Thursday, July 21, 2016

We are a better nation than Republicans believe us to be ... by gimleteye

I, along with legions of pundits, haul ourselves dispiritedly in rows of tired scribes and observers; drudging soldiers from the penultimate night of the Republican convention.

We walk in lines to word processors, on blogs, in newsprint, to TV studio sets and mail chimps; we walk quietly, tired, barefoot in pajamas, dirty socks, or Sunday best; throwing unusable fonts from our rucksacks, checking to see if any sweat drips from our brows or pancake make-up covers the mole, the bald pate. Whether virtual participants or walking amidst citizens expressing their freedoms with AK 47s strapped to their backs, we depress the keys on our keyboards or step heavily away from the Cleveland convention center, the Republican National Convention, to make sense of the world; yelping alarmists, channelers of the public mind, pimps and prostitutes, agile minds and purveyors of canards.

The sage sit at home. TVs turned off. They meditate in the quiet dark like Jeb Bush.

There must be thousands of us in the army of pundits, soldiers in the 24/7 news cycle squinting to count change distributed by barristas -- "No I don't need a copy of my receipt! -- pinging words from wireless networks, through routers God knows where, into the interweb, hoping that something will stick to the velcro'd brain of America. Is Roger Ailes the only man who knows how to do this? Groping. Feeling for the spirit of America beneath her dress? Conveying the electric touch of, what? Clarity.

So this morning I come to task of oracle or at least writing lines for a chorus in a Greek tragedy. Tempted as I may be, to write as if for Mel Brooks an updated version of the hit song in The Producers: "Springtime for Hitler In Germany".



I rest my wrists on the metallic pad of the laptop and my fingers on the keys, and begin: Last night the worst governor in the history of Florida, Rick Scott, made his appearance on the stage of the Republican convention.

Scott -- whose unpopularity in his home state had not penetrated the Cleveland audience that preferred to seethe than understand -- said that the November election will be about "jobs and terrorism". Radical Islamic terrorism!

How many times must this be said: terrorism is a condition. There is no war against a condition. ISIS is an army. Yes, we can and we are fighting ISIS! It's happening right now!

By harping on "radical Islamic terorrism" we play into the hands of those who use fear and suspicion to enforce orthodoxies in Islamic states. We can't dictate from our comfortable aeries in Trump Towers or the suburbs of Cleveland: "Moderate Islamic states, root out the radicals in your midst!" any more than Sunnis in Bagdhad can dictate to ours, "Root out your Jerry Falwells, your Pat Robertsons, and evangelist Christians!"

Calling names is a technique of schoolyard bullies. First they call names, then they rally weaker allies to their cause, then they slap and target "the other". Like Barack Obama. Or women. Like Hillary Clinton.

I can't help watch the proceedings in Cleveland and believe that the screamers and the shouters are a fringe. They do not represent my America.

My America not only tolerates dissent. My America encourages and embraces diversity. Racial diversity. Ethnic diversity. Religious diversity. My America leaves people to be free as free in their own bedrooms as they are anywhere else in the United States. My America doesn't wear patriotism like button lapel flags but expresses it quietly in acts of kindness and compassion. My America abhors extremism in any form but especially the notion that we must be driven to the practices of our enemies. My America will not vote for Donald Trump or the cult of personality that is filling the vacuum in GOP ideas.

Lastly, to monied interests and corporations funding this Republican convention but refusing to show their faces: shame. Shame. My America deserves a Republican Party reshaped away from those appeals -- like Rick Scott's -- that are designed to trigger fear and anxiety.

In November, American voters will prove we are a better nation than Republicans believe us to be.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What Trump did to Cruz during the primary was the lowest of the low. Somethings you don't do to another human being just to win. But there appears to be no level below which Trump won't go to win. Given this dynamic, Cruz should not have agreed to come to the convention. He should have stayed out like the others. He could have predicted the outcome. With unscrupulous people, no one should have agreed to that pact. But no one would have thought anyone would go that low. This is why Trump must never get close to the POWER of the Whitehouse. Like the campaign, he will not focus on solving the nation's problems and issues, but using his Presidential powers to destroy his enemies and their families. He is a small-minded man who should never have access to this kind of POWER.

Geniusofdespair said...

This looks suspiciously like a column written by George Will.

Anonymous said...

Your America is composed of Democrats. not realistic.

Anonymous said...

In America any boy may become President,
that's the problem,
one Day one will

Anonymous said...

Agreed, we just had four days of Springtime for Hitler and that worries me. Coming up next week we will have four days of Autumn for Lenin and that worries me just as much. Those of us in the middle class, the tax payers and backbone of our country are totally disregarded by the ultrarich class and condemned to pay the costs of those who rather sit at home instead of putting in a day of work and feel entitled to government giveaways. God help our nation.