Oh, lookee, Karl Rove’s gonna lecture us all on patriotism - as Christopher Manion notes over at the Lew Rockwell blog, by using other people’s patriotism “to vindicate and glorify - themselves!”
Christine Krissoff’s husband and sons, wrapped in prayers and armed with swords and scalpels, have served our nation with valor. So has she. So long as our nation produces families like the Krissoffs, America will remain not only the greatest nation on earth, but also the most noble in history.
Emphasis added.
The most noble in history.
You know, good for the Krissoff’s and all, but Rove’s final line, so typical for a Republican, stumbles directly into a very, very good bit by Ta-Nehisi Coates last week, responding to an almost identical statement by Liz Cheney - which suggests that this is the official new Republican line:
The best nation that ever existed in history. No conservative skepticism. No Niebuhrian humility. Now consider the resonance between that statement and this one from George Wallace which I flagged a few weeks ago:
In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.
Now, per the bold type, the equation isn’t with the racism, but with the unbridled nationalism. The worst part of Wallace’s statement isn’t the segregation part, it’s the myth, the candy that he’s feeding his audience–the greatest people that have ever trod this earth. (One could wrap the arrogance of the Lost Cause in here too, if you were so inclined.)
What you have, in both cases, is a hustle, a bait and switch, in which one claims to be hawking patriotism, but in fact, is selling jingoism. If patriotism is love of country, then much of the unquestioning GOP rhetoric fails on the rudiments. Is love of kin, love of siblings, love of spouse, telling your beloved, that they are the best person that’s ever existed in history? Or is that sycophancy, fast talk proffered by loose friends, who in your darkest hours, appeal to your worst self.
The religious right isn’t what’s wrong with the GOP. It’s the pervasive, unthinking, unreflective nationalism.
