Letters to the Editor
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@independent_thinker
" If you want to save this country, shut up, wear the pin, say the Pledge and then work on solving the problems. Or suffer the consequences of another 4-8 years of Bush, war, suffering and political disaster."
Let's grant your premise, for argument's sake, which, as I understand it, is that resisting facile patriotism will throw the election to McCain.
Do I have that right? If so, it's a debatable point, but again, let's pretend it's not for argument's sake.
The question then becomes, are there any consequences, long- or short-term, to pandering to this patriotism or perhaps more generally, to "playing the game" as the game is currently played?
Because I believe a core tenet of Obama's argument is that the way the game is currently played is precisely the problem.
That's what he means by not only ending the war but ending the mindset that got us into the war.
He's saying that fear and jingoism and the like are the deep causes of militarism. Not the only causes, perhaps, but substantial ones.
The argument is that, as long as such flag-waving goes unchallenged, so long as we legitimate it by pandering to those who would do it, we will always be quick to find enemies and launch ill-advised wars against them.
The argument is that this variety of flag-waving constitutes a sort of siege mentality which itself is the problem.
As I see it, we can play the game as it's been played, but to do so and expect different results is pretty foolish.
How long until the next bogeyman crops up and the Republicans demand again that we all demonstrate our patriotism by signing off on an unnecessary war?
Am I making any sense at all?