Get your hate straight

Over the past few years, I've felt discouraged and angry at how often someone is called an America-hater. With Independence Day being next Monday, now is the perfect time to reflect on what America stands for, and furthermore, what it means to hate it.\nWhen the Dixie Chicks publicly expressed shame at coming from the same state as President George W. Bush a few years ago, conservatives immediately labeled them as America-haters. But what does it mean to hate America?\nIt's all a matter of semantics. As a word, "America" can mean a number of different things. It could be a sovereign nation located in the northern part of the western hemisphere, with its central administrative leadership centered in Washington, D.C. It could be a land where corrupt corporations and warmongering politicians reign free.\nBut traditionally, it has meant something else.\nAmerica's identity as a nation has a rich mythology of freedom from tyranny, rags-to-riches social mobility and justice for all. When we accuse someone of hating America, we usually allude to this mythic American identity.\nWho could have a problem with freedom? Social mobility? Justice? Dissenters certainly don't have problems with these things. But does anyone ever think about that before opening their mouths and calling dissenters America-haters?\nThe Dixie Chicks do not hate America. Michael Moore does not hate America. Dick Durbin doesn't hate it either. They're just disappointed that our nation's leaders do not always behave as they would in the great, mythic American vision we all want to believe in.\nAnyone can see there is a big difference between hating the virtues that America traditionally stands for and disagreeing with the decisions made by those in charge. What discourages me is how many people stubbornly choose not to see it.\nOur nation was founded on dissent. The first American patriots were those who dissented against the rule of the British Empire. Today's dissenters love the mythic vision of America so much, they actively participate in its heritage.\nThe people who hate America are terrorists. Radical Islamic fundamentalists believe nobody should be free to do anything forbidden by their rigid interpretation of the Quran. There is no gray area, no room for mistakes and no excuses. Their reaction toward anyone who does not live up to their standards is one of self-righteous anger.\nMake no mistake, these fundamentalists hate the concept of giving people the freedom to make their own mistakes. Of course, they have plenty of reasons to be angry at America's foreign policy, too. But the point is, if their own brothers and sisters started living with the same morals we associate with freedom, these fundamentalists would hate them. If our ideals were forced upon them, they would hate those very ideals.\nThat's what it means to hate America.\nWith Independence Day coming up, don't abuse these words. To silence dissenters is to deprive them of their freedom, and that, dear reader, is un-American.\nGod bless America.