Why not invite a Patriot?

web posted March 4, 2002
In the coming months, university commencement speakers will dish out the same interminably dull, moth-eaten anti-American slogans they've been serving up for decades. The same old authoritarian leftists and empty-headed Hollywood show horses will be trotted out for the usual honors. The elite media will inform us that these demagogues reflect the best American values. The rest of us lumpen patriots, those of us who live in "fly over country" will be roundly ignored or sneered at by the over-stuffed glitterati as they congratulate each other's humanitarianism. With a nation at war, the commencement farce will be an even more glaring demonstration of how out of touch the American university is with average Americans and genuine American ideals.
This year, especially this year, why not invite a patriot? Why not invite someone who instinctively understands the nature of the war we have been in since September 11? Most Americans understand that those who crashed planes into the World Trade Center and who chopped off the head of Daniel Pearl believe that they are commanded by their god to kill Jews and infidels. They are conducting Jihad to create a Dar el-Salaam or a world that has completely submitted to Islam. While most Muslims are no more true believers in Islam than most Germans believed in Nazism or most Russians believed in Communism, nevertheless, it is imperative that we understand the texts and beliefs of that element that does believe. This won't be discussed on commencement day.

Haven't we heard all that Chomsky has to say?

In the spirit of honest intellectual dialogue, something universities         claim to foster, a frank discussion should take place regarding the anti-American ideas that prevail in the Islamic world and how those ideas run concurrent on many American campuses. In a recent Gallup poll conducted in Islamic nations 61 per cent of those polled believed that Arabs were not involved in the World Trade Center attack and a high percentage expressed the opinion that the attacks were justifiable. This outright lie is sustained by leftist conspiracy theories that blame America, Israel, and the capitalist west generally for all negative events in the world. Leftist professors such as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Lani Guinier and many others weave sinister anti-American conspiracy theories in order create a sense of contempt and loathing for our Republic and its principles of freedom. Their hatred for this country has led them to justify the attack and their propaganda has contributed to an anti-American atmosphere in the world today especially in the Islamic world.
It is, of course, necessary to criticize our government and to root out corruption. The leftist culture that pervades on the American campus today is, criticizing the government not as a means of setting it back on the right course, but to undermine the very foundations of free market capitalism, limited representative government, and the maintenance of moral standards as a positive ideal. With their ample salaries, benefits, and tenure, leftist professors try to change a system that offers the only hope for the rest of us as we struggle to accumulate some capital and independence for our families and ourselves. The leftist professors believe, along with their fellow travelers in government, entertainment, the media, and business, that they possess a superior intelligence which gives them the         right to run the lives of the rest of us from cradle to grave and that we should smile and thank them for the privilege of receiving their tender ministrations. They scoff at the concept of self-rule, sovereignty, and individual identity.
Why not hear from someone who is paying up to 40 per cent of his income in taxes? This burden requires increasing amounts of time spent away from family in order to support the ever-expanding government. Many of you think that government exists to solve social ills and has an obligation, therefore, to extract capital from the earner and creator. Many of you will probably go on to work in that vast bureaucracy so, before you go, why not hear from someone who will be paying your salary? This won't likely happen on commencement day.
Our nation, and our very lives, are under assault today from a foreign enemy that seeks to annihilate us. Were all in the same boat in this regard as the enemy doesn't discriminate between liberal and conservative, rich or poor as they blow up buildings and kill thousands. We are all in this together whether we like it or not and we will either sink or swim together. Anyone who thinks that the threat is over should be viewed as insane. If you refuse to support the war effort out of a sense of patriotism and respect for our way of life, you should still support your country if for no other reason than to protect your own life and future. We must not forget that were all survivors of the September 11th attack.
As the comic strip character Pogo said, "I've seen the enemy and the enemy is us" and this describes the present culture on most American campuses. You represent the best and the brightest and the cream of the crop. Your parents sacrificed greatly to send you here and their ability to provide you with this rarefied experience didn't simply fall out of the sky. They were able to provide you with an experience envied by all of us, and a life of prosperity and freedom unequalled in world history, because they live in an America that your commencement speakers will be loathe to discuss. Someday, probably soon, many of you will be in positions where your decisions, and philosophy, will have a direct effect on the freedoms and even the lives of the rest of us. Why not, just this once, invite a patriot? 
Chuck Morse is a talk show host on WROL 950 AM in Boston.