Yesterday, Myrhaf delivered this poignant summary of how Barack Obama stands for everything but America.

Fourth of July speeches are a time to celebrate what makes America great, to speak about America’s ideals. It is notable that Obama can see nothing worth talking about but statist-collectivist-altruist ideals. For a holiday that celebrates America’s independence, Obama focuses on the opposite, on our supposed dependence on on another. For a holiday that traditionally celebrates freedom, Obama advocates expanded service to the state.

I submit that there has never been a candidate for President of a major party who so grossly misunderstood the meaning of America as Barack Obama. Liberals can scream that I’m “questioning his patriotism” all they want, but I firmly believe Obama is the least American, most European presidential candidate ever. This little man has no idea what made America great. His vision of America’s ideals is exactly what is destroying American liberty and individual rights. [bold added]

I don’t question his patriotism at all. I think he’s being true to a sense of patriotic duty according to his definition of what is patriotic. What I question is his definition of patriotism, which is a mockery of individualism, freedom and all the cardinal values America was built on.

If a speech called “A New Era of Service” had been given on Independence Day 100 years ago, the audience would have been baffled. Why, they would have wondered, is this man on the anniversary of American independence speaking about servitude to the state? The bafflement would have quickly given way to anger and outrage. The audience would have considered such a speech as nothing less than an evil, nihilist attack on the essence of America.

America has declined so far in 100 years that we are about to elect as President a man who personifies everything the Founding Fathers fought against. The Founders fought for individualism; Obama fights for collectivism. The Founders fought for liberty; Obama fights for statism. The Founders fought for the pursuit of happiness; Obama fights for individual sacrifice. The Founders fought for our national self-interest against foreign tyrants; Obama wants to appease our enemies so the rest of the world will think better of us. The Founders fought for lower taxes; Obama fights for higher taxes.

This reminded me of Rand’s words from the December 1964 Objectivist Newsletter:

The political philosophy of America’s Founding Fathers is so thoroughly buried under decades of statist misrepresentations on one side and empty lip-service on the other, that it has to be re-discovered, not ritualistically repeated. It has to be rescued from the shameful barnacles of platitudes now hiding it.

We take baby steps in the socialist direction every single day. With every single regulation, law, ordinance or doctrine churned from governmental bodies at all levels, we march towards our own destruction. Obama just has the rabble-rousing experience, the charisma, and the ethnic diversity wildcard which enables him to spearhead the next wave in the movement. I don’t think he’s any more leftist than 90% of our politicians, or most of our country for that matter - he just has the people skills to make everyone excited about self-destruction. He personifies the collectivist creed into a noble figure worthy of emulating - one that even luke-warm altruists find hard to resist.

Read his speech if you can stomach it. Obama proposes an array of new programs and expansion of old programs, none of which will do a damned thing but waste money. It will all be make work and symbolism. College kids will think of the 100 hours they must spend in “community service” as jerk-off time they must endure to get a degree. Obama’s idealism will only lead to greater cynicism as young Americans learn that what our culture holds as a moral value is a useless waste of time, whereas the important, selfish values of pursuing a career and making money are sneered at. When drudgery is praised and meaningful work is sneered at, people give up on morality and fall into cynicism and despair. From there it’s a small step to booze, drugs, and a life of mindless, range-of-the-moment hedonism.[emphasis added]

And there you have it. Liberal policies, through trampling of individual rights, force the productive to escape into apathy and deter anyone with aspirations to join them. They spray collectivist round-up on the flowers that manage to grow above and despite the weeds, and they make life as a weed a favorable alternative to the drudgery of pursuing beauty - a cancer of the spirit, mind, and body.

Happy 4th - to those who manage to cling to the remnants of its meaning.