Fascism's winning smile

Last week’s vice presidential “debate” between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin was a study in contradictions, so much so that my thoughts and feelings about it were on a veritable see-saw throughout the broadcast. I was at once proud of Biden’s feminism — although I was dismayed that the Democrats would so willingly sell out our gay brothers and sisters’ aspirations to marry — and mortified by the politics of Palin, who clearly has contradicted Sigmund Freud’s admonition that “biology is destiny.” Women, despite their biology, really can be as underhanded and wrong as the men in politics.

I have worked my entire life to have women taken seriously as candidates for the highest executive offices. And there was Palin, being taken seriously all right — winks and all. Palin is the embodiment of the old adage “Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.” While I’ve long said that our country would never be able to stomach a progressive woman as chief executive, do voters really want a female right-wing religious fanatic in that role? It was horrible to watch a woman be as reactionary, conservative and scary as any male patriarch. I am sickened to think that a potential dream-come-true candidate has turned out to be a values nightmare when it comes to advocating the principles that I believe in.

The debate confirmed my greatest fear, which muckraker and author Sinclair Lewis described in the 1930s: “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.”
Wrapped in her flag, religion and contradictory family values, Palin is certainly seductive. She reminds me of the Greek’s gift to Troy: The Trojan Horse. The hollow wooden horse is so temptingly attractive in style, but inside it is crawling with deadly “ideologue soldiers” ready to undermine democracy in favor of a pro-corporate theocracy. If she and McCain win, they WILL appoint more right-wing Supreme Court justices who will continue to build up the rights of corporations and undermine the rights of “little guys and gals,” as Palin herself might say.

Palin has also mastered the art of “homey” attractiveness, in the mold of the late Ronald Reagan. She’s easy on the eyes, down-home folksy and committed to never addin’ a “g” to any of her words endin’ in “ing.” (Could someone get the woman a “g” please?)

Reagan, the god of the neoconservative movement, was all “neighborly” too; a “talent” he derived from years as an actor. Palin perfected her talents in broadcasting and beauty contests. The dark side of her persona is the energy and unneighborly ruthlessness that it takes to come as far as she has. Another study in contrasts.

Make no mistake about it: Goddess of neoconservatism Sarah “Reagan” Palin is a formidable foe, not a friend. She’s not a reformer any more than McCain is a maverick. They are both pro-war, pro-oil and will continue to promote policies that deregulate private sector activities that will continue pushing the middle class further into bankruptcy and hasten the disintegration of our quality of life. Reagan-like, Palin made a good showing in the “debate,” and anyone out there who doesn’t take her seriously, beware: With McCain’s health — or lack thereof — her debate performance was an audition for the Oval Office.

My discomfort with the debate was heightened because they are not really debates in the true sense of the word. Palin took charge by simply ignoring protocol and made her appearance into a non-debate. She showed leadership by hijacking the event. Why didn’t moderator Gwen Ifill have the ovaries to tell Palin to answer the questions as they were posed?

In any case, I so wish that Biden would have gotten it across more clearly just how disastrous four more years of GOP rule and Reaganomics could be for our country. My fear is that the mythical Joe Six-Packs and hockey moms out there will buy into the McCain/Palin lies about them being for the middle class because of their Reagan “folksy” styles. Excuse me?

The pinnacle of contradictions: How in the HELL did the party for fat cats manage to bamboozle so many people into believing Republicans are for the little people? They are the party of union busters, not the working class. And how in the HELL do they get away with claiming that McCain knows how to win a war when we didn’t even win the Vietnam war, which he endured as a POW? What exactly was Palin referring to in the debate when she said McCain knows how to win a war? The Trojan War?

Although many conservatives see Palin as God’s gift to their movement, I warn you to remember to beware of Greeks bearing gifts. The horse that the Greeks brought to the gullible Trojans as a gift destroyed Troy.

As Biden said, “Look, folks, this is the most important election you’ve ever voted in your entire life.” That’s not even debatable.

Contact Ellen at snortland.com.