

Moore's films and books, Al Franken's books, the new liberal radio talk network, the collection of books that have documented Bush's distortions and lies - all of these are evidence that, all over America, liberals are fighting back. We're tired of being defined by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, and we won't stand for it anymore.

Conservatives are whining that we're "Bush haters" and "Bush-bashers." Yet they forget the energy they put into hating and bashing Bill Clinton for eight years. Their hypocrisy is stunning. The Religious Right - the "Christian conservatives" who have practically taken over the national (and the Virginia) Republican party - has added a whole new dimension to all this. They don't see conservatism as just another political view; they see it as The Truth Revealed From God Himself. They're treating the political arena like it was a pulpit.

They take the rantings of a Limbaugh and the polemics of an Ann Coulter and give them heavenly sanctification. This allows one of their disciples, Cal Thomas, to write a column approving of Dick Cheney's use of the "F" word on the Senate floor, but then they turn around and bemoan the fact that some celebrities in New York said nasty things about Bush. Again, the stench of hypocrisy is evident.

I don't remember this sort of division during the Reagan years. Liberals didn't hate him, and he didn't hate us. But after his two terms, Limbaugh and the whole radio crowd came along, and conservatives started acting as if they were born to rule. The genial Reagan's example of civility was rejected, as Limbaugh made it clear that hatred, contempt and dismissal would be the new approach toward those who hadn't been struck, like Saul on the road to Damascus, by the revealing light of God's own conservatism.

So, they started it, and now we're "anti-American" if we fight back. So be it. The wave of anti-Bush books and films, not to mention the great energy at the grass roots of this country to beat him, is testament to the fact that many Americans have had it with conservative self-righteousness. Summer won't cool down for a while, but in November, I think the air will be downright refreshing, because those who started the arguments may find themselves out of power, our of favor, and left with nothing but their hypocrisy and their radio shows.

Rick Howell, a Bedford native, is chairman of the Amherst County Democratic Committee. He can be reached via e-mail at NewCenHowell@aol.com. This was published first in the Bedford Bulletin.

Posted by rickhowell at July 25, 2004 10:26 AM

Comments

The phrase "we must support the president" has become a sort of mantra for neo-conservatives (and their representatives in the broadcast news media). The phrase was repeated endlessly following 9/11, and the neocons have been riding that wave ever since. "we MUST support the president"... not because the president is a trustworthy leader, not because his policies are good for the country, but simply because he is the president. I guess the neocons figure that elections are un-American, since they give citizens the opportunity to put their support behind someone who isn't "their president".

Posted by: J. Scola at July 25, 2004 04:38 PM

Long, hot summers breed many feelings. So, it seems, do every other season. You bring up good points, Rick. Aren't most Americans weary of the excessive, ongoing division in this country?
When did freedom of thought, speech, religion, book reading and movie going, to name a few, become un-American? Does McCarthyism sound familiar? Why is Bill Clinton still such a target by Republicans? Could it be "thou doest protest too much?"

Posted by: marlana at July 25, 2004 07:15 PM