I Will Not Shut Up. America Is Still Worth Fighting For - by HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

Found here. My comments in bold.

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In typical leftist form the professor dodges the issues and misrepresents the situation.

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So, yes, I have the dubious honor of being on the “Professor Watchlist”** — a list published recently by a young alt-right provocateur who knew that such a list would get media traction because of Sen. McCarthy’s attacks on academics during the Red Scare. (Whaa? This fellow "knew" he would get traction because of McCarthy? If this is what the professor thinks, she belongs on the watchlist.)

I made the list not because of complaints about my teaching, but because of my public writing about politics. (Again the professor presumes to know what the "provocateur" is thinking.)

It is ironic that this list would label me “leftist.” (From our reading of her, it is clear she is most definitely is a leftist.)

In fact, in my public life, I do not identify with a political party, (Misdirection. "Leftist" is not a political party.)

and I work with politicians on both sides of the aisle. (Misdirection #2. Her work across the isle is irrelevant to being a leftist.)

I also teach the history of American conservative beliefs, as well as those of liberalism. (Misdirection #3. No one has claimed that she does not teach these things.)

I believe that the nation needs both the Democratic and the Republican parties to be strong and healthy. (Misdirection #4. Her described belief in the necessity of both parties does not address the issue of her leftism.)

It is even more ironic that the list would label me “anti-American.” (Was she labeled "anti-American?" We can find no evidence of this claim.)

In fact, I do what I do — all the teaching, writing, speeches and media — because I love America. (In an attempt to build up her bonafides, the professor now makes a jingoistic appeal to patriotism. This is beginning to read like satire.) 

I am staunchly committed to the principle of human self-determination, and have come to believe that American democracy is the form of government that comes closest to bringing that principle to reality. (Her beliefs about democracy do not come to bear on anti-americanism.)

This nation is not perfect — far from it — but when it is at its best, it has more potential for people of all genders, races and ethnicities to create their own destinies than any other governmental system. I work to teach people about that system, its great triumphs and also its hideous failures. We must learn from the past because the miracle of America is that it is always reinventing itself, giving us the potential to remake it, better, every day.

I am dangerous (Who claims she is dangerous?)

not to America but to the people soon to be in charge of it, people like the youngster (A manipulation employed to minimize her critic.)

who wrote this list. I teach that the American government only works when it is based on the principle that every single American is equal before the law. (Innocuous sounding. We're sure she teaches much more than this, however.)

Since 1997, I have argued in print and in public that, throughout history, ideologically driven politicians have undermined that fundamental principle in order to shift the economy and the power structures of this country in their own favor. For the last several years, as I took on a more and more public role, I have focused on the present, hammering on the idea that the ideologically driven movement conservatives who have taken over the nation through the Republican Party are not real Republicans. (Ahhh, the cat's out of the bag. It's the Republicans who do this.)

They are a cabal concentrating wealth and power into a ruling class that is crushing the rest of us. (Now she is simply spewing leftist talking points. And we note for the record that wealth disparity has increased under Obama.)

I truly believe that most Americans want not this extraordinary upward redistribution of wealth and power, but rather the same sort of government known in the 1950s as the “liberal consensus,” established by FDR and Eisenhower, that regulates business, maintains national infrastructure and provides a basic social safety net, while still leaving ample room for private enterprise and the innovation it sparks. (That is, the government that we have had has lead to this situation the professor decries. Hmmm.)

That the only way movement conservatives have managed to stay in power is to game the system through gerrymandering and voter suppression, hatred and now the intimidation of people like me says that even they know they are in danger of losing control of the country. As a friend of mine says, a dying mule kicks the hardest. (Descending further into mindless talking points, the Professor's leftist credentials are becoming more evident.)

And try to stop demonizing political opponents who fall within the normal political spectrum so we can all stand together against those who are trashing our institutions and our legal system. (That is, if these Republicans would simply shut up and let the Left have its way, we would find peace and harmony.)

I am close to both Republicans and Democrats and they have far more in common than they are different, believe me. (Well, actually, we don't believe you. Don't you remember that Republicans are racist, sexist, homophobic haters?)

What no respectable American wants, though, is for this nation to commit suicide, (Good Gawd. The Left has been doing its level best to transform this nation for decades. Doesn't the author know what the word "progressive" means? Doesn't the author listen to her own rhetoric?

What the professor means by "national suicide" is her fear that progressivism will die. The nation won't die, but her ideas will. So after 80 years of progressive destruction, perhaps other ideas will take hold that may even rescue us from the wreckage of big government leftism. And really, she can't afford to even give other ideas a chance, because if they succeed she will have to admit that her ideas are a failure.

America is not worth fighting for, in her view. Instead, overthrowing America, either incrementally or by revolution, is the goal of progressives.)

and if those of us who believe in America turn against each other, (This has already happened at the behest of the Left, whose desire is to cause political and societal unrest so that the disaffected proletariat will rise up against the bourgeois. The Left's stock in trade is to create division and an us-against-them attitude. She has done this very thing in this very article.)

we will permit precisely that. People have asked what they can do in this moment. Across the political spectrum, I would urge everyone who believes in this nation to focus on the mechanics of government and constantly to call out official actions you would find unacceptable if they happened to “your” side, especially if it’s “your” side doing them. (We look in vain in this article for an example of that. She has restricted her complaints to "movement Republicans," remember?)

Call attention to law-breaking that is actionable at a state or national level, rather than focusing on individual outrages (that Russia interfered in the 2016 election is important; a keyed car is not). Do not believe or share any sensationalist stories until you have confirmed them through a site like Snopes.com, and call out those who make assertions without factual evidence. (As we are doing to her right now.)

Do not mistake legal practices like peaceful protests or government petitions for wrongdoing. If you see something illegal, document it with photos and witnesses and take it to police even if you suspect they will ignore it; continue to demand that the system operate properly. Call your representatives constantly to register your opinions (it matters — most get fewer than a dozen calls about issues at hand).

I have been touched and overwhelmed by all of the messages of concern and support I have received over my inclusion on the Professor Watchlist. And for those of you who worried: No, I will not shut up. America is still worth fighting for. (No one has tried to shut her up. Being called out for her bias is not the same as censoring her.)

** Editors Note: Professor Heather Cox Richardson was included on the Professor Watchlist when it launched on Nov. 21 (archived that day). She posted this column on her Facebook page the next day, and was removed from the list on Nov. 23.