What do you call someone who disagrees with you? Why, Un-American, of course!

Just as you call a law UnConstitutional if you disagree with it, and a person UnPatriotic if they don’t support your war.

This has got to stop.

We are less than 3 weeks away from a hugely important election, and there is huge division. As I see it, there are two directions we can go right now:

We can have meaningful discussion about the difference between us, or we can label each other The Enemy and ensure that the country will not come together on November 5th.

I’ve already covered this topic, but it bears repeating. Three things happened in the last couple of days that bothered me.

On Thursday, Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin told North Carolina rally attendees how much she likes to visit the Pro-America parts of the country.

“We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe” — here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers — “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.”

She continued: “This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom.”

She doesn’t say which parts of the country are anti-America, but the implication is pretty clear. Small towns corner the market on being American, while big cities are……?

The second thing that troubles me is that this year’s GOP supporters also seem to think that they are the real Americans. Starting at the convention, their response to both McCain-Palin statements AND their opponents statements and protests has been to shout “U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!” At the convention, they didn’t seem aware of the absurdity of hollering this at a group of Iraq veterans who were protesting the war.

And this week, while Palin was speaking in North Carolina, some protesters were shouting “Obama”. Not *nice*, but certainly within their rights. What did the McCain-Palin supporters shout? Not “John McCain!” or even “Nobama!” Nope. Again, it was “U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!!” Because, you know, people who support Obama are clearly Un-American! (Oh yeah, and they also kicked a reporter to the ground.)

And finally, this one. It’s absolutely beyond the pale. Everyone, of every political persuasion, should be alarmed by this:

Michele Bachmann is an elected official. She’s running for re-election this year. Her opponent is Elwyn Tinklenberg. (Don’t hold his name against him)

Apparently, in the 24 hours since Rep. Bachmann suggested that the media engage in a McCarthyesque witch hunt to root out the Un-American Congresspeople and Senators among us, Tinklenberg’s campaign raised $438,346.57.

Don’t dismiss Bachmann’s comments as simply moronic. They’re also disgusting and represent a dangerous type of thinking.

We need to be very careful how we approach each other and our opponents. No one group has a monopoly on patriotism or being “American”. To suggest otherwise is delusional, hateful, and divisive.

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