Sometimes the truth hurts

I was inspired to write this in response to this:

I know I’m only a pointy-headed liberal, but I don’t know anyone that thinks if we change our behavior, suddenly the rest of the world will leave us alone. Who thinks that? Now, certainly, there are people who (correctly) think that if we change certain behaviors, we might be able to influence, or lessen, those who view us as an enemy.

I would go further than that, though. I’m not particularly religious, but I am reminded of the ‘You are the light of the world’ song in Godspell, which takes and expands something Jesus said:

That’s why we, on the left, are more critical of ourselves than of our enemies. Maybe it’s too idealistic, but we believe that we should be a model, not just for other countries, but for ourselves. Leading not by force, but by example. And when we, as a country, fail to live up to our own ideals, we liberals point it out. This is especially true when we, as a country, are critical of others for not living up to what we view as the right way to live. When we didn’t stay bright.

Our history is full of example where we, as a nation, fell short of the ideal. Civil rights, women’s rights, interment of the Japanese, Vietnam, the sedition act, the patriot act, gay rights, treatment of native Americans, just to name a few. Our light, in those moments, was hidden.

And if you look back in history, at those who had the strength to stand up and point out that our nation wasn’t being true to the ideals we were founded on, it almost unerringly were liberal people who fought to make change and bring us back to being the light on the hill. Which is why they’re called liberal. What does liberal, at it’s core, mean? Open. Large amounts, given freely. Flexible. Where asConservative means disposed to preserve existing conditions, cautious, traditional. There’s a reason why these words are applied to certain acts and, ultimately, to certain political affiliations.*

When conservative argue that the government needs warrantless taps to spy on it’s citizens, Conservatives see it as a necessary evil to maintain the status-quo. Liberals see is as dimming our light. When our country adopts torture as a legitimate means of homeland security, Conservatives see it as a necessary evil to maintain the status-quo. Liberals wonder how we can criticize other nations for being barbaric, when we act in the same way.

And no, on an absolute value comparison, our nation is not as bad as many others. But, liberals don’t think that being better than the worst is the ideal to live up to.
We should compare ourselves, not to Syria or Iran or Pakastan, but to ourselves. To the ideals that our country stands for. Otherwise, we’re not a light on the hill, but just another source of darkness with delusions of grandeur.

So, to answer GayPatriot’s question. Self-criticism has not became self-hatred. Liberals love this country. But, to poorly paraphrase Al Franken, we love her like an adult, not a child. We see not only the opportunity, but the necessity of publicly pointing out where our light is dim. No mater how painful the observationis.

So we can go back to being the light on the hill.