Leftist Questions Liberals' Patriotism
BY JAMES TARANTO
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Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Todd Gitlin, a Columbia professor of journalism and sociology, showed up at Yale yesterday where he offered some advice to his fellow lefties, the Yale Daily News reports:
<<< He elaborated on his feeling of frustration concerning what he views as liberals' voluntary estrangement from the rest of the nation, citing their alleged rejection of patriotism as an example of this alienation.
"I think that the upshot is that patriotism is experienced by many people on the left as something of an embarrassment," Gitlin said.
Gitlin said he thinks left-leaning individuals are now rejecting patriotism because they believe it forces them to identify with a larger group of Americans with whom they disagree and contradicts the spirit of cosmopolitanism that they espouse.
"The left sees itself as standing outside a country that does bad," Gitlin said. "However, it is strategically disastrous to take this position as outsiders, since it is a concession to people who are not entitled to be the spokespersons of patriotism. It is a move against public life, public domain, public virtue and public-mindedness." >>>
It strikes us that Gitlin's critique of the left actually goes deeper than he acknowledges. He is not merely criticizing liberals' strategy; he is questioning their patriotism. He is claiming that they do not love their country.
As a man of the left, he frames the argument in strategic terms because he knows liberals want power, and he correctly ascertains that the path to power would be much easier if they were correctly perceived as patriotic. The question is whether such an instrumental approach can produce a sincere patriotism. We don't know the answer, but we're skeptical.
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