I almost pity poor John McCain. Almost. How did he end up with this 'crap job'? It has fallen upon him to fight the last battle of slaveholders and plantation owners. I expect this bile from Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney and any of the rest that fall into the 'angry white patriarch' model that is interchangeable with KKK grand wizard or plantation owner.
The thinly veiled race baiting of the GOP that has been in force since Richard Nixon's 'Southern strategy' is no longer thinly veiled at all. For a generation, the GOP was able to reliably manipulate themselves into power by scaring white voters about the danger to them from 'the other'. They have expanded the cast of dangerous people to include gays, Latinos, (always) women and Muslims.
(Cross posted at The National Gadfly
The suggested threat is that our jobs, our physical safety, our sexuality, our way of life could be destroyed if these 'different people' came to power. Why? Because they would exact revenge on by treating us like we treated them. By making us live like them. By making us into second class citizens.
America is poised to deliver on its promise that "all men are created equal". With the election of Barack Obama, we shall finally become a country where the rule of law trumps the rule of influence. The generation and society that created the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States was made up of people that opposed and favored slavery. These authors were unable to change this part of themselves. Instead, they looked forward to the promise of equality and the rule of law. The placed trust that their children and the generations to follow could take equally bold steps toward this place of equality and justice.
So, now we are watching the death throes of the Slaveholder society. On the surface, slavery is always about money: making people work for no wages, increasing the profits for those that abuse them. The transfer of wealth that occurred during the Bush/Cheney years into the top 1% of the population is a clear indicator of the slaveholder economics at work. However, on a deeper level, slavery is about the strong brutalizing the weak. This principle alone puts them at odds with The Constitution and the promise of America as seen by the authors of those documents.
So, now John McCain and Sarah Palin bang the drums of hatred, fear and brutality that have been the marching band of bullies and thieves for centuries. The historical significance of this moment in human history cannot be understated. No other place on Earth at no other time has reached such a monumental decision. It is our generation that suddenly find ourselves with the opportunity to honor justice over greed by exercising our vote to elect Barack Obama over John McCain.
The Constitution has been under attack from the slaveholders for 8 years and would be destroyed by a McCain / Palin victory. Our stature in the world would be decimated and we ourselves would become 'persona non grata' just about everywhere. It is no longer a small world, where the bullies, robber barons and slaveholders of our shores can abuse us all with impunity. Their unchecked greed, matched with their unceasing brutality will be the ruin of us all.
Barack Obama is not the right choice because he is black. He is the right choice because he is a student of the guiding principles of this democracy. He is the right choice because he understands and respects the vision of a society where all people are equal in the eyes of the law. He is the right choice because he knows that no system of thievery or brutality will endure. He has lived his life by these principles and will do so for the rest of his life.
John McCain has sold his convictions to the slaveholders for access to power, and in turn he has become a 'house negro'. He stands before crowds issuing the words of dishonor, hatred and cruelty. He grits his teeth as if he can barely stand the cost to his honor and moral beliefs that these words must take from him. So, I almost feel pity for him. He has been given every advantage in life by virtue of his white, wealthy Christian family (and yes they were slaveholders, too). He chose to serve the bullies instead of the Constitution and will be rewarded with failure.
So, I will proudly step into the polling place on Tuesday morning knowing that I am exercising the opportunity delivered to me by my ancestors. I will endure this final insult from the slaveholders as their place in history is marked by the beginning of their end.
- gadfly