I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
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A note from Radarsite: This is an article which, up until a few days ago, I would have thought it impossible to write. But, even at my age, life is - or should be -- a continuing learning experience. That is what these last few days have been for me.
This election cycle has been one of the most contentious in my long memory. Never have the two sides, the Republicans and the Democrats, the conservatives and the liberals, been separated by such an unbridgeable gulf. Exasperated by the controversial and divisive war in Iraq, our conflicting visions for the future of this country of ours have grown seemingly irreconcilable. That is, almost irreconcilable.
Two unhappy events occurred over these last several days which, by exhibiting a blatant disregard for the inherent patriotism of the American people, or an utter contempt for human decency, seemed to have had a major impact on a lot of Americans, Democratic Americans and Republican Americans, conservative Americans and liberal Americans. This is not going to be a rehashing of those inglorious events, but rather a commentary on the lessons learned from observing the reactions of those affected by them.
The first concerns the disgraceful treatment of those 12,000 American flags at the Democratic National Convention in Denver "After the Hoopla, Contempt of Country". The immediate reactions to this huge political blunder from the folks at the Hillary Clinton Forum, and from the Obama people at the Democratic underground, marked the beginning of my reassessment of my unqualified Us versus Them mentality. I followed up that original article with two more just to treat these disparities. Here is an excerpt from one of them:
Democratic Trash: The Story That Just Won't Go Away >
Till now, I must confess, I hadn't really appreciated the differences between these two Democratic factions. But I certainly do now. As much as I disagree with their candidate's vision of America and where they would want to bring this country, the Hillary Dems seem to have exhibited a strong sense of sincerity and humanity. They have stepped up to the plate and accepted responsibility for what has turned out to be a major strategic blunder -- even though it was more the responsibility of the Obama Camp to control the images that came out of that Obama Celebration.
And how do the Obama people react to their own revealing anti-patriotic blunders? They react with viciousness and anger. They call on their attack dogs to do their work. Cynical, manipulative, their only concern is in discrediting the source. No responsibility. No embarrassment. No concern for how their obvious disregard for patriotism may look to the average American.
To me, this whole episode has been an education. This is what an Obama Presidency would offer. A Democratic redux of the Nixon years, with all of that petty hatred and viciousness, and with a whole new Enemies' List. This, my friends, is a clear and unadulterated view of the Obama Camp, and it is both enlightening and disgusting.
The second, and much greater outrage came from the 9/11 cartoon printed in the Daily Kos. In response to this article, once again the comments came pouring into Radarsite. Democrats writing in to condemn this outrage and the traitorous website that published it. One after another clearly and unequivocally distanced themselves from The Daily Kos and all that this despicable entity represents. Not surprisingly, many of these angry Democrats came to us from HCF.
Here are a few of their comments:
Please, do not think that this sickeningly offensive site or the deplorable content truly represent the Democratic party, because they do not; at least not the Democratic party to which I have been a life-long member. Every group, every party contains extremists who do not represent the views of the majority of that group, and such is the Daily Kos. They speak only for themselves and not for all Democrats. Most of us deplore this as much as those on the right. Perhaps if we could manage to get rid of the extremists in both parties, we could finally find common ground in our love of this country. Because whether you believe it or not, we love America as much as you do..
And:
I am a member of HCF and I am grateful for your article exposing the "obama supporters" and seeing that not all of us are like that.There are many of us democrats who do not support obama and are disgusted with the vile things some obama supporters say. I place country over party. This *new democratic party*, nor their "selected candidate" represent me, and I am fully in support of Senator McCain and Gov. Palin. McCain/Palin brought integrity back and many of us democrats do support them.
Country first
And on and on --
And from the Obama camp? From the Democrat Underground? Not a word.
So what, then, are the lessons learned from all that has happened in these last few days?
All in all, I believe this is a strong transendent and most welcome message of hope, hope for our country, for our beautiful America. And hope for those of us who have been all but consumed by the powerful partisan politics of this important election. And also, perhaps this is a message for our enemies; one that they would be wise to heed. Despite the visible rancor and the name-calling, despite the major ideological differences between our two parties, we are first and foremost Americans. Quite simply, we love our country. And God help those who seek to bring this great nation down. We are, after all is said and done, like a family, a family who has been disrupted by our differences and who have said things about each other that we may have regretted. But down deep, despite all the bitterness and anger, we know that we are still a family. And if you threaten this family, this fine family of ours, if you make the mistake of assuming that our differences have weakened our resolve to defend ourselves, then you have made a fateful blunder.
In short, I want to thank all of you out there who have contributed your comments in support of our shared values. You have made me proud of all America. - rg