Matthew Yglesias does a good job, I think, of explaining why it’s easier to walk on two legs:
A big part of what’s appealing about Bush’s idealistic rhetoric is that it plays into America’s very flattering self-conception. The more honest take on this beloved of liberal intellectuals is likely to work better, since it’s more credible, but at best it will confuse the electorate (“nuance” and all that) and more likely it will enrage them. People don’t want to hear that America, though often good, has also been bad and needs to reform its ways to meet the challenges of the 21st century. There’s a genuine difficulty here, and it needs to be acknowledged and addressed.
Part of the distinctive genius of America, in my opinion, is our ability to love our country and criticize it at the same time. The problems come when self-criticism becomes a substitute for anything else.
Excellent point, and one that I try to make often. This quote, from Rabindranath Tagore (no Neo-Con, he) sums it up for me: “He alone may chastise who loves.” He was writing in terms of personal relationships, but to me that sentiment applies to the nation-citizen relationship, too.
When I write that way, though, I usually get accused from the left of advocating loyalty oaths and such. Which is exactly the opposite of what I want.