After 9/11 many Americans were asking, naively perhaps, why radical Muslims hated the United States and why Arab states were wary of America’s military and political role in the politics of the Middle East. More recently, in the United States, there has been an outburst of hate against President Obama and his policies that has gone far beyond the disagreement between liberals and conservatives on issues dating from the founding of the nation. Stung by this seemingly hysterical hostility, hate, and vituperation, patriotic citizens with liberal sentiments might ask why radical conservatives hate them. Liberals liked Reagan, though they disagreed with many of his policies; they thought G.W. Bush had got it all wrong, but they did not hate him. How come there is so much vituperation and hate now, particularly on the right?
It is relatively easy to suggest why political and religious leaders in the Middle East and Africa might be suspicious of the role played by the United States in their affairs. Like China in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Islam, once the dominant cultural and political power from India to southern Spain, has reason to believe it has been subjected to humiliation by Western imperial powers for quite some time. From their perspective, the United States has inherited the imperial ambitions of England and France in the region and has supported friendly dictators and helped to overthrow democratically elected officials as in Iran of the 1950s. Obviously the United Stats wants to establish dominance in the area and have access to the oil. And we have not garnered much enthusiasm by fighting “optional” wars causing untold civilian casualties and catastrophic damage to the countries we were determined to protect.
Those who most vehemently hate President Obama and liberals, judging by the comments appended to online blogs and commentary, appear to be for the most part white, male, relatively uneducated, and hurt by our transformed economy and recession. Many of them use racial slurs, which they consider amusing, when referring to the President. Cheered on by radio and television demagogues, they use terms like socialism, communism, and capitalism to mean whatever they wish, with little or no reference to history or political philosophy. Rather than blame flaws in the financial system, they blame the government; rather than blame the corporation, they blame the union. Those protesting the obscene growth of the wealth of the one percent over the last three decades, even while the resources of those of modest means have stagnated or declined, are dismissed as hippies, malcontents, and welfare bums.
It is easy to place the blame for such hatred of the President and liberal thinkers on the stereotypical redneck. Some of this vituperation, of course, is scapegoating, but it seems that there is a good deal of effort and money engaged in drumming up much of the discontent, anxiety, and hate. The oft-repeated complaints that the current administration has raised taxes, increased spending, and turned its back on Israel simply are not true. There is no longer a loyal opposition in American politics; those on the other side of the aisle do not simply disagree; they are evil, and one does not compromise with evil. The demonization of enemies in warfare has produced atrocities; what the demonization of our political opponents will produce we do not know.