This is so easy, it’s almost unfair to do it, but let’s be unfair. Imagine: Early in the Afghanistan War, U.S. fighter jets take out a prominent mosque in Kabul. As soon as the debris is cleared away, the Bush Administration deeds the land over to Franklin Graham, who announces he will build a missionary Christian church on the site.

Now, what are they writing in the New York Times, Mother Jones and Salon?

Exactly.

When it was decided that a mosque should be built at the World Trade Center site – not exactly on the site of the Twin Towers, but close enough that the building at the actual site was damaged by the debris – the developers could not have been so clueless as to think no one would be upset. You don’t have believe that attending a mosque means supporting terrorism – and I, for the record, do not – to understand that such a decision is highly provocative.

Why, then, has the American left embraced support for this project – almost as if they want it to be a defining issue in the current political environment? Indeed, it seems that the more upset right-wingers become about the mosque, the more virulently left-wingers support it.

Here’s a thought: Left-wingers are instinctively uncomfortable with symbols and sentiments associated with traditional Americanism. They are bothered by “flag-waving” and pledges of allegiance, which they regard as “jingoism.” And if we’re to be honest, left-wingers have never been terribly comfortable with the idea that anyone is really America’s enemy. During the Cold War, the extreme left saw the Soviet Union as a foil, an excuse for conservative warmongers to puff their chests and bloat the Pentagon budget. They sought to counter the narrative of the Soviets as evil, not so much because they really saw any virtue in them, but because the America-as-good-guy narrative bothers them.

So it has gone since 9/11. The first concern of the left in the aftermath of the attacks was the possibility of so-called anti-Muslim backlash in the United States. While most people concerned themselves with how to defend against more terror attacks, extreme left-wingers worried about right-wing vigilantes setting mosques ablaze. No such rash ever broke out, but this was their primary concern.

If it’s symbolic of America’s greatness, it gives left-wingers the heebie jeebies.

So when Islamicists propose to build a mosque on the site of the worst attack ever against the United States, and most people regard it as symbolizing some sort of conquest against the United States – sending conservative activists in particular into convulsions – left-wingers can’t help but think this is all kind of cool. It’s a finger in the eye to arrogant American jingoism.

When they tell us the acceptance the mosque proves our “greatness as a nation” or some such thing, what they really mean is that they like to see America humbled by its adversaries, and enjoy when we back down and do nothing about it.

If the scenario presented at the beginning of this column were ever to occur, the American left would have an apoplectic seizure because it would represent such arrogant, provocative behavior on the part of a nation they are convinced is already far too guilty of that sort of thing.

But when the same thing is done to America, the left celebrates that we’re getting our comeuppance.

Does that mean the American left is secretly the enemy of our nation? I don’t think so. I just think they don’t really like our nation very much, which is why they reflexively oppose symbols or our greatness while celebrating every time someone sticks a finger in our eye.

Hey, self-loathing people are people too! But we would probably be better off if such people were not in charge.

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