New Theory

I've been thinking about something lately. Liberals are fond of saying that conservatives have been questioning their patriotism. I really haven't heard that much, except in cases where it's appropriate (like college professors wishing "a million Mogadishus" upon our troops), and we all know it's an exaggerated claim.

However, the fact is that some people have called them unpatriotic when they didn't really deserve it. I'm sure it's happened to at least a few of them at some point.

The problem is their claim that the government is questioning their patriotism. They like to say that President Bush, John Ashcroft, or whatever administration member they're demonizing that day has created a climate of fear and silenced dissent.

Now, I don't remember any administration member questioning the patriotism of war protestors or Democratic politicians. They've been pretty quiet about that kind of thing. This is where my theory comes in.

Although no member of the government has openly questioned the patriotism of liberals, many public figures not associated with Bush have called them unpatriotic, un-American, or something similar. The liberals, in turn, say that Bush is calling them unpatriotic.

My theory is that they believe all or most conservatives/Republicans take their orders directly from the VRWC wing of the government, so when someone goes overboard with accusations of being unpatriotic, they associate that with the government. This makes sense given the incredible amount of elitism I've noticed lately. They figure that if anyone disagrees with them, it must be because the evil neocons brainwashed them.

At the same time, liberals seem to treat the views of non-government mouthpieces like Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, and Al Franken as gospel. Even though they may have no knowledge of an issue and no government affiliation, liberals figure that they must be right. After all, if they were wrong, they wouldn't be liberals!

While this is simillar to Frnak's muckadoo theory, it also suggests that they have no ability to differentiate between the government and the government's position. If Al Franken says something, he has the same amount of credibility as Howard Dean.

Therefore, if a conservative questions a liberal's patriotism, it's assumed that the government shares that position, so Bush, despite the fact that he never made that statement, is identified as the root cause of the accusation.

You'll have to trust me when I tell you that this theory makes more sense in my head than it does when I try to put it into actual sentences. I'll elaborate on it later.