Interestingly, despite Disney's increasingly hard-left policies, when it tells a tale of good versus evil, somehow it always ends up, even inadvertently, supporting the conservative worldview.  Thus, for a shorthand guide to modern politics, look no farther than Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which comes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which the Walt Disney Company owns.

As you might recall from the movie, the story opens (alert: multiple spoilers ahead) with Captain America/Steve Rogers working as a soldier for S.H.I.E.L.D.  He's been uneasy with the direction of his organization for some time now.  He's even considered retiring, although he doesn't know what else he would do.

When Nick Fury describes a game-changing new weapon able to "neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen," Captain America isn't on board.  He responds: "By holding a gun on everyone on Earth and calling it 'protection' ... this isn't freedom.  This is fear."

Cap soon discovers that many of his superiors — those in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. — aren't actually working for S.H.I.E.L.D. at all.  Their actual allegiance is to something very different.  In fact, they're working for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s arch-nemesis, Hydra.  Hydra has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and is working to undo it from within.  This process has already been happening for decades.

Soon after Cap fully realizes the magnitude of it all — the scene in the elevator — Captain America becomes a fugitive in his own country and is targeted as an enemy.

Sounding familiar yet?

This can be taken farther.

Image: Crumpled American flag by kjpargeter.

In other events, an enemy of the Avengers — knowing he's too weak to take on the Avengers directly — decides on a different tactic: psychological and information warfare.  Instead of fighting them himself, he works to get them to fight each other.

His approach is spectacularly successful.  Before long, the Avengers have divided into two sides and are doing battle against themselves.  The Avengers turn against each other in what will eventually become a "civil war."  This makes them vulnerable in ways that would have been unthinkable otherwise and provides an opportunity for some formidable enemies.

This also sets the stage for these tensions to escalate.  In Captain America: Civil War, one side is led by Tony Stark (Iron Man), who decides to trust the government.  The other is led by Cap, who opts for freedom.  Almost immediately, the government throws much of Cap's team in prison and even threatens to do the same to Stark.

Eventually, in the struggles that ensue, Captain America, the able, honest, old-fashioned soldier from another time, overcomes his corrupted superiors.  Despite being hunted by his own team, he works to overcome and eventually foil the grand schemes of Hydra.  Unfortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D. is destroyed in the process, but its spirit lives on in other forms to fight another day.

Stark, the troubled, tech-savvy genius, eventually realizes and admits his mistakes.  He reunites with Cap, and they move on together to face even greater threats.

Despite all the events of the past several years, there are still many true patriots out there who see clearly what's happening in America today.  The more we can help other sane and reasonable people understand it, the more we can restore and protect the country we know and love.

Today, we patriots — we are all Steve Rogers.

Steve Rose is a pseudonym.