Nerve Endings Firing Away

The reaction has been remarkably instantaneous, with socially conservative voters who had barely heard of Palin electrified by the few facts they quickly learned: her longtime membership in the Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal denomination; her large family; her opposition to abortion even in cases of rape and incest; her decision to carry to term her fifth child after learning he has Down syndrome; and her belief in teaching creationism alongside evolution in public schools…”What woman do you know who could shoot a moose, field-dress it and serve it?” he said. “This has really energized the conservative side of the house” [source].

If this is a common view among conservative voters who might just put McCain in the White House, then I genuinely fear for the United States. When the presidential race finally narrowed down to two candidates, I was thankful for a while that whichever direction the voters would choose to go, the country would be better off than the current administration.

Now I’m not so sure. It started with McCain pandering to the extreme right wing of his party and reneging on his positions that made him a maverick. Unfortunately, he still attempts to use that label to describe himself when his current policy position are anything but. The choice to go for Sarah Palin in order to energize the base was the final straw with which he finally gave the finger to all those even across party lines who liked him. With this complete surrender to the social conservative base who have medieval opinions regarding evolution and women’s right to choose that are rooted firmly in rigid Christianity, you might almost be fooled into believing that majority of the country is this crazy. To be honest, it is this extremist wing that is the most vociferous in its protests hence gets the most attention.

It would indeed be a travesty for the country if such an opinion is allowed to dictate terms in the future. We’ve already seen the overreaching powers of this wing under the Bush administration and given that Palin’s opinions are even more extreme (Iraq war is part of God’s plan and no option to choose abortion even in cases of rape and incest), the country might step back a few decades at least in terms of separating the state and the church if McCain wins. If the opinions espoused in the quoted paragraph above are any indications of how the conservative American electorate makes up its mind then this country is in deep trouble (and I thought India didn’t vote intelligently). This is definitely not the party of Reagan or Goldwater that held economic and governing conservatism central to its belief. This is rather a horrible mix of fundamentalist Christianity and redneck behavior run amok.

Other countries are snapping at the heels (economically) and will not mind one bit if United States elects its leaders based on regressive social values instead of innovation and scientific progress. Realpolitik based on war games go only so far and ultimately the characteristics that made America stronger in the latter half of the last century are sadly seen as weak.