Country First

This appears to be the official Republican slogan, a blatant whanging of the patriot gong, and wrong on so many fronts one is befuddled on where to begin. If the signs at the RNC had said "Profit First" there would be some truth in advertising or maybe "Wars First" or, gee, a lot of things. "Country First" really does mean a lot of things come second or farther down.

If country first has relevance to a political campaign one would think that country would take precedence over winning. If that were the case telling the truth to voters and also not trying to mislead them would be a service to the country, doing otherwise puts something entirely different before country - winning. You cannot get me to believe that a definition of national service would be defined by anyone not a sociopath as lying to or misinforming the public. As large a sack as Karl Rove wouldn't do it, he'd sure tell you about the advantages of winning and doing whatever it took, but he isn't sufficiently deranged to tell you that lies and misinformation are a public service. John McCain does exactly that.

Country first does not mean family first, it doesn't mean using elected office to play hardball in family matters. Sarah Palin stands with those signs and demonstrates that they're entirely meaningless in reference to herself. She made statements about not blinking when facing difficult decisions and difficult people, she's sure blinking a whole bunch about letting Alaskans know what their government and governor were up to in regards to her ex-brother-in-law. The people elect someone to govern; not do personal paybacks.

Country first doesn't mean protection of the ultra-wealthy, it means the country as a whole. There may be ideological wiggle room regarding the value of the wealthy to the country as a whole, but when the vast majority of the populace are demonstrably suffering in regard to the cultivation of the wealthy, that slogan has an unmistakable thrust.

Country first certainly means supporting a healthy and useful military, but nowhere in that is there an idea that some jingoistic winning a pointless war is the model. It might include taking care of the injured soldier and it might involve rewarding combat with educational opportunities but that was not in their definition.

Country first certainly doesn't mean re-igniting the cultural wars, the nation is not served. It would be very appropriate to encourage what one regards a moral behavior, but attempting to legislate it creates hate and division. It is also a government intrusion into what is a private affair of individuals and religions, forbidden under the 1st Amendment.

I am all in favor of putting the interests of this nation before narrow personal interests and the nation is much more than a Republican Administration or candidate. I am not in favor of giving up a single one of my rights to the interests of the government or Administration, they are not the nation or the country. The Republicans seem to define country as themselves and whatever narrow interest they are serving at the moment.

Country first, well the Obama campaign can always use a contribution or better yet some personal time.