Conservatives Are Liberals, Too.

Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus claimed the chief executive “stole $700 billion from Medicare” and that he “has blood on [his] hands.” A Tea Party billboard in Elkhart, Indiana, compares the president to bin Laden with the words, ““The Navy SEALS removed one threat to America… The voters must remove the other.” Romney, himself, referred to the commander-in-chief as a panderer and a demonizer who wants to “smash America apart.” And these are the things they say in public. One can only imagine what they say in private.

Forgotten in the heat of a vicious campaign is that we have so much more in common than that which separates us. An attack from outside our boarders would suddenly make us forget petty differences. That was the case, at least for a short time, after 9/11. If we were invaded by Martians, we might even find common cause with Iran. While I don’t subscribe to the kind of rhetoric above, thank God (or the deity or non-deity of your choice) that we live in a country where even despicable language and ideas are protected by our very liberal Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Yes, conservatives need to be reminded that we are all living the liberal dream of our founders whose Declaration of Independence was a liberal mission statement separating us from a monarchy with a state religion, and whose Constitution has very liberal guarantees to protect even the tiniest minority from the tyranny of the majority. Our founders, so revered by the Right, were, in fact, beyond liberal. Notions of elections, jury trials, a system of courts to air grievances, the right to legal representation even for the poor, and taxation only with representation, were radical. And, since our very liberal country was founded, we’ve made even more progress by giving equal rights to all, protecting workers, outlawing child labor, creating a social compact between with government to protect our most vulnerable citizens, and agreeing that even in the penumbras of our Constitution where it is not stated explicitly, rights like privacy exist. That our rights come not from government, but are inherent, is a liberal concept, as is the very concept of America.

When conservatives herald qualities like “freedom” and “liberty,” they are promoting the liberal ideas upon which this country was founded. When they praise our founders, they are promoting radical activists. When the Constitution and Declaration of Independence are used to buttress arguments for the values we what is being advanced are the work products of our radical founders who infused these blueprints with progressive concepts. The United States was, is, and will continue to be a liberal nation, in both concept and execution. And there isn’t one liberty and freedom-loving American who would have it any other way.

Alan Colmes is a liberal political commentator, author, and host of “The Alan Colmes Show” on Fox News Radio and web publisher of Liberaland. His book Thank the Liberals … For Saving America will be published in August. For more information visit www.alan.com, and follow Alan on Facebook and Twitter.