well, I take issue in the entire phrasing of that opinion. "Assuming the worst about America" is nothing more than a natural skepticism that is essential for Democracy. I still to this day do not understand why right wingers think questioning authority is unpatriotic or UnAmerican or treasonous. Only in some authoritarian country would that be so.

Here's a few quotes that echo this sentiment. And frankly I'm beyond tired of conservatives trying to silence dissent by equating it with disloyalty or treason or "hating America". You all would have us live in totalitarism. So i have to wonder at who REALLY "hates America"?

Edward R. Murrow:
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.

Harry S Truman:
Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.

John F. Kennedy:
Without debate, without criticism, no administration and no country can succeed -- and no republic can survive

Martin Luther King Jr.:
Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

Lyndon B. Johnson:
“It is the common failing of totalitarian regimes that they cannot really understand the nature of our democracy. They mistake dissent for disloyalty. They mistake restlessness for a rejection of policy. They mistake a few committees for a country. They misjudge individual speeches for public policy.”

Barbara Ehrenreich:
“No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.”

James Thurber :
“Discussion in America means dissent.”

Vaclav Havel:
You do not become a "dissident" just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society.

Howard Zinn:
“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”

Hubert H. Humphrey:
“Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower:
“May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion”

Amen.