In 1932, Herbert Hoover sent General Douglas MacArthur with troops to route masses of starving WWI vets who had slogged to Washington to beg for bonuses they'd been promised by the government. Call me paranoid, but with the McCain campaign's incitement of their throngs to anger, I'm beginning to wonder if we have reason to fear we might witness such action again.
The candidate, naturally, denies any malevolence, and to his credit he finally made a small effort last week to 'correct' one of his crowds after a woman called Obama an Arab and others screamed "Terrorist and Kill Him!" Sadly Mr. McCain didn't clearly state that Obama wasn't an Arab, just that he was a decent family man. Nor did he rein in his running mate from similarly stirring up her crowds. So how else are we to view the systematic goading by his campaign and the potential for violence it stimulates? What else does the labeling of Barack Hussein Obama as "Not Really American" mean? Born Jewish it's hard for me not to find linkage to statements in pre-war Germany that the Judan were "Not Pure Aryans." When the use of such tactics follows the Republican leadership's nose-thumbing at law, the Uber-Patriotics they've been hawking for eight years, their questions like: "Who is this Obama? Why doesn't he wear a flag-pin? Why can't he admit that we're winning the war" can not be easily dismissed. Stir in their protection of the corporatocracy, the disdain displayed towards intellect (no book burnings yet but some, including McCain's Sarah Palin, have been doing their best to ban them) and you're cooking up a pretty ugly brew.
In years past we've had support from the media, but after they helped sell us Bush's obscene war, how can we trust even the NY Times or Washington Post, much less the Zell or Murdoch papers? Fortunately, and with no thanks to the Republican party, we do still have PBS, and to it's great credit, MSNBC has been helping point out some of the lies of the fearsomely fascist Fox. I don't suggest Fox is run by anyone named Goebbles, but when you look at the mutual back scratching between Murdoch and the GOP, don't you have to wonder? Or maybe it's just coincidence that Karl Rove, George W's political architect (and effectively John McCain's now too) was placed in a job as a pundit on Fox shortly after he left the White House.
It's hard not to marvel at the virtuosity of their tactics. Were they used to defend America we almost could enjoy them. Unfortunately the conduct of these Bush-Rove-McCainites is of benefit only to themselves, not even to the "conservative" causes they espouse, or pretend to - this gang ain't conservative. True conservatives like George Will, Kevin Phillips, David Brooks, Chris Buckley have essentially attested to that. These are political con-men who pre-smear anyone who dares to oppose them, casting blame on them for the maliciousness they perpetrate themselves. Witness their phony claims about ACORN.
But back to paranoia. We've been lucky so far. No one has died in a Kent State type killing. But what happens if the coming election is close and the Republicans manage to steal it again? And what if Democrats then take to the streets? Would the Bush-McCain people hesitate to confront us with armed troops à la Nixon and Hoover? Maybe even with the Blackwater thugs? Have they hesitated to break our nation's laws in any other manner that pleased them?
I do pray imagination is carrying me too far. Never would I have conceived that such an event could reoccur. Then again never could I have envisioned an Administration that would suspend habeas corpus, force feed and control our news organizations, torture people under our Star Spangled banner, unashamedly ignore legal subpoenas. And lest we forget, the Bush regime signed away Posse Comitatus, leaving them free to send troops into the streets.
Our clearest hope, I believe, is for those of us who are as worried as I, to use every single resource at hand to get out enough of a vote for Obama that all efforts to steal it will be swamped. We're living in terrifying times. And a moment of truth is at hand. If, due to fear or misdirected anger, this party in power manages to sneak in once again, this party that's pushed us to a frightening brink and is intent on pushing us further, it's possible that neither we nor our children, nor the children after them will even recognize our once great nation.
That said, our work needs be done with the same amount of grace that Senator Obama has shown. He has handled himself superbly in the face of terrible onslaughts. We, his supporters, need to follow his example, because come November 5th, after he is hopefully elected, we'll need to bring those who oppose us now back into the American fold. Won't we? Isn't it our goal to come out of these horrid years as "one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all?"