Over the years, I have often wondered what happened to the country I was taught to admire and love. Even since the war started in Iraq, I have become acutely aware of our political stance domestically and internationally. I am becoming more and more saddened by the state of our nation’s collective perspective on not only our own citizens, but the foreign brethren around us. This saddness was amplified when trying to have any kind of civil discourse with a small, but prominent group of people.

These people where amazingly detached from any kind of objectivity or rational reality. Everything to them was black and white, us and them, good and evil, “with us” or “against us.” I, being the advocate for a true democracy, tried to assist in revealing the nature of reality, and its dynamics. And with every, might I add civil, attempt, I was attacked, demonized and marginalized. It was amazing how even something as simple as disagreeing with how our country handles its contribution to global warming, I was painted as anti-American or unpatriotic.

Yet, how is that even possible? How does one define being American by his/her stance on environmental policy, or any other policy? Don’t even mention an antagonistic opinion on the Iraq War. Even a whiff of an opinion other than “kill them all, and let God sort them out,” was treasonous. As disturbing as it was, I was fascinated by their cult like mentality. This blind faith in their party’s policy to the point of true cognitive dissonance was starting to look very familiar.

They see America as infallible, perfect and not in need of improvement. This kind of mentality of perfectness is psychopathic. How can anything be perfect, let alone an entire country. But, that is what has infiltrated our government, this “God’s nation” kind of mentality that is rotting our country from the inside out.

And here is where I get to my point. Does this not seem similar to fanatical Islam or Saddam Hussein’s policy, the very enemy they are trying to destroy? When did the belief in America evolve into this irrational, oppressive ideology to the point of marginalizing and demonizing anyone opposing current policy? In my opinion, this will destroy the very fabric of our nation. Why? Well, just think about what makes up this country. This is not a nation of just one race, ideology or ethnicity? This is a “melting pot” of people from all walks of life, so how can they (being the fanatical Americans) “win” and America still be, well, America?

The reason I am worried about this small, yet prominent group is they are getting national attention. They are even enabled and rewarded by FOX and CNN by legitimizing such distorted ideas. Here are a couple of examples of this kind of belief:

10/17/2008, on Hardball — Republican Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann: [all quotes paraphrased] “Michelle Obama herself said she is just now proud of her country. That is anti-American.” She also said, “the news media should do a penetrating expose on who in our government is pro-America and anti-America.” “What about Reverend Wright, and his anti-American Views?” Below is the video:

10/17/2008, Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin writes about one of Palin’s speeches at a fundraiser: “We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation.”

Posted 10/16/2008, McCain and Palin supporters outside a rally being interviewed: “Obama and his wife, I’m concerned that they could be anti-white. That he might hide that.” “I’m afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He’s not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?”

10/11/2008 on YouTube.com — A commentator on this video: Obama is the anti-christ. this is how hitler began.

Even in my own experience, I was seriously told by a coworker of mine (mind you an educated, seemingly smart person that works for a childcare/after school program part time) said to me how disappointed she is with the young people of today. She goes on saying, “Obama, Obama. Don’t they understand that this Muslim has ties to domestic terror cells all over the nation?” She then tried to convince me that I was wrong for saying he was not Muslim and not a terrorist, but she didn’t even care. Then got mad at me for no apparent reason.

I could go on and on with examples, but I won’t. I know that this does not represent all Republicans, and my intentions are not to demonize them. What I am trying to accomplish is set my definition of Americanism, or more precisely, fanatical Americanism. It is a movement deep within some political camps that is attempting to sterilize this country. Rid it of anything they deem anti-American. This devastating social movement is gaining momentum as we become more and more impassioned with the politics of fear, and focused on black versus white, Christian versus Islam.

This political movement is nearing intellectual genocide. The more these political campaigns delve into fear mongering, extreme negative characterizations and false dilemmas, the more this country is going to be torn apart by the notion that we all have to choose one side or the other, and any intellectual discourse is uncalled for. These extreme positions have been repeated many times over by the main stream media and, dare I say, the McCain/Palin campaign. They are focusing almost entirely on these distorted realities that do not represent what most think.

Here are some of the latest attempts at ad hominem attacks on Senator Obama:

[A recorded phone call from the McCain/Palin campaign] Hello. I’m calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. capital, the Pentagon, a judge’s home and killed Americans. And democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his democratic allies lack the judgement to lead our country. This call was paid for by the McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee.

Here is a newsletter that was sent from the North Carolina Republican State Executive Committee and the Nevada Republican Party

The problem with this is it distorts reality. This severe ambiguity leads people to conclude that Obama actually “palled” around with this domestic terrorist whilst he was committing the crime. Categorically false! Obama was 8 when Mr. Ayers was committing his so called “terror” attacks. Second of all, Obama sat on a committee with Mr. Ayers, during which Ayers was a professor at a university, as well as many other government officials, many of which were republican, and the committee was an educational committee founded by Ronald Reagan.

Add this to the extreme situation we are in with the economy, 3 wars (Iraq, Afghanistan and War on Terror) and the fact that Obama represents massive change, and we have the extreme polarization of this nation at a time we need to come together. I have to say that our leaders need to combat this kind of movement. But, when our prominent leaders are initiating it, you have the potential of a fatal ending.

So, to sum it all up, Americanism is not patriotic, it is nothing more than an oppressive ideology that will destroy America as we know it. America, by historical definition, is a land of opportunity, religious independence and individual freedoms. I am worried that this historical America is losing ground to this new oppressive idea of Americanism. I hope I am wrong.