E.J. Dionne presents America with a load of liberal tripe this morning as we celebrate our nation’s birthday. In doing so, Dionne exemplifies the arrogance of the elite left, along with a good dose of their ignorances. Because it is clear that liberalism/progressivism is only viewed as a successs when compared to lame strawman caricatures. The left is apparently afraid to be in awe of this wonderful country, what it has done for mankind. They are afraid to recognize its good aspects:

But the progressive and the reformer have a problem with what passes for unadulterated patriotism. By nature, the reformer is bound to insist that the country, however glorious, is not a perfect place, that it is capable of doing wrong as well as right. The nation that declared “all men are created equal” was, at the time those words were written, the home of an extensive system of slavery.

Most reformers guard their patriotic credentials by moving quickly to the next logical step: that the true genius of America has always been its capacity for self-correction. I’d assert that this is a better argument for patriotism than any effort to pretend that the Almighty has marked us as the world’s first flawless nation.

Nobody believes America is perfect and has solved all its problems. In fact, the imperfections that eminated from decades of liberal policies were so repugnant that in 1994 America decided it was so imperfect it had to change course. What Dionne and his ilk are trying to claim is that they alone represent America. And underrunning all of this is a fear at their core of religion. I am not religious, but I surely do not fear it like the left does. If some force of good is behind reality (which I can see easily) then that force created were we are today. And today America has been an overall benefit to mankind and a slayer of true evil over the last 100 years at least. The left have not faced reality: they are the failed past:

One need only point to the uses that Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. made of the core ideas of the Declaration of Independence against slavery and racial injustice to show how the intellectual and moral traditions of the United States operate in favor of continuous reform.

Yes E.J., America has been constantly renewing and progressing, we did so in 1994.

In a strange way, the left are afraid to recognize that America is not impervious to destruction. The left cannot understand that to cherish something is to recognize its uniqueness in the harmony and balance of so many complex factors combining to create an optimal environment for a diverse and large society. In their rose-colored, self absorbed fantasies they fail to accept that not all ideas are good, failed policies are not nostalgia, and a waning party is not the end of America:

This telling of the Fourth of July story identifies the day as part of a long, progressive history and turns “agitators” and “plotters of mischief” into the holiday’s true heroes. The Fourth is transformed from an affirmation of continuity into a celebration of change.

Is E.J. Dionne including in his progressive glory Benedict Arnold? How about Lee Harvey Oswald or John Wilkes Booth? Are the assassins and traitors, all opining for change in this country, what Dionne is praising this July 4th? Liberalism as a political movement is dead. It died from lack of ideas and from being in power too long. As it laid on the laurels of success it began to work to keep power, not make progress. It was usurped by forces who did want something better than high taxes, failed education systems, a bloated wasted bureacracy, special rights based on race, and lives wasted sitting in the social safety net living on handouts. E.J. Dionne, like most liberals, is only happy when they are the recognized visionaries and leaders plowing a new path and a brighter future. The concept that they represent a failed past simply never occurs to them. If they want to recognize imperfections and failures and the need to renew, they need look no farther than their party.