In an effort to retain what little sanity I have left, I've tried to avoid paying attention to the republican nomination campaign. But my inner political junkie had a bit of a relapse, and I watched part of a debate last weekend. What I saw is still subtly disturbing me; that nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something so profoundly wrong is being ignored.
During part of the debate, Jon Huntsman came under attack for serving as ambassador to China in the Obama administration. Huntsman said something about putting "country ahead of party", and he was attacked for it by Romney, Gingrich, Santorum, and Perry as if this was a horrible thing for him to say. The attacking candidates all wanted to make it loud and clear that they were "republicans first, Americans second" in the age of Obama. Not that it should be a surprise; Boehner and McConnell have clearly stated that their goal is to defeat Obama rather than to govern, regardless of how much damage it does to the country. Well, at least they're honest about it.
That is something my brain is having a hard time reconciling with what I thought I knew. All those years of my life where the republicans were the party of "uber-patriotism"; the "flag wavers"; the "my country, right or wrong" party. Those were the republicans I knew throughout my life.
I guess it only took one black president for them to discard their loyalty to their country. What is really profoundly wrong is that these men want to be president of a United States that they publicly disavow loyalty to. And that many "proud Americans" will vote for them anyway.
