Still at It

thanks to Rodger

Be it established that this pair are pleased to be American and regard themselves as normally patriotic; neither, however, goes in for extended national flag-waving, so often exploited by whatever ruling party to suppress dissent. Both inclining, moreover, to the Liberal persuasion and ipso facto to distrust of their nation's current right-wing administration, they worry that a countrywide orgy of patriotic display will obscure and serve that administration's pre-9/11 agenda, just when its prospects had looked happily dim in the divided Congress. No Kyoto Protocols against global warming for us Yanks, thanks! No Anti-Ballistic Missile or Anti-Landmine treaties or International Criminal Court for us, either; maybe no more Roe v. Wade abortion-rights too, while they're at it, and forget about stricter gun-control legislation and protection of our national parks against corporate predation. Instead, zillions for the futile and counterproductive "Star Wars" missile-defense program and for gargantuan military buildups; even more tax breaks for the very wealthy; huge budget deficits where there had been healthy surpluses, and never mind national health care, Social Security, the environment, and separation of church and state! Et cetera: your Knee Jerk Bleeding Heart Liberals' off-the-shelf nightmare. (John Barth, Book of Ten Nights and a Night, 2004, p. 86)