More Elitist Emotion

I just got back from a dinner for the Human Rights First organization. Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers' Committee on Human Rights) was founded by a group of lawyers 30 years ago, and since its inception has fought against genocide, torture, intimidation, suppression of speech, fascism and other threats to democracy and human rights throughout the word. It is truly a worthy organization, and one that gets results. As I looked through the event program, I came across the list of past honorees, and was struck by something for which I had no explanation until logging on to the Potatoe tonight. This is an American organization, yet most of the honorees (including both honorees tonight) were not Americans. Why? I did not know.

And then I read John McCain's comments and got my answer - Americans no longer celebrate criticism of our own government. Americans who criticize America are now traitors. They are anti-American. They are "elitists" seeking unneccessary change.

I'm fed up. People who speak out against torture, who criticize the war in Iraq, and who propose shifting the tax burden away from the middle class are not what's wrong with America. We are not traitors because we want restrained use of the military. We are not anti-American because we seek immigration reform. We are not elitists because we want every American to have healthcare. People who see a great but flawed country that has been led astray by fundamentalists fighting the culture wars of the '60s and military wars of the '80s are not the problem.

John McCain is the problem. John McCain is the traitor. John McCain is anti-American. John McCain is an elitist.

John McCain, who speaks out against torture with one hand, and signs it into law with the other - putting American soldiers in danger - is the traitor. John McCain, who celebrates ignorance and demonizes education - turning on members of his own party who dare to criticize his campaign, is anti-American. John McCain and every right-wing ideologue that seeks to define and limit what constitutes "real" America and "real" Americans are the elitists.

The thousands of New Yorkers with whom I walked across the Manhattan Bridge, our shoes covered with the dust of the twin towers, are not traitors. The New Yorkers that shed tears after finding an American flag amongst the rubble at Ground Zero are not anti-American. The thousands of New Yorkers that stood in lines to give blood that was never needed, are not elitist. The New Yorkers that risk their lives every day in Iraq and Afghanistan are not the problem.

John McCain is the problem. John McCain is the traitor. John McCain is anti-American. John McCain is an elitist.