by Dan Flynn

September 11th elicited incredibly varied reactions from different sets of Americans.

Mainstream America reacted with sympathy, generosity, rage, and patriotism. Flags seemed to appear in front of every home and on every highway overpass. The radio dial was filled with songs like Whitney Houston's version of "The Star Spangled Banner" and Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA." Patriotism was cool again.

Below the surface, there was a feeling among many self-styled intellectuals that we got what was coming to us. Bobby Fischer felt compelled to break years of silence. "This is all wonderful news," the chess grandmaster declared. "It is time to finish off the U.S. once and for all." A speaker at a rally at Brown University proclaimed, "The American flag is nothing but a symbol of hate and should be used for toilet paper for all I care." Elsewhere, flags and American military uniforms were set alight by protestors.

The immediate response on both sides was emotive, not cognitive. With thousands of Americans dead, how could it be otherwise? Yet there is a rationality behind the outpouring of support for America that is lacking among the haters of the United States. On the balance sheet of history, the flag-wavers seem to know, we are further in the black than any nation. There is a lot to be proud of.

From the blueprint for self-government laid out in the Declaration, to the discovery of the light bulb and the polio vaccine, to our soldiers landing at Normandy, America's contributions to world health, prosperity, and freedom are unmatched.

Dinesh D'Souza's latest offering, What's So Great About America, is more than the story of what's great about this country. Its focus is exposing what's great about the larger civilization that America now leads. At a time when our fellow countrymen, as well the guiding ideals of our civilization, are under attack, now seems a better time than ever to tackle the question of just what about our nation is worth defending.

"One of the central premises of multiculturalism is that Western civilization is not superior or better than any other civilization," the author writes. "To think this, in the multicultural view, is to be guilty of racism." Ironically, these same folks that loudly allege that Americans are ignorant of other cultures are in fact themselves the most ignorant about what goes on outside of our cultural borders. Conquest and colonialism, for instance, are portrayed as uniquely Western phenomena. D'Souza points to the troubled history of his birthplace, India, noting, "Before the British came the Indians were invaded and conquered by the Persians, by the Afghans, by Alexander the Great, by the Arabs, by the Mongols, and by the Turks. Depending on how you count, the British were the eighth or ninth colonial power to invade India." Why then are the British solely denounced for their incursions into India? Multiculturalists aren't against colonialism. They are against Western colonialism.

Admitting that colonialism is rarely motivated by benevolence, D'Souza nevertheless contends that the results of foreign rule occasionally help the very people who believe that they are being hurt. D'Souza writes, "colonialism had injured those who lived under it, but paradoxically it proved beneficial to their descendents." In his own country, the British eradicated suttee-the custom of women diving upon their husbands' funeral pyres-and bequeathed a democratic tradition that is rarely found in other non-Western countries. Elsewhere, pressure by colonial powers eliminated slavery, removed the veils covering women's faces, and ended the barbaric practice of human sacrifice. Confronting the good, the bad, and ugly regarding colonialism doesn't involve excluding the good, as multiculturalists seem to think.

What seems most peculiar is the characterization of America, a former colony itself, as a colonial power. One might naturally ask, what countries constitute our empire? The answer is of course none. Never ones to let the facts get in the way of theory, leftists contend that the U.S. is a neo-colonialist state by virtue of its desire to trade with other nations. By this standard, every nation would be an imperial power.

Slavery is another institution deemed a product of the West by multiculturalists. Reality begs to differ. Even today, slavery can be found in such places as Mauritania and Sudan. Slavery is a cross-cultural institution, while its eradication seems to be solely an initiative of Western Civilization. "Never in the history of the world, outside of the West, has a group of people eligible to be slave-owners mobilized against the institution of slavery," What's So Great About America points out. When looking back at America's many pro-slavery voices one would be wise to realize, "In numerous civilizations both Western and non-Western, slavery needed no defenders because it had no critics." Our foes blame us for slavery, yet fail to celebrate our abolition of it within our borders.

Like colonialism, the author asserts that slavery has had some long-term benefits. In what is surely to be one of the more discussed passages of the book, D'Souza asserts, "Slavery was a grave moral crime that inflicted incalculable moral harm to the slaves. But the slaves are dead, and the truth is that their descendents are better off as a result of slavery."

While it seems obvious that blacks living in America have a better life than blacks living in Africa, the legacy of slavery is understandably a bitter one for many black Americans. Some wishing to exploit this feeling have embarked on a racial shakedown campaign. This past month, reparations extortionists filed suit against FleetBoston Financial Group, CSX, and Aetna. Like contemporary white taxpayers targeted for reparations payments, these corporations didn't have anything to do with the slave trade. Their "ancestors"-previous corporations that later merged into these current entities-allegedly profited from the trade in human beings. Payment to those who didn't suffer the hardship from those who didn't inflict the hardship makes little sense. Moreover, the author argues, "Those of us living today are taking on a large project if we are going to settle upon a rule of social justice based upon figuring out whose ancestors did what to whom."

Should the Irish sue the English? How about restitution for the descendants of victims of the Mongols campaign of death and destruction? What do the Moors owe Spaniards?

The Bible warns against the sins of the fathers being visited upon their progeny. This is wise counsel that we all would be well advised to heed.

Just as multiculturalists try to "protect" the rest of the world from the supposedly baleful influence of America, they attempt to shield immigrants who willingly come here from the dominant culture. Immigrants should be encouraged to speak their native language, hold on to their culture, and even-in the case of Mexicans-vote in their former country of residence. Do these things, particularly the promotion of languages other than English, help the immigrant? D'Souza writes, "If the immigrant wanted to preserve intact his native culture, if he wanted to be the same person that he was in his home country, then why come to the United States? Clearly the immigrant seeks something that is available here and not in his homeland."

As readers of Illiberal Education and The End of Racism know, D'Souza is a thinker in a class by himself. What's So Great About America makes the case for America and doesn't fall short. D'Souza provides an immigrant's clarity on America that is missing from many American writers who stand too close to their subject to see the bigger picture.

What's So Great About America reminds us just what we are defending in this current conflict. It provides the intellectual rationale for emotional exercises like singing "God Bless America" or hanging Old Glory on one's front porch. Contrary to elite opinion, there is good reason to love America. It is the reflexive trashing of our country, witnessed most conspicuously on America's campuses after the attacks, that is truly devoid of reason. "To make us love our country," Edmund Burke famously wrote, "our country ought to be lovely." America is loved not because her citizens are obliged. Our country is loved because she is lovely.