One of the slogans John McCain used during his presidential campaign was “country first” – and he meant it. Obviously, he is not the first to hold to such a notion. But should we really put country first? I say no – the rights of its individual citizens should be first and foremost.
The whole idea of putting country first is a fascist concept. Some of its past adherents include Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler. I don’t wish to be included in such company. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way trying to say that those who claim to put country first are fascists or that they are comparable to tyrants. I would surmise that most people who use this phrase – McCain included – do so innocently, unaware of its true implications.
Our Founding Fathers valued the rights of individual citizens over those of the government. In fact, they feared a strong government because it could abuse its citizens with impunity. That’s why they formed our nation as a democratic republic. Note that the authors of the Bill of Rights went out of their way to enumerate the rights of individuals while purposely omitting any rights of the nation as a whole. This rationale was central to a recent Supreme Court decision regarding the rights of individuals to bear arms.
A fascist, on the other hand, will say that what’s good for a nation is automatically good for its citizens. Therefore, they will insist that people should be willing to surrender their rights for the good of the state. After all, they will ask, what good are rights without a strong and prosperous nation to guarantee one’s safety and standard of living? Little by little, through the use of exaggerated nationalism and scare tactics, they coax people to hand over their precious rights to the government. Before long, almost absolute power is in the hands of just a few people. And we all know what that kind of power does to people.
With all of this in mind, I never base my vote on what’s good for the country. Instead, I consider what would be the best for you and me and other citizens of this nation. I know that rights afforded to individual citizens tend to trickle up and benefit the nation as a whole. However, it seldom works the other way around, with the rights given to a nation trickling down and benefiting individual citizens.
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