Indy! I still think you're a good guy. You are certainly much easier to have a discussion with than Strongbow or even some of the liberal people here. But come on.
You must have missed all the flags at the Democratic National Convention.
Has Obama moved the flags from the White House?
Ordered Independence Day celebrations stopped?
Nancy Pelosi said this:
Citizens of the empire: the struggle ... - Google Books
And a real America hating crazy, Robert Jensen, took exception.
Show me one person of influence in the Democratic Party who has said anything close to some of the crazier things Howard Zinn said.
This is what is wrong with your posts, you take one person, Howard Zinn, who is not anywhere near the views of the Democratic Party- either the platform or individual politicians- and tie his words around every Democrat's neck.
Howard Zinn was not a bad guy at all(I met him at many Pearl Jam/Eddie Vedder concerts I worked at)
but he was a left wing radical, not a Democrat or a mainstream American liberal.
This was someone whose views were far, far to the left of anything Barbara Boxer or Bernie Sanders would ever advocate. He strongly disliked the politics of Kerry and Kennedy. I know many Democratic politicians in New England and I can assure you, Zinn was never a dinner guest.
I know you follow politics, so you know the difference. So the only option left is you are intentionally misleading.
There is most certainly uniform agreement on the preservation of the American ideal and character. Obama for one has argued eloquently for American ideals leading the world and made clear that we will continue to be the top military and economic power in the world.
No one is fundamentally transforming American ideals, and renouncing torture(which had never been used by America before) and rebuilding decades old alliances is not apologizing for American ideals, it is defending them.
Your post accusing those who disagree with you politically of lacking in respect for America is exactly why American politics are so polarized today. The Tea Party does the same thing to Obama, demonizes him to the point where any Republican working with him would be akin to working with the devil. This makes it hard to get anything done.
Washington was nowhere near as partisan a place until Gingrich and crowd came along.