The Sunshine Empire

I keep hearing conservatives make overt and veiled references to America in 2009 being akin to Austria and or France and or Czechoslovakia and or Poland prior to 1939. The effort by these people is to paint some kind of ominous portrait of a society in danger but more so ignorant. Now for the later part of the Bush years the operative knee jerk retort from any conservative when faced with the obvious liberal bias of “facts” was always the admonishment not to look down on or blame America for the fact that their argument was wrong. But it seems that when asked why the country overwhelmingly chose another direction by a margin of 10 million votes, they seem to want to compare the nation that conquered the moon and Communism to the cowardly sheep of Austria, France, Czechoslovakia and Poland circa 1939. I have more faith in the great republic that Washington and Jefferson founded, and that Lincoln and Roosevelt ensured would remain.

The political shoe is on the other foot as it seems the other side is not blaming America for its problems, but they seem to feel that simply with a D next to our president’s name we are all nothing but weak sheep. I find that kind of contempt for the ideals of ordinary Americans insulting, but nothing new when it comes to political conservatism.