<...America has its faults and has committed its share of tragic errors. But that is not the issue. What I fear is that the anti-American sentiment we see today, not only in Europe but in the world at large, hates not what is bad in America but what is good.

Geez, it's about time somebody pointed this out.

Ayn Rand would have nodded knowingly. Many years ago she was well aware that a basic motivation for the hatred many felt for America and the West was not a hatred of our faults, but a hatred of our virtues. I wish more people understood this.

"Hatred of the good for being the good" was a common theme of many of Rand's books and articles. Interestingly, the first reference I found was in an article commenting on the negative response of some people to the Apollo program, which Rand had found highly inspiring.