‘Anti-American?' Too simplistic
Thursday, October 23, 2008 12:08 PM EDT

Last week on MSNBC's "Hardball," the Republican Representative Michelle Bachmann (Minnesota, 6th District) said she is concerned about anti-Americanism in Congress. In fact, the "anti-Americanism" charge has been coming up a lot lately.

The anti-Americanism charge can have many meanings. In short, when Republicans say Democrats' views are anti-American (and vice versa), it often boils down to a partisan and/or policy disagreement, and what constitutes patriotism.

Two common but opposing definitions of patriotism are: 1) patriotism is love of country and support of the government, and 2) patriotism is love of country as distinguished from government policy.

If a person holds the first definition of patriotism, when he encounters an individual who questions the policies of government leaders, he might accuse the skeptic of having a lack of patriotism.

The second definition has an idealistic root - it describes the sentiment of an individual who loves his country, but believes it could be better with different policies.

These opposing definitions of patriotism are at the heart of the "anti-American" charge that politicians throw at each other.

Any country has a multitude of aspects that make up its character - society, culture, values, economy, government, and others. When politicians make the "anti-American" charge, they call to mind a national character (often a simplistic caricature) that is in keeping with only their own beliefs.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell did just that on "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning. Powell said he was troubled by some Republicans who continue to say that Barack Obama is a Muslim. He said, Obama has “always been a Christian. but the really right answer is, what if he is (a Muslim)? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America."

When he said, "that's not America," Powell was drawing on an idealistic version of the United States (albeit a version created by the Bill of Rights) - a country where xenophobia has been banished, the country that America should be. But xenophobia is a real attitude of some U.S. citizens. There truly is nothing wrong with being an American-Muslim, but there are individuals in America who think the opposite.

I'm not chiding Powell. I agree with him. Rather, I'm pointing out that his comments give an example of how easily people disagree on what does and doesn't make up the character of the U.S. He calls to mind a makeup of the country that is idealistic, but simplisticly utopian.

Rep. Bachmann prefaced her comments about anti-Americanism in Congress with an attack on Obama based on his former relationships with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers. She believes that the associations are legitimate issues for the McCain campaign to bring up, and many voters also feel that way.

William Ayers' participation in a 1960s bombing campaign strikes fear in the heart of some voters. Also, Rev. Wright's sermons are racially divisive, and some of his comments are downright scary. Some voters think Obama's associations are appropriate for discussion before the election. They want to question Obama's Americanness and his patriotism. That's their prerogative.

Other voters - as well as liberal and some conservative pundits - believe the associations are not legitimate issues and claim that McCain and company are trying to create fear within their voting bloc. They think questioning Obama's Americanness is ludicrous - a point on which I agree. Yet another prerogative.

However, neither group's set of beliefs constitute the entire character of the United States population. Rather, they represent different aspects of a highly complex society, culture, set of values, economy, government, etc. The notion that they can rightfully call each others' political impulses anti-American - when they are based simply on partisan and policy differences - is simplistic.

The anti-American charge is all-too-often used as a partisan attack, and should be reserved for the real anti-Americans: those who attacked the U.S. on 9/11, those who hate our country and are bent on destroying the U.S.

- Aaron Morgan, Reporter

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