This seems like good messaging for Democrats leading into 2020, right? Remember when Trump was run down after his first address to Congress for having a “dark” view of the country? I wonder why the media aren’t making the same claims about the myriad of Democrats who keep doing what Eric Holder is about to be shown doing.

Barack Obama’s former Attorney General embodies the kind of partisan rancor that should have never stepped foot into the DOJ. Once calling himself Obama’s “wingman,” he saw it as his personal duty to protect the former President.

Though he finally decided he’s not going to run in the jumbled 2020 Democratic primary, Holder is still out there making the rounds. Yesterday, he went on MSNBC to let us all know that America was never a great country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX7ZA9_WaT4&feature=youtu.be

“When I hear these things about ‘Let’s make America great again,’ I think to myself: ‘Exactly when did you think America was great?’” said Holder, who most recently served under former President Barack Obama, citing the oft-used slogan by the current president.

Just in case you thought he wasn’t clear enough, he continues that thought.

“It certainly wasn’t when people were enslaved,” he said. “It certainly wasn’t when women didn’t have the right to vote. It certainly wasn’t when the LGBT community was denied the rights to which it was entitled.”

Let’s discuss this because it’s a common tactic used by the left, specifically the inter-sectional left.

Nearly all the countries in the world dealt with forms of slavery at some point and time. What makes America great is that we overcame it. That includes the hundreds of thousands who died fighting to do so. While many countries throughout the world still oppress women, America led the way in ensuring equal rights a century ago. That makes us great. The LGBT stuff is silly to even mention here as it’s barely comparable. The Democratic Party’s mainline position until 2012 was that marriage was definitionally between a man and a woman and civil unions already existed. That’s hardly on equal footing with slavery or suffrage.

Vice President Mike Pence responded on Twitter with a nice rebuttal.

.@EricHolder: “Exactly when do you think America was great?” pic.twitter.com/pFE5z5D756

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) March 28, 2019

Here’s the real issue. Historical context matters.

It’s only fair to judge a country within the confines of the accepted norms of the era you are addressing. Otherwise, you are just preening from a modern soapbox and that lacks any real relevance. The United States has never been perfect, but it’s always been great. That’s why it has risen to be the most powerful country in the world, not just for our own selfish consumption, but also helping nearly eradicate extreme poverty around the globe. You could also cite our technological innovations, medical breakthroughs, economic growth, winning WW2, and our general pursuit of freedom (among many other things) as having a demonstrably positive impact on literally billions of people worldwide.

For Holder to go on MSNBC and snarkily suggest America has never been great just shows how warped his thinking is. Perfection is not synonymous with greatness. Willie Mays only got a hit 3 out of every 10 times he stepped up to the plate. He wasn’t perfect, but he was still great. This pervasive idea within the Democratic party that we need to re-litigate the past and constantly run down America as a flawed, irredeemable entity is bad for society. It isn’t progress, it’s self-degradation for political gain.

Unfortunately, all of this is becoming mainstream thought in liberal circles as “social justice” causes gain influence. None of it leads to anything positive and it is simply fracturing the country into more and more competing factions. Eventually, that’s going to boil over. Democrats should think about the fires they are stoking and respond with some common sense for once.