"The American flag stands for hatred, warmongering, and imperialism." "Our free-market system is responsible for killing and oppressing millions of people." "This country breeds racists and sexists."
Is America really that bad? It is if you accept the lies and propaganda from the anti-American Left in our own country. This dismal, distorted view of the greatest, freest nation in history comes from a Left who would rather idolize Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro than honor George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who burn down businesses and destroy property to protest free markets, and who fight alongside radical terrorists rather than against them. They trample the Constitution while hiding behind the First Amendment, and their idea of displaying the American flag is setting it on fire and parading it through the streets. Yes, this is a Left comprised of people who truly hate their country, and they will stop at nothing to tear her down—smashing our liberty in the process.
Why the Left Hates America punches a hole right through the thin veneer of political correctness that has long protected these anti-Americans—exposing their rotting, vacuous core. Author and commentator Daniel J. Flynn digs deep into the American Left and reveals why they blame every bad deed in the world on the United States, while ignoring her myriad contributions.
This book cogently points out that, of course, all Americans have the right to speak their minds. But, all too often, the actions by the anti-American Left become destructive and anarchistic. You need not look any further than the explosive 1999 World Trade Organization "protests" in Seattle, campus book burnings, or even John Walker Lindh to see that factions on the Left are the worst perpetrators of anti-Americanism. And what may be most shocking is that many of these anti-Americans are at the same time teachers, professors, journalists, news reporters, and even judges and politicians.
Probing and controversial—without devolving into jingoism—this book proves once and for all that what you see in the news and learn in school is often tainted by the anti-American Left, and it shows you what you can do to keep them at bay.
“A compelling, breezy look at the political myopia and downright kookiness that characterizes the radical Left...The book shines when Flynn catalogs the excesses of people who loathe everything the United States has ever touched...The final chapter, a catalog of what’s good about America, works even better.”— Weekly Standard
“Piece by piece, Flynn demolishes the underpinnings of the knee-jerk anti-American bias that makes so many thinking people cringe at the sight of their own nation’s flag.” —John McWhorter, author of Losing the Race
“A wonderful book documenting that with the collapse of the Soviet Union and socialism, the American Left is left alone with its one motivating hatred of America.”—Grover Norquist, American Spectator
“An indispensable weapon in the battle for America’s future.” —David Horowitz, author of Hating Whitey
“Read this book and learn how to take our country back, before it’s too late.” —Tammy Bruce, author of The Death of Right and Wrong
“It is not so hard to understand why some foreigners hate America. Much more puzzling is why many on the American Left detest their country and work assiduously for its destruction. Dan Flynn exposes these America-haters and gives intellectual ammunition to thinking patriots.” —Dinesh D’Souza, author of What’s So Great About America
Daniel J. Flynn's book is a piece of shit. I have no doubt that Flynn himself is a piece of shit. The point being that this book is poorly researched, poorly written, and just plain antagonistic. His concepts are simplistic and absolute--you either love us or hate us--and his examples are taken out of context and warped to fit his fascistic view of the world. A truly insulting read by any decent human standard.
The one amazing part of it was that a personal friend of mine (go Chris!) was quoted in its pages. Only read this if you want to have a good cynical laugh. Fuck you Flynn, fuck you. ;)
The thesis of Why the Left Hates America: Exposing the Lies That Have Obscured Our Nation's Greatness, an exceedingly-well footnoted book, is that some on the ultra-left of the American political scene have pet theories that they espouse and that they hate it when facts do not bear out their theories. Among these are what Flynn calles "The Five Big Lies".
The Five Big Lies are:
1. American women live under a patriarchy.
2. America is the World's leading threat to the environment.
3. America is a racist nation.
4. The US is an imperial power.
5. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer.
Flynn quotes his opponents extensively and then rebuts their arguments with his own extensive research from a wide variety of sources (he has over 500 end-notes, often with commentary - not a small task).
Flynn does not claim that the US is perfect in any of the above 5 areas. Far from it. He just submits that some on the left have given themselves over to hyperbole and unfairly characterized America and Americans...
A great read for Americans who love our country and stand proud regardless of our mistakes. This book is right on. If the words "I'm embarrassed to be an American" has ever left your lips, then you've probably already adopted the "hate America","country-bashing" propaganda fed to us by the Media, Hollywood and our Education system. You've bought the vestiments of the Anti-American chic. It will be difficult for you to pull out of this thinking and appreciate this book.
Thought it interesting the delineation Flynn poses between Liberals and the Left.
"Dan Flynn exposes these America-haters and gives intellectual ammunition to thinking patriots".D'Souza
It’s sad that a book like this has to be written. Our country can handle any external threat. It has shown that numerous times throughout our history. What it seems to be struggling with now is what Flynn outlines in this book, self-hating Americans hyper focused on the sins of our nation.
Kids really are taught to hate our country and while it’s most pronounced in our colleges, it really starts in our K-12 system, which is why it’s so important for parents to offer a balance to their kids and show them why America, while flawed, is still a great nation. It is the greatest experiment in self-governance and liberty ever realized.
I was admittedly curious about the premise printed in large bold letters on the cover: why does the Left hate America? To answer, Flynn brings to bear questionable scholarship and the expected one-sided argumentation which occurs in almost all partisan presentation. The core of the book is really two-fold: first, creating a straw-man of the Left as a monolithic, reprehensible group that purportedly holds views that Flynn avows as anti-American; and second, that America has many virtues worth celebrating. On the second, I found myself quite in agreement. The many contributions that American citizens have made to science and the arts, or that our government and society have provided to other nations and groups, are admirable, even if presented here strictly as a counterargument to the 'lies' attributed to the Left.
And what of those? First, it's important to note (which Flynn does himself, albeit quite late into the book) that the Left is not the same as politically liberally. The enemy in Flynn's eyes is the unrepentant American Communist who aligns with the party of Stalin. Naturally, that limits the target population somewhat. He also appends to this group (somewhat tenuously) all those in academia who have argued against the excesses of Eurocentrism, who justify 9/11 as 'well-deserved', and who generally view America and the 'West' as an oppressive force in history. He cites numerous non-contextual statements from protesters, professors, and students with outrageous and frankly upsetting absolute rejections of America as a positive entity. I certainly can't apologize for some of the described antics of protesters who have heckled and even attempted to ban or attack Flynn and his contemporaries during public speaking engagements. Such behavior goes strictly against the principle of open discourse and free speech. But from that vitriol we are presented with an aggregate group - Communist spies from the 1960s, anti-globalists, certain feminist theorists - lumped under the label Left and then painted in anti-American colors.
The book does succeed in championing America and its citizenry as having had a laudable history of accomplishments, and it does help explain how one could feel it was under attack from certain quarters. Yet the loaded language, logical inconsistency, and shifting scope ultimately diminish the central point made on the cover: sure, the Left hates America...if by Left you mean only conspirator Communist agents during the Cold War, and certain activist fringes.
This is a terrible book that I only read because I won it for free at an event the guy hosted. It's not worth your time no matter what political party you belong to. Got his John Hancock on the inside cover though...
Excellent book but take blood pressure medication if you read it. I couldn't read at long stretches because it made my blood boil. Definitely one to read for the die-hard conservative!