Why Do Leftists Hate America?

            Leftists and Islamists hate both America and Israel. I sort of understand why Islamists hate Israel, but I do not know why they hate America – except that America stands in the way of the destruction of Israel. I have wondered for a long time why leftists hate America and Israel, especially leftists that live in America.

            I found an article about this topic posted by Dennis Prager at The Daily Signal, and I thought that I would share some of his ideas with my readers. As you may already know, Prager is a conservative Jewish-American, and he began his article with the following.

Perhaps the best way to understand the admiration and resentment elicited by the quality of Jewish life is to compare the reactions of the world to America’s quality of life. No other country has so many people seeking to move there. At the same time, no country, with the exception of Israel, is the target of so many hateful and false attacks.

The United States, because of its success and its ideals, challenges many people throughout the world. How did America, a nation composed largely of those rejected by other societies … become the most affluent, freest, most powerful, and most influential society in the world?

Americans generally attribute this success to the values of America’s founding generations (such as individual liberty, religious tolerance, Judeo-Christian morality, and secular government), to a work ethic, and to the subsequent waves of immigrants who embraced these values.

            Prager wrote that the enemies of America believe it is the “country’s natural resources” or “capitalist exploitation” that made the United States strong. The enemies of Israel “attribute Jewish success to their natural resource, alleged greater innate intelligence.”

… America’s values, not unfair resource distribution or world exploitation, have made the United States better, just as Judaism and its values, not genetic advantage or economic conspiracies, account for the quality of life led by Jews. The two people’s quality of life has provoked similar reactions – many admire them, and many resent them.

            According to Prager, resentment is the reason that the left hates America. He uses the issue of slavery as an example. The United States is not the only the nation the enslaved African. “Of the more than 12 million African slaves shipped to the Western Hemisphere, only about 3% -- between 306,000 and 380,000 – were sent to the United States. The other 97% were sent to the Caribbean and Brazil.” So, the left should hate Brazil if they hate the United States because of slavery. “Why? Because the left doesn’t resent Brazil. Brazil is not an object of envy.”

            The Arab world “enslaved far more blacks than the North and South Americas combined,” but the left does not hate them, even though “The Arab Muslims were the most murderous of all those involved in the slave trade.” The Arab castrated male African slaves and traded women and girls as sex slaves. Yet, there is no leftist anger towards Arabs and Muslims. In fact, “the left protects the Muslim and Arab world against moral criticism.”

            According to Prager, the left hates America and Israel for the same reason: their success. Their hate is caused by envy, jealousy, and resentment.

The left hates America for its success and influence on the world, just as anti-Semites hated Jews for their success and influence on the world.

The left doesn’t hate America because it is bad. It hates America because it is good. If the left hated evil, it would love America and hate its enemies.

            America is successful and powerful because America is good. If/when America stops being good, it will stop being powerful and influential. This is the reason why the left supports the rioters who are tearing down historical statues and monuments with the claim that they are racist and bad and doing their best to destroy federal buildings and businesses. They want to convince Americans that America is bad, so they constantly cry “racist” and “racism” instead of discussing principles and policies.

America is Exceptional

                We had an interesting lesson in Relief Society last Sunday.  Our teacher referred to an op-ed piece written by Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, and published last fall in The New York Times.  Mr. Putin wrote his article in an effort to “speak directly to the American people and their political leaders”.  The article was basically about Syria, but it ended with a reference to a statement by Barack Obama about America being “exceptional.”  Mr. Putin wrote, “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.  There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy.  Their policies differ, too.  We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.”

                Our teacher asked us if we believe America is exceptional.  Various women gave their reasons for why they believe America is exceptional. As a group, we determined that America is exceptional. The teacher also teaches early morning Seminary to high school students, and she posed the same question to her Seminary students last fall.  The teens did not believe America is exceptional. 

                Later that day, I posed the same question to my twelve-year-old granddaughter and thirteen-year-old grandson and learned that they did not believe America is exceptional.  I asked them to explain their reasoning, and they referred to the crime and wickedness in our nation.  After a short discussion about crime and wickedness in other countries, we agreed that we could not use those two categories to judge exceptionality.  My younger son jumped into the conversation and shared several reasons why America is exceptional.

                Matthew Spalding at The Heritage Foundation wrote an article entitled “Why is America Exceptional?” He began by writing about the beginning of America.  “In 1776, when America announced its independence as a nation, it was composed of thirteen colonies surrounded by hostile powers.  Today, the United States is a country of fifty states covering a vast continent.  Its military forces are the most powerful in the world.  Its economy produces almost a quarter of the world’s wealth.  The American people are among the most hard-working, church-going, affluent, and generous in the world….

                “Every nation derives meaning and purpose from some unifying quality – an ethnic character, a common religion, a shared history.  The United States is different.  America was founded at a particular time, by a particular people, on the basis of particular principles about man, liberty, and constitutional government.”

                Mr. Spalding concluded his article by explaining why America is exceptional.  “America is an exceptional nation, but not because of what it has achieved re accomplished.  America is exceptional because, unlike any other nation, it is dedicated to the principles of human liberty, grounded on the truths that all men are created equal and endowed with equal rights.  These permanent truths are `applicable to all men and all times,’ as Abraham Lincoln once said.

                “America’s principles have created a prosperous and just nation unlike any other nation in history.  They explain why Americans strongly defend their country, look fondly to their nation’s origins, vigilantly assert their political rights and civic responsibilities, and remain convinced of the special meaning of their country and its role of the world.  It is because of its principles, not despite them, that America has achieved greatness.

                “To this day, so many years after the American Revolution, these principles – proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and promulgated by the United States Constitution – still define America as a nation and a people.  Which is why friends of freedom the world over look to the United States not only as an ally against tyrants and despots but also as a powerful beacon to all those who strive to be free.”

                On January 25, 1974, Ronald Reagan spoke at the first Conservative Political Action Conference (C-PAC) on the topic “We Will Be A City Upon A Hill.” In his speech he quoted John Winthrop who spoke on “the tiny deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast…. `We will be as a city upon a hill.  The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.’  Well, we have not dealt falsely with our God, even if He is temporarily suspended from the classroom.

                I believe that many Americans have dealt falsely with God, but I will return to that subject later.  The future President of the United States concluded his speech:  “One-half of all the economic activity in the entire history of man has taken place in this republic.  We have distributed our wealth more widely among our people than any society known to man.  Americans work less hours for a higher standard of living than any other people.  Ninety-five percent of all our families have an adequate daily intake of nutrients – and a part of the five percent that don’t are trying to lose weight!  Ninety-nine percent have gas or electric refrigeration, 92 percent have televisions, and an equal number have telephones.  There are 120 million cars on our streets and highways – and all of them are on the street at once when you are trying to get home at night.  But isn’t this just proof of our materialism – the very thing that we are charged with?  Well, we also have more churches, more libraries; we support voluntarily more symphony orchestras, and opera companies, non-profit theaters, and publish more books than all the other nations of the world put together.

                “Somehow America has bred a kindliness into our people unmatched anywhere, as has been pointed out in that best-selling record by a Canadian journalist.  We are not a sick society.  A sick society could not produce the men that set foot on the moon, or who are now circling the earth above us in the Skylab.  A sick society bereft of morality and courage did not produce the men who went through those years of torture and captivity in Vietnam.  Where did we find such men?  They are typical of this land as the Founding Fathers were typical.  We found them in our streets, in the offices, the shops and the working places of our country and on the farms.

                “We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so.  The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia.  In the days following World War II, when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, `The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions.  Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind.’

                “We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth.”

                In my discussion with my grandchildren about American exceptionalism, I very carefully explained to them that we as individually are no better than any other person living anywhere in the world, but America is exceptional because it was founded on principles of truth revealed from God.  Americans as a group are exceptional when we live those principles.

                The land of America is protected by God for His purposes.  America – meaning the United States - will remain exceptional for as long as Americans worship the true God of this land, even Jesus Christ.  We cannot deal falsely with God and expect Him to continue to protect and defend us.  We must keep His commandments and live righteously in order to remain exceptional.  If we do not, we will be destroyed and another group of people will inherit the land.  The Book of Mormon speaks of two civilizations that lived and prospered on the American continents as long as they kept God’s commandments, but they were destroyed when they turned away from God.  The choice is ours:  we can repent and worship God or we can cut Him out of our lives and be destroyed. 

American Value System

                    Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when parents and leaders teach the rising generation about greatness of the United States.  The next generation must be taught about the American value system - what constitutes it and why it is unique.

                    President Ronald Reagan stated, "Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.  We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

                    The greatness of America is not being taught to the rising generation in the schools or universities.  It is not written about in the lame stream media.  It is not being mentioned in the products of Hollywood.  If we want America to be strong, we must teach the American values to the rising generation in our homes.

                    Dennis Prager explained in his newly published book Still the Best Hope - Why the World Needs American Values that the only way the American value system can prevail is if more Americans are willing to fight and win the ideological war within the United States.  "But with America's universities, labor unions, mainstream news media, entertainment media, and one of its two major parties ideologically aligned with European socialist values and with big businesses frequently aligning" (p. 16).

                    I encourage parents and grandparents to obtain books containing the history of the United States - preferably those written before 1915.  Since our history is being rewritten by progressives, we must be careful about the history that we study and teach.  I encourage parents and grandparents to study the United States Constitution in order to understand what is in it and what is not.  I also encourage you to join the political process.  The Democrat Party was taken over by Leftism and progressives; the Republican Party is in danger of being taken over by progressives on one side and ultra-conservatives on the other side. 

                    Our Founders established a government was centered between tyranny and anarchy.  Progressives are trying to move our nation towards tyranny.  Ron Paul followers are attempting to move our nation towards anarchy.  We need good men and women who understand the importance of the central position to become involved in the political process.  We need people who understand that our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles to stand firm for those values.

                    American is great because America is good.  If/when America is no longer good, America will no longer be great.  We must teach the American value system to the rising generation in order for America to continue to be great!

America - Still the Best Hope

                    The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is that the United States of America is still the best hope for the world.  The government of the United States was established on certain principles and truths, and those American values can and will bring lasting peace and prosperity to the world.

                    I recently spent a couple of weeks in Kansas with one of my daughters and her family.  We visited the city library while I was there, and I found a newly published book entitled Still the Best Hope - Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph by Dennis Prager.  I did not have enough time to carefully read the entire book, but I read as much of it as possible and glanced through the remainder of it.  I found the book to be very interesting and enlightening and highly recommend it to anyone who understands that Americans must return to constitutional principles into order for our nation and the world to survive and prosper. 

                    The author stated that he wrote the book "because I am convinced that there is a way to end most evil [deliberate infliction of death, cruelty, oppression, and other injustices on fellow human beings].

                    "The only proven way to achieve this on any large scale is the American value system.  These values are proclaimed on every American coin:  `Liberty,' `In God We Trust,' `E Pluribus Unum'" (p. 1).

                    Prager also stated that he intended the book "for several audiences":  1) "Americans who already affirm American values….  Few Americans can articulate what is distinctive about American values, or even what they are…" (p. 1).

                    2) "Americans and all others - who either do not believe that the American value system is as described, or that it is the best ever devised, or that there is even such a thing as a specifically American value system…" (p. 2).

                    3) Non-Americans:  "As this book goes to print, it is becoming obvious that the European attempt to create a welfare state alternative to the American model has failed.  Begun after World War II, the secular welfare state offered Europeans and sympathetic non-Europeans an alternate to American religiosity and to what the welfare state's supporters depict as cutthroat, heartless American free market capitalism.  But some fifty to sixty years later, it is clear that this state is economically - and … morally - unsustainable.  Of the two democratic models - the European and the American - only the American one works and can endure….  Americanism … wants all peoples to retain their national culture and allegiances" (p. 2).

                    One major goal of the author of this book "is to present as thorough a dissection of Leftism as has been written …. An overall explanation of the inherent moral and intellectual defects of Leftism, along with an explanation of why so many people believe in it despite its terrible track record…."

                    The author claims that he "almost never judge[s] the motive or the character of people with Left-wing views" because he has family, friends and acquaintances "who hold those views, and whom I adore."  He also claims that it is "easy to love friends" because "we choose them."  He gave a great reason for the importance of the family:  "It teaches us to love people with whom we may have major disagreements" (p. 3).

                    Prager explained the difference between the use of the world "liberal" and "Left" - which are often "used interchangeably."  "There was a difference between liberals and the Left for many decades.  In the United States, the distinction ended after the Vietnam War.  The John F. Kennedy-type liberal - anti-Communist, in favor of using American power to spread liberty, and for lower taxes to stimulate economic growth - essentially died with his assassination on November 22, 1963" (p. 4). 

                    The author explained that he was "interested in identifying Leftist positions" rather than "Leftist individuals."  Many people identify themselves as liberal but "actually hold many conservative positions" (p. 4).

                    Prager has the hope that "Islam can be reformed and become a major world force for liberty, justice, and goodness" "without dropping belief in the Koran or in Muhammad as Allah's messenger."  "There are hundreds of millions of good and decent people in the Muslim world who can use their Muslim identity as a force for good."

                    The author contends that "the future [of humanity] will be Leftist, Islamist, or American" and that "the three ideologies are incompatible."  By "Leftist" he means the "values" of the "Western welfare state, secularism … attitudes and positions identified as Left from Karl Marx to contemporary socialist democrat parties and today's Democratic Party in the United States…."  By "Islamist" he means those "who wish to see as much of the world as possible governed by Sharia, Islamic law…."  By "American" he means those values imprinted on every American coin.  He calls these values the "`American Trinity':  `Liberty,' `In God We Trust,' and `E. Pluribus Unum' (`Out of Many, One')" (pp. 7-8).

                    Prager wrote that even though "there are many good people in each group," these "three ideologies are incompatible."  "The question is … which of the three ideologies is more likely to produce better people and a better society" (pp. 8-9).

                    The author believes that there are both Leftists and Muslims who are good Americans, but "The fact is that the three ideologies are incompatible.  Any one of them succeeds at the expense of the other two.  All Islamists know this, and many Leftists, know this, but most of those holding American values do not.  This book explains why they are incompatible, but I will cite some examples here.  The American value of `Liberty' is at odds with a Sharia-based society and with the Leftist commitment to material equality; `E Pluribus Unum' is at odds with the Leftist commitment to multiculturalism; and `In God We Trust' conflicts with both the Leftist commitment to secularism and the Islamic ideal of a Sharia-based state…." (pp. 9-10).

                    Prager stated that American values "allow, even encourage, people to keep their religious, ethnic, and cultural identities" while millions of "Muslims are prepared to spread Islam violently" (p. 10).

                    The author believes that Leftism is a "religion" just as surely as Christianity and Islam are.  It is a "secular form of religion" which is being spread "much more vigorously" than Christianity, and its "beliefs and values" are being taught in "high schools and universities" (pp. 11-12).  "For the majority of people in the West, the Left's view of life is not considered only the Left's view, but in fact the only legitimate view of life."  It is considered to be "normal" (p. 12).  "Most of all, Leftism is a religion because those who believe in its tenets often do so as fervently as religious Jews, Muslims, and Christians believe in their tenets…" (p. 13).

                    Prager wrote "… America represents the last great holdout against Leftism in the non-Muslim world.  In this sense, America represents the same thing to the Leftist as it does to the Islamist:  the greatest barrier to its success.  Islam and the Left are ideological enemies, but as long as America is strong and neither Muslim or Leftist, both fundamental Islam and the Left are allied in one way - anti-Americanism."

                    The author argues that this is the reason why the Left always defends Muslims.  He gave the "Ground Zero mosque" as one example.  He also cited the large "demonstrations in Western Europe since 1980 that "always" involve "people on the Left and/or led by groups on the Left."  "It is difficult to cite a single Leftist demonstration against any of the worst evils since World War II.  Why?  Because all those evils were committed by Leftist and Islamist regimes or groups, not by America" (p. 14).

                    Prager made an interesting point that I had never previously considered:  "Leftist peace activists demonstrate against war in large numbers only when the United States and/or Israel are at war.  There were few demonstrations when Sudan's blacks were murdered in mass or the genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, or Congo or China's crushing Tibet or when Saddam Hussein warred against Iran, Kuwait, and the Kurds in Iraq.  The Left seems to be much more vocal about America's wars than these greater problems.  The Left does not seem much concerned when atrocities are committed by non-whites.  Israel is the only other country besides America that gets boycotted by the Left" (pp. 13-15).

                    The author explained three different obstacles to spreading American values.  First, the United States is the only country that claims to be Judeo-Christian while both "socialism/secularism and Islam" "dominate many countries."  "That is why America goes it alone" except when conservative governments are in power in Israel, Britain, Canada, and Australia. 

                    A second obstacle to spreading American values is the simple fact that "neither Judeo-Christian nor individual liberty nor free market values are secure in American."

                    A third obstacle is that few of us are "teaching the next generation of Americans what constitutes the American value system, let alone what is superior, or even simply unique about it.  American children are overwhelmingly educated by people who believe in European, not American, values" (pp. 15-16).

                    Prager further explained that the only way the American value system can prevail is if more Americans are willing to fight and win the ideological war within the United States.  "But with America's universities, labor unions, mainstream news media, entertainment media, and one of its two major parties ideologically aligned with European socialist values and with big businesses frequently aligning" (p. 16), it will be very difficult to win this war.

                    Prager explained that he believed there were only three alternatives because he didn't think China would prove to be a fourth alternative.  "Either China will become a freer society or it, too, will fail.  And along with liberty, it will still have to affirm values beyond material success in order to succeed as America has" (p. 17).

                    As I explained earlier, I found the book to be extremely interesting and well-worth reading.  The author articulately explains how things are and why they are that way.  I am seriously contemplating purchasing the book in order to finish reading it as well as to have it as a reference in my home.  I highly recommend this book to any serious, constitutionally-based student of politics.