Abraham Lincoln once observed that hanging was the most appropriate way to treat a member of Congress who gave rhetorical support for the enemies of the United States. With that in mind one wonders, (not for long), what Ol’ Abe would make of Senator Dick Durbin’s comparison of the Gitmo detention facility to the genocide practiced by the Nazis, Soviets and Khmer Rouge. The ancestors from whom we inherited this land often disagreed … sometimes violently … over an array of issues large and small. However, there was also a broad general agreement on all sides of the political spectrum in the idea of American exceptionalism: that the United States was a place set aside, a polity … never perfect … but one far, far better than any that had come before or since.

No more. Senator Durbin’s remarks, (despite his quavering lipped pseudo-retraction), played well on the Left. Red state America reacted with anger to Durbin’s likening the United States to a cabal of the most evil political regimes of the past century. But a large chunk of Blue America actually believes the United States is a malevolent force in the world today. Anti-Americanism is the thread stitching together the modern American Left. And it is high time they were called to task for it.

Overt anti-Americanism permeates political discourse on the left from Teddy Kennedy to Howard Zinn through Michael Moore and moveon.org. Liberals nod sagely at almost any statement that takes as its premise that America (and Red State Americans) are inherently evil. Indeed, what passes for intellectual discourse on the Left has undoubtedly become nearly as powerful a purveyor of hatred for American on the international scene this side of Al-Jazeera.

Anti-Americanism hasn’t infected everyone who happens to hold a Democratic Party membership card. (Witness Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman). Similarly, it would be a gross over-simplification to say everyone who thought of themselves as “liberal” must, de facto, hate America. But it is also clear that American exceptionalism is widely disparaged on the Left generally. And in those areas of cultural life dominated by the more radical Left: the Democratic Party, academia and the popular media the idea that America is at best just another polity in a fundamentally flawed international system and at worst the most malevolent force on the planet is widely held.

Recall, for example, how well Moore’s monumentally silly Fahrenheit 911 was received in liberal circles and on the Arab Street. Both Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky are widely embraced in academia precisely because an overt loathing for Red State America runs throughout their work. Dan Rather actually resorted to forged documents in a vociferous media campaign to ensure the election of the Left’s candidate in the last presidential election. Does anyone doubt that Senator Durbin’s remarks will be equally well received by the fanatics facing our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Make no mistake what we call “the War on Terror” is ultimately a struggle for the survival of Western Civilization. Our enemy is fighting to establish an Islamo-Fascist world in which the rights of free speech, assembly and religion are non-existent, women are kept in servitude and Jews are but a memory … and that’s just for starters. Of course the aims of our enemy are literally fantastic. Nevertheless, in many ways, the fact that Islamo-Fascists are fantasists makes them more … not less … dangerous.

Despite this the Left has not hesitated to call the President a liar, the Vice President a war monger or the United States a genocidal regime. These fictions may provide grist for the domestic political mill but they also provide aid and comfort to our enemies. Alas, that fact appears to be of little importance to the radicals who make them. Many good and decent people on the Left may not see, (or believe), that the stakes in this conflict are quite as high many on the right believe them to be. Frankly, in and of itself that’s a scary thought. More frightening by far however, is the possibility that the radical Left understands the stakes in this conflict entirely … and simply isn’t on our side.

For much of the radical Left, America (and Western Civilization) are simply not worth fighting for. Unfortunately, the radical Left increasingly includes the Lefts’ opinion makers (ie. Moore, Chomsky et. al.) and money generators (i.e. George Soros). In order to score points with their increasingly radicalized base liberal politicians indulge in the most egregious rhetoric regardless of the damage such posturing may ultimately do.