Is It Bias To Love Your Country and Hate All Threats To Its Well-Being?

In the heat of a presidential campaign bias is the boogeyman everyone watches out for in the debates between the candidates and in the people moderating these events. Similarly, readers are examining the content of blogs to detect bias, including this one.

A very good friend of mine privately praised the factual nature of these blog posts but said that the exposition is biased to favor Mitt Romney. To that I must answer that this observer is inclined to go where the facts take me, and the truth often hurts. As John Adams famously said in court (defending the British soldiers charged in the Boston Massacre), "Facts are stubborn things." Facts are objective. They are immovable. They are inconvenient.

If the analysis in these posts does not rake Mitt Romney the way it often does Barack Obama, there are a few reasons for this. Firstly, Mitt Romney has not been president of the United States. Therefore, the stakes of his actions have not yet had a trans-formative impact on the lives of the American people on a national level. The opposite is true for Barack Obama. Therefore, critical analysis of Barack Obama's performance in public office receives a higher priority than does a similar analysis of Mitt Romney. Secondly, this observer has not yet seen anything in Mitt Romney's character, or public and private conduct that warrants immediate criticism as far as known facts are concerned. As I've watched this campaign unfold I have not found a "Reverend Wright" who preaches "Goddamn America" to the candidate's open ears or a "Bill Ayers" terrorist who was once a colleague of the candidate. Romney's Mormon religious beliefs should not in any way discredit him as a presidential candidate. He has never used those convictions in a way that is contrary to the laws of the country or dangerous to the religious freedom of the American people.  If my readers have come across facts to the contrary, by all means forward those to this observer for critical analysis.

But let's focus on bias in of itself to get to the heart of what people ought to be worried about and what they ought to not worry about. Bias is when a point of view is being advanced in a way that distorts or hides the truth. The mere stating of an opinion is not quite the same thing as bias. Journalists, public figures, and historians ought to have opinions and ought to state them freely. Opinions are terrific. They give us something to think about; something to examine; something to learn from; Opinions are healthy. Bias is toxic. Bias is partiality. Bias is prejudice.

I am willing to advance the notion that patriotic feeling and loyalty to one's country is not bias. "My country first" is not the same thing as "my country, right or wrong." The folly of the latter is exposed when it is examined against the crimes of Nazi Germany, for example. "My country first" is a reasonable sentiment the people of a democratic society have when they are going about their duty to hold elected officials accountable to do what is in that society's best interests. If those elected officials do what is right for the people who have entrusted them with public office, they deserve praise not only from their own countrymen and women but also from others in the international community.

For example, this observer has nothing but admiration and respect for Charles de Gaulle, the French patriot and World War II hero. Many American history buffs of that period do not like de Gaulle. They view him as haughty and anti-American because of his many stated criticisms of the United States throughout the span of his public career. I disagree, if de Gaulle came across that way it was only because the man was so patriotically French. We are talking about a man who saved his country from disaster not once, but three times! The first occasion was when he organized resistance movements to the Nazi occupation; the second was when he set up a government that secured order in France following the D-Day liberation; the third was when he came out of retirement in 1958, when his country's government teetered on anarchy and the possibility of a military takeover. He saved the day by setting up a new constitution that has (for the most part) secured French political stability and prosperity for the better part of half a century. Patriots like de Gaulle deserve respect from their countrymen and from all people everywhere because they serve as an example of how one person can and should try to make a difference for the betterment of the society that produced them.

The facts (stubborn as they are) demonstrate that the actions of Barack Obama as president of the United States undermine the best interests of the country that has entrusted him with the highest office in the land.  

• 2008 Voters did not vote for 5 trillion in new national debt. 
• 2008 Voters did not vote for a downgrade of this country's credit rating in the world (no more AAA). 
• 2008 Voters did not vote for an unemployment rate that is the same as when Obama took office.
• 2008 Voters did not vote for decreased energy independence (as evidenced by the Keystone veto).
• 2008 Voters did not vote for a tripling of the price of gasoline (as evidenced by the Keystone veto, which has hindered American production from keeping up with demand).  
• 2008 Voters did not vote for a halting of off-shore drilling permits coupled with a subsidizing of off-shore drilling for Latin American companies to develop drilling in their waters.  
• 2008 Voters did not vote for a weakening of the American-Israeli alliance (some maybe, but not most).  
• 2008 Voters did not vote for Obama to wait three years to back crippling sanctions on an Iran bent on becoming a nuclear power while stating a desire to see Israel wiped off the map.  
• 2008 Voters did not vote for Obama to tell the Russian foreign minister that missile-defense talks should wait until after the 2012 election because Obama will then have "more flexibility." 
• 2008 Voters did not vote for a reduction of security at our embassies throughout the world, which has led to the murder of Ambassador Stevens and three other American diplomats in Benghazi, Libya (on September 11th of all days) despite desperate and urgent pleas for help! 

In these many ways, President Obama has demonstrated a lack of love for this country and a willful negligence regarding threats to its well-being. It is not bias to point out these facts. If Mitt Romney has said or done anything of this magnitude that is against the best interests of the American people please forward the facts to this observer!

Jason A.