Another excerpt from Alan Colmes' latest book, "Thank the Liberals (for Saving America, and why you should)."
A Little Help to Fight the Right
The word values is not the province of the Right, but rather belongs to all of us, and that includes the often-heralded family values conservatives claim to own.
Words like freedom, patriotism, and even American can have different interpretations.
To a conservative, freedom can mean using government to enforce morality; to a liberal, it's protecting individual choices; and to a libertarian, it's no government at all.
Big flag pins and yelling "USA! USA!" at people with whom you disagree doesn't prove patriotism. Nor does voting for a "Patriot Act."
Contrary to Sarah Palin's statement, the entire country is part of "the pro-America areas" of America.
Ronald Reagan raised taxes 11 times, Bill Clinton left us with a surplus, and Barack Obama offered Republicans $2 trillion in spending cuts that they rejected, so stereotypes based on political ideology don't bear out.
Changing one's view when faced with new information and apologizing when you're wrong are good, American values.
Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity are all based on liberal concepts.
All of us contribute to the values that make America great.
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