John McCain has served this country honorably, and continues to do so. I do not agree with his philosophy, nor most of his politics, but I have no quarrel in the main with his methods. Why would he be an unwise choice for president?
I Just listened to a healthy portion of his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, and was reminded again of the many ways in which he makes me uneasy, and of the many ways in which his candidacy is a continuation of the divisive and destructive political path into which our nation has fallen.
First, and most importantly, his campaign is all about fear, belligerence and animosity - fear of and belligerence toward "terror," as though it were an enemy state, and animosity toward the politics of inclusion, of social responsibility, of loving one's felllow man. With his military history and his horrific experience at the hands of a truly evil military foe, the fear and belligerence are natural. But when one's only tool is military force, every problem looks like a "war." Just ask Bush. His animosity toward the principles of the Democratic Party is grounded likewise in the enduring paradigm of the bright-line division between friend and foe. If you are not the former, you are certainly the latter.
Second, and in line with this general style of thinking, his concept of government is not only black/white, but it is inherently self-contradictory. Why? He sees government in the frame of conservative orthodoxy - that is, as a "necessary evil." He sees it both as the enemy of our enemies, and as the enemy of the people, themselves. In other words, it is like a poorly-trained killer attack dog. It will guard your house, but it you exercise insufficient caution, it will devour you as well. And well might he picture it that way, for in his eyes its domestic role is not to help, uplift or to heal, but to punish the wicked. And lord knows that in the lexicon of conservative orthodoxy, easily half the populace is, in one manner or another, wicked.
So where are the "people" whom the government is supposed to serve? Easy enough. "They" are corporations, businessmen, commerce, "the economy," and any and every other personification of the pursuit of material gain. For material gain is the very Republican definition of "happiness."
More in my next post.
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