The most prevalent theme of this week’s Republican National Convention was one of protection. At every turn viewers were reminded of the attacks of 9/11 and the valor of military service, which were bookended with chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A” and promises of “protecting our freedoms.” A not so implicit subtext of “Country First” was the message that John McCain has what it takes to “keep America safe.” True patriots will stand up to and defeat the enemy.
There is, however, a fine line between patriotism and idolatry. A sober patriotism appreciates the nation as the sum of all its parts; a country is no better than its constituents. Thus a humble patriot understands that the first task toward self-preservation is critical self-examination and cultivation. On the other hand, a rabid, unhealthy patriotism views the nation as a mythic ideal and representation of the divine; a carved out sacred cosmos that must be protected from the chaos that aggressively seeks to intrude. This is why a jingoistic patriot interprets her world as holy and everything outside as profane (us against them).
Why is this distinction important? Because how we view our nation determines and dictates our capacity to identify the enemy. Who exactly are the “they” that the Republicans believe they are more equipped to protect America from? Are they the “Islamic terrorists” that former NYC Mayor Guliani brazenly called out? The perpetrators of 9/11 which were repeatedly referenced? Solely Osama bin Laden and members of al-Qaeda that we must “track to the gates of hell” on “their soil” before they strike again on “ours”? Unfortunately, this is what conservative talking points would have us believe. The enemies are Islamic barbarians at the gate of America’s sacred “city on a hill.”
But rabid patriotism and national idolatry blinds us to the enemy within. Is America in the house asleep while bombs are being created in our proverbial garage? How many more Timothy McVeighs, Eric Rudolphs, Dylan Klebolds and Theodore Kaczynskis might America’s unhealthy diet of conservative xenophobia, obsession with guns and mythic narratives of rugged individualism cultivate? How much longer will an obsession with unregulated markets, corporate dominance and “limited government,” allow the likes of Jeffrey Skilling (Enron), Angelo Mozillo (Countrywide) and Rex Tillerson (ExxonMobil) to destroy America’s economic infrastructure and erode the environment? And how many more persons high from the intoxicating fumes of Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly must commit murder, as was the case at a Unitarian congregation in Tennessee, or perpetrate hate crimes against gays and lesbians before we acknowledge the venom of mass mediated right-wing rancor?
As Americans face the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and national confidence at an all-time low, it seems to me that the Republican establishment could use a dose of reality. Inflated threats of Islamic “goons and goblins” or attacks from the “angry left” are vacuous. And the obsession with “small-town values” and nostalgic narratives of yesteryear are mere psychological mechanisms to justify small-minded ideologies and contemporary insecurities. It may be better for all Americans to eat a slice of humble pie. Then, maybe we could confess with a repentant prayer of humility, “We looked at the enemy, and the enemy, in part, was us.“
