The recent media meme about “anti-government rhetoric” having anything to do with the Arizona shooting has fell flat with the American public, but the calls to return to “civility” nonetheless are still floating heavy around Washington. Part of that “civility” must include, we are told, a toning down of our “anti-government” (and implicitly conservative) rhetoric.

It has become a given among journalists and politicians that “anti-government” is a euphemism for “conservative.” Its not.

 Here are some examples of anti-government rhetoric from progressives, just to prove the point:

“[The President] betrayed this country! He played on our fears! He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous to our troops, an adventure pre-ordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place!” “If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime—Pol Pot or others—that had no concern for human beings.” "I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a "deserter." What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar and a functional illiterate." "Regime change! George Bush has to go and we have the power to do it. The officials of the government shall be removed from office for crimes and misdemeanor; their crime against peace, and for use of torture in Iraq." "Bin Laden didn't come from the abstract. He came from somewhere, and if you look where, you'll see America's hand of villainy." “The United States happens to be the only state in the world that has been condemned by the World Court for international terrorism, would have been condemned by the Security Council, except that it vetoed that resolution.” “An alliance of 100 prominent Americans and 40 family members of those killed on 9/11 today announced the release of the 911 Truth Statement, a call for immediate inquiry into evidence that suggests high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur.” “The United States is the most violent country in the history of civilization.” "The government gives them [African Americans] the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human.”

These quotes, ranging from accusing the President of the United States of purposely lying American into an illegal war to orchestrating the 9/11 terrorist attacks and infiltrating the black community with drugs and racist laws for the intentional purpose of oppressing blacks, are all extremely anti-government. They have been uttered by Al Gore, Dick Durban, Michael Moore, Ramsey Clark, Harry Belafonte, Noam Chomsky, 9/11 Truth.org, Spike Lee, and Jeremiah Wright, respectively.

Liberals weren’t all too supportive of the government’s war in Iraq, nor are they very supportive of the government’s immigration enforcement actions against “undocumented workers,” or the government’s restrictions on abortion and gay marriage. During Sen. Bernie Sanders’ eight-hour filibuster of the extension of the Bush tax cuts, Sanders accused the American government of practicing “socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor.” Democrats and liberals weren’t all that happy about the deal even though it extended unemployment benefits and Obama’s stimulus tax credits. Keith Olbermann compared President Obama’s compromise to Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Nazi Germany.

Conservatives don’t hold a monopoly on anti-government viewpoints. I would submit that someone who believes that America is an inherently racist nation and a purveyor of terrorism is more likely to be a liberal progressive than a conservative.