Red Room Where the Writers Are

Since McCain floored me with his choice of Gov. Palin for his VP candidate, I've been giving some thought as to how we in this country (and in the world, for that matter) can elevate public discourse. I'm as guilty as anyone of falling into vitriol engendered by rancor. Despite Ms. Palin's own sarcasm and divisive politics, calling her a beauty-pageant bimbo is hardly productive. I'm so frustrated with my oun countrymen's (and -women's) apparent stupidity. One Brit at the BBC blog nailed it when he said that the Republicans must mistake snarkiness for wisdom. And a good writing friend observed that a pit-bull, even with lipstick, is still dangerous for the neighborhood. Gov. Palin, for all her Pentecostal self-righteousness, under that pretty smile, just seems plain old mean, hardly full of the true Christian spirit (despite my atheism, I have great respect for real Christians, rare though they be). More of a Pharisee, really.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm afraid that too many of us are complacent, fed our news on the TV, indiscriminate with our influences, and too eager to accept the take of whichever spin doctor from whom we're used to getting our injection of formulated truth, whether that's Bill O'Reilly or our warmongering pastor or our hysterical liberal university professor. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. But the Right's been blaring their horn for eight years, and folk like Ann Coulter actually have the nerve to attempt to exclude half the country from the public dialog entirely. We've got Pres. Bush the elder saying that atheists aren't Americans entitled to constitutional protections like the rest of the country, and his son so clueless as to his responsibilities that he evades constitutional limits on executive power and starts wars under pretense, putting our servicemen and women in harm's way, destroying our standing around the world, making us less safe at home by deploying our national guard (which is intended to protect us at home, not abroad) and externalizing costs to the future by overspending and cutting taxes simultaneously.

And McCain? He'd like to imagine that he can deaden our brains by simply continuing to bang on the war drum. And sadly, it's been working. This race is far too close, considering the facts.  Are Americans that dumb? So easily fooled? Or are we actually so fond of war that we'd choose economic destruction and moral degradation over reason? He talks of not wanting to see his country lose a war (still smarting from Vietnam, I suppose), but what would victory look like in Iraq, exactly? And how is it a loss to withdraw and do our best to fix a mistake that never should have happened? We invaded Iraq under false pretenses. Yes, Saddam Hussein was a bastard (one we'd put in power ourselves, like so many tyrants around the world...the idea that we promote democracy is the biggest lie we've been sold) and I was as glad as anyone to see him removed from power, but there were no WMDs and they knew it, and there was no connection between 9/11 and Iraq, either, which they also knew. The American people were sold a bill of goods and the price, for us and for the Iraqi people, has been far too high. Now McCain would have us go to war with Iran and Russia, too, and he presumes to speak for the Almighty, like America is God's right hand and war his His will. There's no way we can afford this, not the price in dollars, in lives, nor in the deterioration of our collective soul.

I'm sitting here this morning at my village's coffee shop, across the street from an historic house surrounded by well-kept beds. It's raining, and in the gloom the nasturtiums' orange, the sunflowers' yellow, and the hostas' lavender colors glow against their green leaves' backdrop like a beacon of beauty to remind us what life really is. In Iraq I know there are people of good will. So too in Iran, and in Russia. No one wants war except those who profit from it, and those citizens foolish enough to imagine that there's some old man in the sky who wishes it. There isn't. All I can do is keep hoping that there are enough of us in this country who value life and reason and want to leave our children a better future than the hundred years of war McCain promises, and to keep my own drumbeat going, the click of these keys as I continue to say my piece. For peace.