President Obama's view of America

Former New York Mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani created a firestorm recently when he opined that the President did not love his country.

Giuliani pointed to President Obama's upbringing and long-documented ties with radicals in making his shocking statement.

But Giuliani was wrong.

I have no doubt of the president's love of country.

The problem -- as I see it -- is that the president sees a starkly different country, and it is that vision of America that the president loves.

The America that President Obama loves is an authoritarian federal system, where the state, not the individual, determines life's outcome.

Obama's vision of American history is replete with examples of imperialist thuggery at the expense of others.

Those actions and policies that set this nation apart -- call it American exceptionalism -- are, in Obama's view, a legacy of lawlessness that demands apologies and reparations for past sins.

The America that the President loves is one that yearns for a level playing field by confiscating wealth "unfairly gained" to provide for a population unwilling to sacrifice or accept personal responsibilities.

In Obama's America, the blame for terrorism is not in the name of Islam but in the history of Christianity.

The president can casually reach back a thousand years in history to somehow equate the Crusades with the butchery of those who now kill in the name of Islam.

Obama indeed loves an America steered by executive order in direct defiance to the rule of law.

To be sure, I have no doubt the president loves America. Yet, the nation he envisions takes enormous liberties with our Constitution and offers selective enforcement of those paths he alone seeks to travel.

The president loves an America that offers wealth redistribution, open borders, government growth and new alliances at the expense of the few remaining allies we have.

He devalues private sector strength and personal achievement because, as you'll recall, "You didn't build that."

We each hold definitions for the "American way of life." And I believe we love our country because that "way of life" is the most freedom-loving, compassionate and fair-minded in the history of mankind.

This president seeks to change our definition in his world view.

Once completed, the Obamas can at long last be proud of this country.

Patriotic love of nation is the foundation of our national pride and strength.

It's more than shouting, "U.S.A." and waving the flag. Love of country is the willingness to die for our guiding principles and for future generations to benefit from our sacrifices.

I doubt Giuliani meant the president hates this country and seeks its demise. I believe he meant the president's stated objectives will effectively destroy the fabric that binds us.

It seems somewhat odd that you can state your love of country -- as the president did over the weekend -- while trying desperately to change so much of that which has made us strong.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Sikeston Standard Democrat.