U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A

Ignore the man behind the curtain.

I was going to try to go the whole Republican convention without writing anything.  I thought that since I didn’t write anything about the democrats it would somehow be unfair to the GOP if I suddenly took umbrage with something they said.

So instead, I took umbrage with something they did.

I don’t know if anyone else saw this last night but throughout John McCain’s speech the camera would cut to protesters being escorted out of the assembly hall.  These protesters would also yell things during the speech prompting the crowd to break out in a drowning chant of “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A.”  Even Sen. McCain was forced to acknowledge the protesters saying, “don’t be distracted by the noise and the static.”

I don’t think any other string of events could magnify the problems of the Republican party more clearly and symbolically than those drowning chants of “U-S-A.”  Since 9/11 the reining political motif has been that if you disagree with the government you are somehow less patriotic than those that lead us blindly into recession and interminable war.  From flag pins to wire taps, blunt patriotism has been used to justify and squash the rising tide of political dissenters.

Granted, the protesters probably deserved to be kicked out of the building.  To paraphrase the great American philosopher Henry David Thoreau, an asshole in the right is still an asshole.  But for McCain and his ilk to dismiss protest with a chanting mob and a clever turn of phrase trivializes the very patriotism the GOP is so quick to flaunt.

It’s as if the Republicans do not want to admit that there is anything wrong with the way the government has been run for the last eight years.  It’s like some ass-backwards chorus out of Greek tragedy.

They suspended habeas corpus.  U-S-A.  They are tapping our phones.  U-S-A.  They invaded a nation preemptively.  U-S-A.  The trade defecit is at an all time high. U-S-A.  This generation is the most pessimistic in history.  U-S-A.

What might be misconstrued as a rallying cry, comes off as blind and ineffective nationalism.  The Republicans refuse to believe that anything is wrong because of the simple fact that we live in the United States of America.  They believe somehow the country’s mere presence on a map will lead them out of the darkness and into the favor of both the citizens and the international community.

Yes, McCain said in his speech that the country needs change, and that things cannot continue the way they have.  But those are just words.  His actions point to the exact opposite.  I know it would be ridiculous of me to expect McCain to have a heart to heart with those protesters there in the hall, but to symbolically brush them aside as he did is indefensible.  A president cannot fix the problems of our country if he refuses to acknowledge them.

Again, I know that McCain acknowledged them in his speech, but the phrase is just as true now as it always has been–actions speak louder than words.  And right now, McCain’s actions not only display a disconnect with the American public, but they also promise that his administration will simply be more of the same.