The Palin nomination by John McCain shows ever more clearly that the national Republican Party today is controlled by people ill at ease with reality.
Reality has raised its ugly head again with the revelations of the pregnancy of her unwed daughter, her membership in the extreme Alaska Independence Party, her firing a top police official because he would not fire a former in-law involved in a custody dispute with her daughter, her attempt to a fire a librarian who was against her plans for book censorship, and hints of yet greater scandals to come.
Too many high level leaders of factions of the Republican Party have viewed themselves and their allies as a moral elite incapable of doing wrong. They have lived in a self-enclosed world in which outsiders who do not hold their illusions are not welcome to join.
And so we have had a an expensive, dangerous, and tragic war in Iraq, record deficits, ever higher inflation and unemployment (it's time to bring back the word "stagflation"), an ever growing disparity in wealth between the rich and rest of us, ever increasing home foreclosures and personal bankruptcies, and a general sense of despair among the public.
No where are the illusions that the isolated Republican leaders cherish more on display than with Palin. Being a Republican leader, she shows clearly, does not guarantee good judgment, family morality, knowledge, competence, generosity of spirit, or simple competence.
There is no need to investigate among people who know all the answers. The Bush Administration considered the opposition to the war in Iraq as just backround noise, because they knew the truth. All it took for McCain to vet Palin was a google search, because they started out knowing that Republican affiliation and denunciation of other politicians were proof of vitue, goodness, and high leadership skills.
Those who want four more years of policies with a patina of faith in illusions and an underbelly of kowtowing to special interests should vote for McCain and Palin. Those who want a President and Vice President who spend considerable efforts to understand complex realities and deal with them constructively will vote for Obama and Biden.
My sense is that the illusion of innocence which sustained the Reagan and Bush Presidencies is wearing thin.
Denouncing immorality does not make one moral. Denouncing corruption does make one honest. Denouncing terrorism does not make one safe.
Praising the wealthy does not make one wealthy. Praising self-reliance does not produce a nation that can triumph over a playing field that disfavors the average citizen. Calling what used to be called "trickle down economics" "supply side economics" does not create a supply of jobs or business opportunities from policies benefitting disproportionately a small sliver of our country.
Anyone who doubts the cloistered, unrepresentative, and unaccountable nature of the McCain campaign should study the secretive and bizarre nature of the Palin nomination and the clique that enthusiastically supports it. In the name of appealing to progresive Hillary backers, we have been given a far, far right nominee who may be the least qualified choice in American history.
Reality is a tough taskmaster. Ideology can help one understand reality, but ideology cannot be a successful substitute for reality.
It will take a continuation of a lot of work and a lot of money, but the outline of an Obama-Biden landslide with powerful coattails for the rest of the ticket is now in sight.