Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

Recently, I published an article about patriotism and how it should be thought of as a love of one’s country and its values as opposed to the blind worship of the state. I decided to revisit the subject of patriotism after the controversy surrounding the feud between Donald Trump and the so-called Squad started. I remember that there was a time when you had the Neo-cons of the Bush administration who would accuse anti-war leftists of being unamerican. Back then I thought it was just a cheap tactic to silence anybody who opposed the war in Iraq, but I am starting to wonder if there wasn’t a kernel of truth to it. Come to think of it, the reason why I rejected the anti-war movements of the Bush era is because I thought there was something disingenuous about somebody marching for peace while carrying around pictures of Che Guevara, a guy who wanted to turn America into atomic dust. Also, if I remember correctly, Cindy Sheehan, one of the key figures of the anti-war movements who used her son’s death as a rallying cry, was more than willing to cozy up to Hugo Chavez, a man who once called America the devil.

Unfortunately, it is starting to seem as if these same extremists who seemed to have nothing but absolute disdain for America and its values are the rule as opposed to the exception for those on the left. They certainly don’t respect our electoral system, since they threw everything from hissy fits to Molotov cocktails when things didn’t go their way. Then they decided to undermine the legitimacy of the results by creating half-cocked conspiracy theories about Russian interference. Then they talk about wanting to eliminate the Electoral College, which they never seem to have a problem with when it’s one of their guys who benefit from it. If all else fails, scream racism at the top of your lungs.

They have also shown an absolute contempt for the very freedoms that actually makes this country unique. It used to be that the only right that these people didn’t support was the Second Amendment. Now it seems like they have an absolute contempt for any right that doesn’t involve terminating a pregnancy. Free Speech used to be the very right that people on college campuses would start riots to defend. Now they start riots to prevent it from being exercised. They pretty much gave up on protecting us from unreasonable searches and seizers, when they gave the TSA absolute authority to either molest or take pornographic pictures of airline passengers during the Obama presidency. They also gave up the expectation of privacy when they decided to cut the “Anointed One” slack when it was discovered that there was a massive NSA data mining operation that routinely spied on the American people. They also threw out the concept of Innocent, Until Proven Guilty, when they labeled Bret Kavanaugh a sex predator during his confirmation hearings to the Supreme Court and routinely slandered Donald Trump as a Russian agent, during those years that he was subjected to that bogus Russian Collusion investigation. There was once a time when you had the civil libertarians on the left who were willing to fight for the rights of every man, no matter what his ideology was. Unfortunately, it has become clear that with the exception of Alan Dershowitz, the civil libertarians of the left have gone the same way of the Blue Dog Democrats and the Centralists of the Clinton era.

There was a time when the left did a better job of hiding their disdain for America, but unfortunately it is now starting to become mainstream. It started with Collin Kaepernick kneeling during the National Anthem, which angered many patriotic Americans and caused an actual drop in TV ratings, along with game attendance for the NFL. Then Nike in its infinite wisdom not only decided to pick this same polarizing athlete to represent their brand, but were dumb enough to take his advice about cancelling their line of shoes that featured the Betsy Ross flag. There you have it, boys and girls. The American flag and everything about its history, according to Collin Kaepernick and Nike, is now racist. Way to show your love for this country guys.

Then you have Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who make up the so-called Squad, a small group of congresswomen who seem to have the combined IQ of a walnut. On top of their lack of intelligence, they all share the same apparent disdain for this country and its principles. They seem to believe that America is a hateful and bigoted country that doesn’t deserve freedom or prosperity. A sentiment that I find amusing on many levels. One of them being that this country is so racist and yet so many people routinely flock to this country for a better life that we have to put up a wall just to keep from being overwhelmed. I also find it amusing that all four of these women have at some point benefited from the generosity of this bigoted and hateful country. I have to say that Omar is by far the worst of the bunch. You would think that a woman from Somalia who spent months in a refugee camp before she was given the opportunity to not only immigrate to the United States, but to reap all the benefits that came with it, would be much more grateful. Yet, Omar said that as soon as she immigrated to this country, she saw the buildings in her neighborhood that were covered in graffiti and people panhandling on the streets. Aside from pointing out the obvious, such as the worst neighborhoods in the US actually look like Beverly Hills in comparison to the communities in Somalia, I find it telling that she chose to serve under a party that is usually responsible for the decay of the inner-cities. Don’t believe me? Just about every single inner-city is run by a democratic leader.

When Donald Trump suggested that these women return to their countries of origin and fix the problems that plague those nations instead of trashing ours, people on the left called Trump a racist and xenophobe. Three out of four members of the Squad were born in the United States, so that does make Trump’s statement somewhat incorrect, when it comes to their countries of origin (except for Omar). Yet, I still don’t consider what Trump said to be racist or xenophobic or even all that unreasonable. These four women seem to have nothing but contempt for America and its values. I would say at the very least that these women have absolutely no business governing the very country they hate.

Though there is one thing that I can say about the Squad is that they are at least honest about their feelings for this country. I have always found it disingenuous when a leftist says that he loves this country, but shows a blatant disregard for all the things that made this country unique in the first place. So, the Squad should get their brownie points for their honesty, though I still think that they have no business representing this country if they have no regard for its values. I also don’t think it is unreasonable to ask them to leave if they have so much contempt for this country. Just because you hate freedom and prosperity, it doesn’t mean that you have to change it for those who love and honor this great nation.