Rant

Republican US Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota was on at least two networks recently, talking about people who aren't "pro-American." On the MSNBC Chris Matthews show, she said: "I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?"

What in the world does that mean, besides an echo of the Red/pinko smears and witchhunts of the McCarthy era? (And an echo of Gov. Sarah Palin's assertion that she loves to be in the "pro-America areas of this great nation.")

Never a word about how "pro-America" is defined. We know from the other things Rep. Bachmann said that her definition probably says "See 'liberal' or 'leftist.'" At the very least, it means those who see the world, life and America differently from those who believe as these two ladies do. So much for the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment!

Here we go again with the "us" against "them" mindset ... will we soon see a resurgence of "America ... Love it or leave it" bumper stickers? Is that the same mentality that leads some people to issue death threats against those who have differing points of view? That "my way or the highway" mentality? 

Bachmann (and Palin) would probably like to see reinstatement of loyalty oaths, with criminal penalties for those who "break" them. It's okay for elected leaders to lie and cheat, to the extent of deceiving us into wars costly in both blood and money (as both LBJ and GWB did), but it's not okay to call them out on it. 

This could have been a campaign that gave voters the chance to choose between well thought-out visions for America's future, domestically and internationally. Instead, it's degenerated into a stage play of dancing symbols and slogans, twisting and turning to expose a new face for each new situation in order to play on the basest emotions and deepest fears of the audience. And we're playing along with the charade, revealing the religious, racial, gender, ethnic and other stereotype biases that still seethe below our veneer of civility in everyday life. 

America has a lot of healing still to do! And I'm no longer confident that either of these jokers who preach bipartisanship and reaching across the aisle to bring us together can lead us in that direction. It's certainly not in the interests of either of their parties to support them in doing that. tv