Do Conservatives Love America?
There’s an old saying that seems particularly popular among conservatives: “America, love it or leave it.” It’s not uncommon to hear conservatives say that liberals don’t “love America,” when liberals complain about gun violence, systemic racism, or problems with our healthcare system.
OK, but I occasionally watch Fox News, and it’s surprising how often the hosts and their conservative guests complain about America. In fact, if you watch Fox News, you’ll see that it’s an almost unending litany of the things they hate about this nation.
That makes me wonder, do conservatives love America?
The conservative parade of horribles
Here are some of the things that conservatives bitch about.
The culture
First, and foremost they hate “the media,” which is this amorphous conglomeration of movies, television, radio, and even the internet. They hate the “biased, liberal, mainstream news media.” They hate virtually every news source other than Fox News, conservative talk radio, The Wall Street Journal, and a few conservative magazines and websites. They hate most of what’s on TV and the radio. Does anyone listen to the radio anymore? I guess I should say music. They hate modern American music.
In fact, more broadly, they hate “the culture.” They hate the decadent American culture in general, but particularly hate music, television, and fashion. They see them all as tawdry and decadent. They hate movies — and left-wing Hollywood — for not focusing on stories of America’s greatness but rather on the downtrodden, the disenfranchised, the maligned, or the weird. They long for the good-old-days and movies starring John Wayne (fun fact, Wayne was a draft-dodger in World War Two) when the Americans were always the good guys. They hate the fact that the rest of us have moved on from that.
The funny thing is that the media and the culture are the only truly free markets in the country. The First Amendment prevents virtually any constraints on most cultural offerings like music, movies, and to a lesser degree television. What succeeds is solely based on the desires of the consuming public. It is the freest market on earth, and conservatives hate it. Which is weird because I thought conservatives loved the free market. It’s also worth noting that the products of the American culture — particularly movies and music — are multi-trillion-dollar businesses and two of the largest exports of our nation. Conservatives claim to love business, but they hate this one.
Academia
Conservatives hate academia, which they consider a hotbed of liberalism filled with “ivory tower elites” and “pointy-headed intellectuals” who indoctrinate kids with lefty ideas. Conservative writers from William F. Buckley, Jr. to Dinesh D’Souza have famously written about the horrors of academia. Of course, the American higher education system is (or once was) the envy of the world. Students flock here from countries across the globe. It’s also worth noting that much that makes up our modern world — from nuclear power and weapons to the transistor and microchip to the internet and web-browser to Google and Facebook — were created on college campuses. But conservatives hate it.
The legal system
They hate the American legal system, complaining endlessly about “frivolous litigation” and “activist judges” who “legislate from the bench.” But like our higher education system, our legal system is (or once was) the envy of the world. This complaint is also a bit curious because our legal system was largely created and developed by our Founding Fathers, most of whom were lawyers. Conservatives claim to revere the founders but hate the legal system they created.
The blue states
They hate entire regions of the country. Fox News commentators and talk radio hosts frequently deride “Taxachusetts” or “The Left Coast,” both hotbeds of liberalism. They hate cities. (This is odd since most everyone on Fox News lives and works in NYC, and none have plans to move to Des Moines.) They hate urban America and everything it represents to them, from minorities to multiculturalism. But it is important to note that the cities are the economic engines of the nation. California and Washington State dominate the modern computer and internet economy. Conservatives claim to be the champions of business but hate the most economically successful parts of the country.
The government
And of course, they hate the government. They hate government in general, but particularly hate the EPA, OSHA, and the IRS. They hate the regulations and the bureaucrats who enforce them. But this disdain for government is often an incoherent love-hate relationship, because they absolutely love other parts of the government, like the military and law enforcement. Broadly lambasting the government is one of the most common things you hear on Fox News, but the moment you hear a liberal complain about any government action or agency, they’re accused of hating the country. It’s frankly head-spinning.
Liberals
Most of all, they hate liberals. They really, really, really hate liberals. (Really!) And that’s fine, but it doesn’t that mean they hate roughly 30 percent of the American population? And does that mean they also hate America’s liberal traditions, like “Liberty and Justice for All,” as set out in the beloved “Pledge of Allegiance?” In fact, if you add up liberals and the residents of the despised regions of the nation (urban areas and the East and West coasts) it sure seems like they hate the majority of the American people.
What do conservatives love?
Sometimes, I find it hard to figure out what they do love, or even like, about our great nation.
The Constitution
They claim to love the Constitution, but they dislike entire sections of it, like the First Amendment (which has produced the “decadent” American culture), the Fourth Amendment (unreasonable search = get out of jail free), and the Fifth Amendment (right to remain silent, really?). They want to repeal the 16th Amendment (federal income tax) and the 17th Amendment (direct election of senators). And they really despise the 14th Amendment, particularly since the Supreme Court used it to strike down laws banning same-sex marriage. How long do you think it will take before they start talking about repealing the 14th Amendment?
Of course, they do love the Second Amendment. I’ll give them that. They love it so much they think it should supersede all other constitutional rights.
The Military
They claim to love the military, but they’re perfectly willing to denigrate veterans if they disagree with their politics. Just ask John Kerry, Max Cleland, or Tammy Duckworth. And most of them cheered when Donald Trump disparaged John McCain. So it’s a capricious love.
American History
And they claim to love American history, but it’s a fractured fairy-tale history that whitewashes out all of the bad stuff they don’t want to talk about, like slavery, the decimation of Native Americans, racism, income inequality, and the environmental destruction of industrialization.
When liberals complain about issues like racism or inequality, it’s generally from disappointment and a desire to change the system. But I rarely hear the same thing when conservatives complain about academia, the legal system, the media, or the culture.
Conservatives claim that liberals hate America, but in the game of “who hates America the most,” I think conservatives win hands down.
