Quote:
Originally posted by Marion Shore:
First of all, I consider myself a very open-minded person. I'm not a member of any party, and I'm able to see different sides of an issue, even if I don't agree with them.
But I was absolutely unable to stomach the Republican convention this year. The slogan - "America First"! The chanting "USA USA!" -- the implication that if you don't agree with us, you're not patriotic! Yes, I know it's nothing new and I should be more cynical -- but in this election, between two intelligent candidates with very different positions, I expected more focusing on issues, less of this divisive jingoistic idiocy. Pass the barf bag.
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Marion,
From what I understand, the chanting U.S.A - U.S.A. was to mask the demonstrations and outbursts of dissenting voices that had snuck into the convention, i.e. Code Pink, and Iraq Veterans against McCain. It happened during McCain's speech, as you might have noticed and he said to his supporters, "Please, please, please, my friends, ignore the static and ground noise" - meaning, ignore the protesters.
Are you aware of the arrests in Denver and the "free speech" zones that are far, far away from the meeting place?
There can be no dissent against the state - period. The books written about the trashing of the Constitution and our nation turning to a police state have been abundant for the past 6 years, books like The Shock Doctrine (The Rise of Disaster Capitalism) by Naomi Kline, or Armed MadHouse by Greg Palast, or Screwed by Thom Hartman, or F.U.B.A.R. (f'd up beyond recognition) by Sam Seder are just a handful out of many that come to mind. I think McCain will be installed with Sarah Palin (they're only figureheads anyway, right?). I'm still going to vote for Obama, but I certainly don't feel confident that he will be able to win. I've read too many books about the engineering of America's destruction to feel hopeful about our future as a nation.