By Christopher G. Adamo

Few Americans, back when first subjected to the insipid banalities of Jimmy Carter, presumed him to be a deliberately malignant force striving to wreak horrendous harm on the country. Rather, he was perceived as a naive imbecile who was had merely gotten in over his head after having fallen into the presidency in the wake of Nixon, Watergate, and the lackluster administration of Gerald Ford.

Yet over time Carter continued to degenerate, and especially in recent years, arrived a point where he consistently calls good “evil,” and evil “good.” As a result, he now holds a prominent position as spokesman and apologist for any vile entity that seeks to justify itself on the basis of America’s faults. Clearly, at some point Carter crossed over to the “dark side.”

Sadly, another prominent American is headed down this same path. Nationally syndicated columnist Cal Thomas, once a beacon of light for mainstream America, has descended beyond the point of mere ambiguity and confusion. He can now be counted upon, ostensibly in the name of offering a “Christian” perspective, to advance the cause of the counterculture while insidiously undermining those on the right.

If anything, Cal Thomas has inflicted far more harm in recent years than that which resulted from Jimmy Carter’s venom, since Thomas fell from a position of far greater trust. And if his current writings are any indication, he is determined to take as many as possible with him. Consider, as one particularly stark example, his July 4 column.

Ostensibly presented as an uplifting piece focusing on American commonality set against an Independence Day backdrop, Thomas’s narrative quickly deteriorates into an affront against traditional America, while attempting to elevate the political left. He begins by taking the kind of swipe at “talk radio” worthy of Harry Reid, Diane Feinstein, or Nancy Pelosi.

Worse yet, he does so under a completely false pretense (itself a fitting tactic among liberals) by suggesting that the American Heartland is some sort of sanctuary, free from the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity, as if the better part of the country is that which is shielded from them.

In truth, Middle America is the domain of talk radio, with its advocacy of American values and heritage, and rejection of those who would undermine such things. Yet Thomas sinks further still, to eventually make a contextual comparison between the segment of America that embraces talk radio (apparently meaning the conservative grassroots) and Nazi chieftain Herman Goering. Pelosi and Reid should be proud.

In his not-so-subtle manner, Thomas thus disparages conservatism and its ties to the Christian faith which is present on the political scene as a result of true conservatives in the Republican Party. In contrast, the only politician who he credits with speaking truth is Illinois Democrat and presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

While Obama’s assertion, referenced by Thomas, that “religion is not the exclusive property of conservative Christians” is technically true, the suggestion that Republicans in general, or conservatives in particular claim otherwise is itself a vile and patently false accusation.

What conservatives have continually said is that although many Republicans do not uphold conservative or Christian values, the Democrat Party is, on an official basis, openly and thoroughly hostile to such things.

It is ludicrous to suggest that a party, which embraces every element of the counterculture from sexual perversion to the slaughter of the unborn to a view of “spirituality” that lauds any and every religious concept with the sole exception of the Christian worldview, can somehow be considered a haven for devout Christians.

For Thomas to imply as much, even in as indirect of a manner as he does, is to aid and abet proponents of those ideologies in their efforts to undermine and destroy the Christian heritage of America.

His timing particularly appalling since Republican “moderate” Rudy Giuliani is likewise working hard to reach this same conclusion, albeit by approaching the argument from the opposite end of the political spectrum. If Thomas helps Giuliani succeed in blurring these lines, the only beneficiary will be the party of Obama.

Ultimately, Thomas attempts to make a case that religion and patriotism, from the leftist perspective are on an equal par with that of conservative America. Yet what he apparently does not recognize, or perhaps does not want to consider, is that when both high and low standards are accepted on an equal basis, only the low will prevail.

Such is the morass into which he stumbles, as he tries to denigrate traditional values by drawing comparisons between them and Nazism. But if Thomas is going to invoke the words of Herman Goering in order to make his case, he should check out the eighth chapter of William Shirer’s monumental work “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.”

There he will find that in their efforts to reorder the German culture, Goering and his kind were enabled in large part by a “church” that had gladly abdicated any role in differentiating between such things as spiritual or unspiritual, patriotic or unpatriotic, and eventually, good or evil.

Germany’s multifaceted and fractured “church” helped dispel any clear understanding of Biblical absolutes, whereby the time honored definitions of faith, patriotism, and even “right and wrong,” had been upheld. In its place, the Reich stood ready to forcibly substitute its own warped and poisoned version of such things to a pliable population.

In their attempted defense, the common cry of liberals, now with help of such as Thomas, is that government “cannot legislate morality.” But does he dare deny that, as a result of the legislated efforts of liberals (good religious patriots all), a climate of immorality has been imposed upon America which visits immeasurable suffering on helpless victims and from which the nation may never recover?

From “hate crimes” (thought control) legislation to “sensitivity training,” to Madalyn Murray O’Hare’s conversion of public schools into temples of secularism, America now suffers innumerable social plagues, as a result of mandated and legislated immorality from liberals, aided and abetted by a church community that is increasingly indifferent and morally confused.

Attempting to make the case that the modern Democrat political machine is no less American than its Republican opposition, Thomas states that the American grave markers at Normandy are not identified as “D” (Democrat) or “R” (Republican). Again, he speaks truth, but only in part.

World War II Democrats would not have tolerated the treasonous denigration of America and lauding of the enemy from liberal partisans such as Harry Reid and Jack Murtha. The media did not spend its time working to minimize American victories while magnifying any errors or gains on the part of its enemies.

Now, both work tirelessly to dispirit American troops while legitimizing and thus inspiring Islamic terrorists. Patriotism has not changed. But the Democrat party most assuredly has.

To suggest that it can now be defined as everything from traditional flag waving on Memorial day to Cindy Sheehan fawning over hostile foreign dictators is to suggest that it no longer means anything at all. Thus patriotism becomes just another victim of lib nihilism.

Cal Thomas can join their ranks and do his best to establish moral equivalency between the American left and the right. But real America will never accept it.