John McCain has always prided himself on his service to America and, until recently, most of us would have had to agree that much of his pride was justified. Even if you disagree with McCain on virtually every issue, as I do, he deserves at least our grudging respect for his military service and the work he did in the Senate before he brokered his unholy alliance with Karl Rove and the forces of darkness back in 2004. Since then, of course, his fealty to the Bush Administration and its policies has been an embarrassing repudiation of everything McCain once claimed to stand for. Most of you, I suspect, would argue that McCain's legacy has been further tarnished by the disgraceful way in which his presidential campaign has been run. I would suggest, however, that if McCain loses this election - and he will - then he will have unintentionally performed the greatest service he could ever have provided America.
Consider the following benefits that the McCain campaign will have rendered by the time the election is over:
- By selecting Sarah Palin to be his running mate, McCain has exposed the base of the Republican Party for what it really is, a group of angry, xenophobic, anti-intellectual, economically populist, Christian fundamentalists with dangerously authoritarian tendencies or, in other words, a proto-fascist movement. It will be difficult to put this genie back in the bottle, yet it will be virtually impossible to reconcile the goals of this group with those of either the traditionally moderate "business" wing of the GOP or the libertarian Pauline wing. Simply stated, the Reagan coalition is dead, and if what I call the "Paliban" takes control of the party, it is difficult to see how they could ever hope to garner more than a third of the vote outside their base in the Deep South.
- By implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) encouraging the racist fears of potential voters, the McCain campaign has drawn into the open the lingering racism of certain segments of the population. People who have been too ashamed in recent years to express their opinions on race are now openly speaking their minds and as a consequence there can no longer be any doubt that racism is still lingers throughout the country. In the long run, this will be a healthy development, because you can't begin to address a problem until you acknowledge that it exists.
- By claiming (falsely) that this election is a "referendum on socialism" McCain has taken the sting out of that particular smear and made it possible for advocates of a progressive agenda to be much more aggressive about their goals without fear of intimidation.
- Most of all, by waging the most negative campaign imaginable, McCain has given the country the opportunity to reject, once and for all, the ugly Rovian tactics of using fear and hate to drive people to the polls. If McCain and his allies don't win after attacking Obama as a Marxist, Muslim, terrorist-loving, anti-American, foreign-born, anti-Semitic elitist who wants to teach kindergartners how to have sex, then negative campaigning will be proven to be utterly ineffective and politicians in the future will undoubtedly take notice. After all, what else could possibly be said about the man? How much more negative can you get than to label someone as a potential AntiChrist?
If McCain loses there will be an epic shift of political alignments in America and, for a few years at least, we should enjoy a little sanity and maturity in government. If McCain were to win, however, the opposite of everything I have predicted would be true. We can't let that happen because this is, quite literally, the most pivotal election of the modern era. Don't be complacent, do everything you can between now and Tuesday to ensure an Obama victory.
Remember, no more hate, no more fear, no more Bush, no more McCain.