LIKE THE ANTIGLOBALIZATION forum I wrote about last year, the Iraq issue has brought out global protestors en masse.
While I support the right to peaceful assembly, the imagery that associates Bush with Hitler and the swastika with the American flag makes me gag. Despise George Bush’s environmental record? Fine. Want to give UN inspectors another decade? Fine. I don’t care which god you pray to or which language you speak. Associating America with Nazism isn’t merely ignorant — it’s disgustingly stupid.
The United States is the furthest thing from Nazism the world has ever known. Our global leadership isn’t a result of brute force, or political intimidation, or terror. America’s vast wealth, advancements in technology, culture and influence aren’t a result of sacrificing individual rights, as the Nazis did, but of protecting them.
While the right to free speech is most associated with America, I believe our property rights, and our commitment to free-market capitalism, are the truest sources of American strength. For many people, the concept of “property rights” has come to mean quaint suburban squabbles about four inches of the backyard lawn. But property isn’t just your stuff — it’s your life. Your property is the product of your labor, and the brilliance of American democracy is that we’re all free to toil away in any profession we choose. And keep the products of our labor. (more…)