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The DeKlein Of Time

Time Magazine used to be pretty good. Now it features articles by Joe Klein filled with partisan bombast (Bush ?clearly unfit to lead?) or humorous, clueless contradictions.

In the latter category, last week Klein proclaimed that liberals are more patriotic than conservatives. A failure to appear patriotic, Klein wrote, has been

a chronic disease among Democrats, who tend to talk more about what?s wrong with America than what?s right. When Ronald Reagan touted ?Morning in America? in the 1980s, Dick Gephardt famously countered that it was near midnight ?and getting darker all the time.? This is ironic and weirdly self-defeating, since the liberal message of national improvement is profoundly more optimistic, and patriotic, than the innate conservative pessimism about the perfectibility of human nature.... [Emphasis added]

Stung by critics such as Peter Wehner who ?[took] me to task for claiming that liberalism is more optimistic and therefore inherently more patriotic than conservatism,? this week he repeated the accusation even as he denied ever making it:

But I didn?t do that at all. I didn?t question the patriotism of conservatives: I simply argued that it is more patriotic to be optimistic about the chance that our collective will?that is, the best work of government?will succeed, rather than that it will fail or impinge on freedom.

In others words, it is more patriotic to be in favor of civil rights legislation than to oppose it...to be in favor of social security and medicare than to oppose them...and to hope that the better angels of our legislators--acting in concert, in compromise--will produce a universal health insurance system and an alternative energy plan that we can all be proud of.

He repeats, that is, what he said last week (and what critics said he said last week): that liberals are optimistic about government, human perfectibility, etc., that conservatives are pessimistic about government and human perfectibility, and that since it is more patriotic to be optimistic than pessimistic liberals are inherently more patriotic than conservatives.

Oh well, another liberal disregards the sandblower principle ? When you?re standing in a hole, stop digging ? at his peril. (For other recent examples, see here and here.)

Now, some will argue that Klein confuses patriotism ? being ?optimistic ... that ... the best work of government will succeed, rather than that it will fail or impinge on freedom? ? with Democratic campaign speeches or naiveté (is there a difference?), but I don?t want to go there. What I propose instead is a test to determine whether or not Klein believes what he preaches.

As we have seen, he asserts that ?it is more patriotic to be in favor of civil rights legislation than to oppose it.? Next November citizens in a number of states may have the opportunity to vote on civil rights initiatives that would prohibit their state governments from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group based on race, ethnicity, sex, or national origin.

So, Joe, do you believe it is more patriotic to support these civil rights initiatives than to oppose them? If so, will you write a column informing your Democratic colleagues, since they seem to be confused on this issue.

Full post as published by Discriminations on April 07, 2008 (boomark / email).