As someone involved in community organizing/direct action activism, I was enraged at the dismissive, elitist words and tone used by Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin during their convention speeches this week. How can a party talk about “country first” while mocking the efforts of ordinary folks to bring their communities out of despair? Apparently, according to the Republicans, the only way one can put their “country first” is by killing people. Apparently dropping napalm is a more valuable service to America than I thought?
One of my favorite CNN.com columnists, Roland Martin hits the nail right on the head with this piece where he says “So when Rudy Giuliani and Palin mock community organizers, they don’t just toss a barb at Sen. Barack Obama . . . they degrade the women who fought for their rights. They disrespect the labor activists and immigrant worker activists like Cesar Chavez. They dismiss those in the civil rights movement — folks from small town America who were sick and tired of being sick and tired. They thumb their noses at the Nelson Mandelas of the world who want a better life for their children. It would have been perfectly fine for Giuliani and Palin to say that Obama’s community organizing days didn’t amount to enough experience to be president. But when you openly laugh and mock those hard-working Americans who are in the trenches every day, then you really don’t care about “Country First” or service.”
So who is elitist now, John McCain, with your $500 Italian leather loafers and more houses than you can even count? You came from privalege and you still serve privalege and no amount of flag waving is going to change that fact.