{"id":1532,"date":"2016-07-04T13:47:06","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T17:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1532"},"modified":"2016-07-04T13:47:06","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T17:47:06","slug":"can-liberal-celebrate-independence-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/07\/can-liberal-celebrate-independence-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Can the “Very Liberal” Celebrate Independence Day?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gersh Kuntzman<\/a> of the Daily News <\/em>is calling for Major League baseball to permanently ban the playing of \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d<\/p>\n

While conceding some of its virtues, Kuntzman laments that the classic jingle \u201cembodies\u201d some of \u201cour worst things,\u201d vices like \u201cself-righteousness, forced piety,\u201d and \u201cearnest self-reverence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuntzman approvingly alludes to a 2013 poll conducted by the author of a book on \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d The poll found that 61% or so of those asked share Kuntzman\u2019s judgment that the song should go the way of the dinosaur. The real story here, though, is to be found in how those numbers break down:<\/p>\n

While only 20.5% of those who wish to see the song banned from major league baseball self-describe as \u201cvery conservative,\u201d a whopping 84% who want the same regard themselves as \u201cvery liberal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cvery liberal\u201d stand side-by-side with \u201cforeigners,\u201d like Kuntzman\u2019s British friend, who find \u201cthe self-righteousness\u201d and \u201cpatriotism\u201d of the song \u201cexactly what [to] expect from Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is telling.<\/p>\n

Setting aside that these judgments reflect a profound, indeed, a scandalous, ignorance of the natures of both piety and patriotism, they are telling in another respect. It\u2019s worth asking:<\/p>\n

As Americans prepare to celebrate Independence Day, can, logically speaking, the \u201cvery liberal\u201d\u2014i.e. the left\u2014join them in doing so?<\/p>\n

Paul Gomberg is one leftist, a philosopher, who resoundingly rejects this as a moral and logical possibility. In his essay, \u201cPatriotism is like Racism,\u201d Gomberg argues for his thesis that the former is as big an evil as the latter.<\/p>\n

\u201cRacism\u201d is immoral because it violates the requirement of \u201cmoral universalism,\u201d namely, the requirement that our \u201cactions are to be governed by principles that give equal consideration to all people who might be affected by an action.\u201d From this perspective, \u201call count equally and positively in deciding what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, in other words, among the most \u201cfundamental rights\u201d that moral universalism bestows upon individuals is the right to be \u201ctreated impartially,\u201d i.e. the right to be treated \u201cwithout regard to race [.]\u201d Since \u201cracism\u201d consists in treating people partially according to race, it is immoral.<\/p>\n

However, Gomberg is quick to note, the right to be treated impartially includes as well the right to be treated without regard to \u201cnationality\u201d and \u201ccitizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n

This being so, because patriotism is a matter of treating one\u2019s co-nationals and\/or fellow citizens partially, like \u201cracism,\u201d patriotism, then, is immoral.<\/p>\n

In summary: Morality requires impartiality. <\/em>Racism and patriotism, though, require partiality. <\/em>Hence, racism and patriotism are both equally immoral.<\/p>\n

Gomberg adds that partiality toward one\u2019s friends and the members of one\u2019s community can also exacerbate social and economic \u201cinequalities.\u201d For example, suppose Joe owns his own business and needs to hire more employees. If he were to hire his \u201cold school chums,\u201d say, and\/or residents from his old neighborhood, \u201cthe degree of residential and school segregation in most big cities in the United States\u201d would all but guarantee that they would be of the same \u201cethnic group\u201d as Joe himself. And \u201cgiven the greater initial disadvantage of most black people in access to capital and business opportunities generally,\u201d the hiring of one\u2019s friends and acquaintances \u201cwill tend to maintain or exacerbate poverty in intensely impoverished inner-city black ghettos.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is \u201cracism,\u201d for it undermines \u201chuman equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patriotism, though, does the same thing. \u201cPeople from other countries immigrate to the United States because of international inequality.\u201d Moreover, \u201cinternational income gaps are vastly greater than domestic racial inequality.\u201d Therefore, \u201cfavoritism toward a more prosperous nationality or discrimination against nationals from poor nations contributes to a morally objectionable inequality\u201d that is \u201cno better\u201d than the inequality that is the essence of \u201cracism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gomberg, quite inconsistently, does not<\/em> criticize as \u201cobjectionable\u201d the inherent \u201cinequality\u201d between the families<\/em> of some and those of others, an \u201cinequality\u201d resulting from the robust partiality of people toward their own families. Yet the reasoning that he uses to condemn partiality toward one\u2019s co-ethnics and co-nationals holds at least as strongly when it comes to familial partiality.<\/p>\n

People tend to be more partial to the interests of their own family members than they are toward those of the members of other families. Yet, overwhelmingly, people of all racial backgrounds continue to date and marry intra<\/em>-racially. So, this partial treatment toward one\u2019s relatives, inasmuch as it translates into partiality toward the members of one\u2019s own race, inevitably leads to inter-<\/em>racial inequalities.<\/p>\n

And inter-racial \u201cinequality\u201d is, according to Gomberg (and the prevailing wisdom of the Racism-Industrial-Complex), \u201cracism.\u201d<\/p>\n

If, then, you\u2019re, say, white and you choose to marry and procreate with another white person, you\u2019re guilty of \u201cracism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gomberg doesn\u2019t go there. Most \u201cvery liberal\u201d folks won\u2019t go there (at least not yet). The point here, however, is that neither Independence Day nor any other \u201cpatriotic\u201d holiday, institution, or tradition can be a cause for celebration by the lights of the Gombergs of the world.<\/p>\n

As for the Jack Kerwicks of the world, here\u2019s wishing you and yours a happy and safe Independence Day!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gersh Kuntzman of the Daily News is calling for Major League baseball to permanently ban the playing of \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d While conceding some of its virtues, Kuntzman laments that the classic jingle \u201cembodies\u201d some of \u201cour worst things,\u201d vices like \u201cself-righteousness, forced piety,\u201d and \u201cearnest self-reverence.\u201d Kuntzman approvingly alludes to a 2013 poll conducted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCan the "Very Liberal" Celebrate Independence Day?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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