The latest election epiphanies

No, it's not that Palin, in her own Cheney-lite way, abused her power as Alaska governor. I mean, duh. No surprises there. But as I made a bundt cake this morning- yes, cooking helps me think, and so do stop lights- I was thinking about this ridiculous youtube video I saw yesterday of people waiting to get into a McCain/Palin rally. And I realized perhaps the greatest contradiction/paradox/oxymoron of Republicans.

This is significant to me because of the research that I do. My dissertation will examine immigration reform discourses and how they work to discipline the immigrant body and the national body- in other words, how does immigration reform define national boundaries, discipline us as citizens (because we learn socially what to do by seeing what not to and how not to be), all in light of the reconfiguration of the nation-state as a result of globalization?

Some of theorists on globalization point out that a leading concern among national governments and politicians globally, which is the contradictory threat of cultural homogenization or heterogenization. I've been interested in this idea since the first time I read about it three years ago and I've finally seen exactly how it plays out- oddly, by the weirdos at a McCain/Palin rally.

So in this video, a woman that really may be drunk asks, "When did you first hear about
'Obama'?" And she and the folks she's with say the first time they heard about Palin was five weeks ago. For some reason, though, this image, paired with the fear of Obama's "socialist" tendencies got me to thinking.

First, it's one thing to have a socialist policy. It's another thing entirely to be authoritarian. And for people to fail to see that the McCain ticket is verging on authoritarianism, complete with Palin's endorsement of Dick Cheney, scares this shit out of people like me who believe in democracy serving all people, not just those that have the right skin color and who go to the right religious institution. We see his emerging authoritarianism coming out in, say, his slogan, "Country First." In his and Palin's denouncement of the press- and as a journalism doctoral student, I, and all my other journalism colleagues, can tell you that the press is the engine of democracy. To clamp down on it- either rhetorically or legally- is to signal the coming of tanks and martial law. Think V for Vendetta. Think of the USSR. No press freedom means no personal freedom. The press has become a floating signifier in this presidential election that alerts us to the ways that some parties want to clamp down on our civil liberties (because any criticism is from the "liberal" media, and not valid discourse in a fucking democracy), and how other sectors of society (like ACORN and its work to register poor people to vote) want to guarantee our civil liberties...which don't exist in an authoritarian world.

Second, and truly the point of this post, I think I truly identified the contradiction at work here. Republicans want small government, low taxes. They're pro-life, yet eliminate social services. And yet, they're the very first people to cry, "Invasion!" at the sight of immigrants. What I mean is, conservatives, at least as they manifest in 2008, want to pay lower taxes, and yet somehow have a functioning infrastructure. But then, they probably wouldn't mind if it was all privatized- how that would actually save us money is beyond me. But in the very same breath that they misrepresent Obama's tax plan or his health care plan, they start raving about the breach of national security, about how our borders leak like a sieve. So, they're preaching extreme individualism as they simultaneously erect a unitary, bound nation.

They're logic is faulty, if not selfish. But that's the neoliberal country we live in. It's the individual that matters, and not the community. It's obscene to ask anyone to support anyone but themselves, and so national health care, even if it helped the poorest of the poor, is an abomination and infringement on some asshole's freedom. Paying taxes for anything other than defense- and even then, we're just not sure- takes our money away; it doesn't help all people or guarantee a sound infrastructure. Rather than letting the tide rise to lift all boats, we still adhere to Reagan's "trickle-down economics." Tell me, when have the rich truly looked out for anyone but themselves? So why should we expect them to let anything trickle anywhere, much less down?

I'm curious, then, how a person can simultaneously put "Country First" and themselves? You can't. But you can spew hate, condone it, and scare people into submission and a mob mentality. Look around you, folks- that's what McCain/Palin are doing.