26 June 12
ecently
I publicly debated a regressive Republican who said Arizona and every
other state should use whatever means necessary to keep out illegal
immigrants. He also wants English to be spoken in every classroom in the
nation, and the pledge of allegiance recited every morning. "We have to
preserve and protect America," he said. "That's the meaning of
patriotism."
To my debating partner and other regressives,
patriotism is about securing the nation from outsiders eager to overrun
us. That's why they also want to restore every dollar of the $500
billion in defense cuts scheduled to start in January.
Yet many of these same regressives have no interest in
preserving or protecting our system of government. To the contrary,
they show every sign of wanting to be rid of it.
In fact, regressives in Congress have substituted partisanship for patriotism, placing party loyalty above loyalty to America.
The GOP's highest-ranking member of Congress has said
his "number one aim" is to unseat President Obama. For more than three
years congressional Republicans have marched in lockstep, determined to
do just that. They have brooked no compromise.
They couldn't care less if they mangle our government
in pursuit of their partisan aims. Senate Republicans have used the
filibuster more frequently in this Congress than in any congress in
history.
House Republicans have been willing to shut down the
government and even risk the full faith and credit of the United States
in order to get their way.
Regressives on the Supreme Court have opened the
floodgates to unlimited money from billionaires and corporations
overwhelming our democracy, on the bizarre theory that money is speech
under the First Amendment and corporations are people.
Regressive Republicans in Congress won't even support legislation requiring the sources of this money-gusher be disclosed.
They've even signed a pledge - not of allegiance to
the United States, but of allegiance to Grover Norquist, who has never
been elected by anyone. Norquist's "no-tax" pledge is interpreted only
by Norquist, who says closing a tax loophole is tantamount to raising
taxes and therefore violates the pledge.
True patriots don't hate the government of the United
States. They're proud of it. Generations of Americans have risked their
lives to preserve it. They may not like everything it does, and they
justifiably worry when special interests gain too much power over it.
But true patriots work to improve the U.S. government, not destroy it.
But regressive Republicans loathe the government - and
are doing everything they can to paralyze it, starve it, and make the
public so cynical about it that it's no longer capable of doing much of
anything. Tea Partiers are out to gut it entirely. Norquist says he
wants to shrink it down to a size it can be "drowned in a bathtub."
When arguing against paying their fair share of taxes,
wealthy regressives claim "it's my money." But it's their nation, too.
And unless they pay their share America can't meet the basic needs of
our people. True patriotism means paying for America.
So when regressives talk about "preserving and
protecting" the nation, be warned: They mean securing our borders, not
securing our society. Within those borders, each of us is on our own.
They don't want a government that actively works for all our citizens.
Their patriotism is not about coming together for the
common good. It is about excluding outsiders who they see as our common
adversaries.
Robert Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public
Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in
three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor
under President Bill Clinton. He has written thirteen books, including
"Locked in the Cabinet," "Reason," "Supercapitalism," "Aftershock," and
his latest e-book, "Beyond Outrage." His 'Marketplace' commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.
No comments:
Post a Comment