Posted by
Kenneth G. Davenport on Thursday, August 10, 2006 12:54:06 PM
In his grave in upstate New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt is undoubtedly doing summersaults – so disgusted must he be at Senator Joe Lieberman losing in Connecticut to the appeasement wing of the Democratic Party. Afterall, it was FDR who lead America through another tough war upon which the future of our world depended – one where we faced many setbacks, and which ultimately came at a steep price: over 400,000 American dead and countless more wounded. For Roosevelt and America, no price was too steep to pay to ensure the freedom of Europe and Asia against the evilness of Hitler and the totalitarian ambitions of Tojo. We went, we fought, we won.
Of course, FDR led a Democratic Party that truly believed in the cause of America, that understood our exceptionalism as a social and political system, and wasn’t afraid to make sacrifices in the name of freedom and democracy. What a difference fifty years makes. Consider what the Democratic Party stands for today. Instead of embracing the goodness of America and all that it stands for, it wallows in a sea of self doubt and self disdain – believing at its core that our efforts abroad (and specifically in the war on terrorism) are infused with imperialistic zeal. Ours is not representative of the principles of human rights, human dignity and freedom, a shining city on a hill. Rather, we offer the world an arrogance of power that does far more damage than good – an embarrassment to the civilized world (like in Europe) that embraces its secular multi-culturalism to the point where there is no difference between peoples, ideologies or cultures. Good is evil and evil is good.
And it is in this vein that Lamont’s victory in Connecticut should be viewed – for it represents a key victory for the “new” Democrats – the secular professional class that is internet-savvy, sees the world as truly “flat” and makes little distinction on moral issues. These Democrats want us out of Iraq and out of the world – believing that our very presence is the reason that we are hated by the Arab street and treated with disdain in Europe. Tellingly, in his acceptance speech on Tuesday night, Lamont sought as a primary goal "respect" for the United States from the rest of the world – as if Iran, Syria, North Korea, Libya and other violators of human rights are nations we should be courting. But this, of course, is at the core of the new Democratic belief system: Opinion matters more than fact, and it is ultimately more important what others think of you than what you stand for.
So, on a day when Scotland Yard has foiled yet another plot to blow up American planes, a sizable portion of this country celebrates the victory of an appeaser and touts what they hope will be a new era in American politics, marked by a Democratic victory in November, a precipitous pull-out in Iraq, a censure of Israel and a defeat for democracy.
Sounds like a victory for the terrorists to me.