What's not to love?

   There’s nothing wrong with being unabashedly pro-American. As the most exceptional and honorable nation on earth, our culture is unique in ways that other countries cannot grasp or imitate.

   In fact, I would be very disappointed to meet someone who is not pro-American. Where else in the world can you own a concealed handgun, say a prayer in a public school without it being on a Persian rug facing Mecca, or own an SUV and collect a welfare check at the same time?

   In addition to our proud history and constitutional freedoms, we are a country of firsts. First electric washing machine. First role of barbed wire. First atomic weapon. First polio vaccine.

   One would think you could never run out of good things to say about America. Ever since the 1960s, however, and thanks to a rancorous group of, shall we say, “high” ideal university students that would “weed” our culture of values and make sure morality was “drug” from the school setting, it has become popular, if not promoted, to hate America.

   Jane Kim of California, (now there’s a state with “high” ideals) for example, says she doesn’t “think our flag represents a nation where there's liberty and justice for all.” Kim is Supervisor of San Francisco’s sixth district and as such serves on the city’s board of supervisors at City Hall. She refuses to recite the pledge of allegiance before city meetings.

   Naturally, Kim is within her constitutional rights. But do any misgivings about our government give cause for lack of patriotism? Should the disapproval of our politicians lead to the disapproval of the basic principles on which our country was founded? And where is the lack of justice or liberty?

   Maybe she would prefer living in China. I hear there’s lots of justice there. And liberty, well that’s about as prevalent as their child labor laws. 

   Or maybe Saudi Arabia would be her destination. She’d be freed from the burden of driving, deciding who to vote for, and shielding her face from sunlight (I’m not sure much gets through the Burka). 

   And then there’s Iran. The most she would have to worry about there is getting stoned to death for being in the same room with a man who’s not her husband. I mean, you only need four male witnesses to testify in court that you were raped and not committing adultery. I’m not sure what American statues says on that subject, but I want to say it’s something like five or six.
   Anyway, Ms. Kim isn’t alone. WikiLeaks, the online organization run by alleged rapist Julian Assange, has been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for “disclosing information about corruption, human rights abuses and war crimes.” Not to mention all the work they did to kill Afghan civilians, undercover agents overseas, and American soldiers. 

   Do you know what we did to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg after they gave secrets about the atomic bomb to the Russian government? We graciously gave them a final meal before frying them in the electric chair. How mad Julius and Ethel would be to know that in today’s world they would be in contention for the world’s highest honor. (But I guess that isn’t saying much--after all, you only have to be president for less than 10 months to win it.)

   To be fair though, WikiLeaks isn’t the only thing responsible for the deterioration of American prosperity. Since the beginning of the Egyptian revolution, socialist and communist radicals have capitalized on the political upheaval at home. Protests have been held from New York, to New Jersey, to Washington, D.C. calling for a revolution--not in Egypt, but here in the United States.

   A screwball at a Code Pink protest was caught on tape screaming, “Revolution now!...This is what we need more of in America, this kind of street heat...what’s happening now in Egypt, same thing needs to happen here!” 

   The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) also hosted protests. One spokeswoman for PSL declared, “Only by building the party can this capitalist state be overturned by a revolutionary party...”.

  Like Jane Kim, these protesters are are completely within their constitutional rights. I wouldn’t want to change that. It’s ironic though that these people use the system that allows them to protest, and then abuse it by calling for its destruction.

  It’s a good thing, then, that I am within my constitutional rights when I say, “If you’re going to burn the American flag, then wrap yourself in it first.”