Opinion/Streetalk

America best

In September 1968, Republican vice presidential nominee Spiro Agnew created an uproar among both Democrats and Republicans when he said that Democratic presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey was “soft on Communism.”

GOP presidential nominee Richard Nixon sent a babysitter, Stephen Hess, to the Agnew campaign plane to watch over the Agnew operation. Hess found that neither Agnew or his aides realized that the phrase “soft on Communism” had a history.

One account of the campaign later reported, “Hess found to his horror that [Agnew] and most of his staff were delighted with the effect the ‘soft on communism’ speech had had. Apparently, they were infected by the Billy Rose approach to publicity: don’t read it, measure it. Hess arrived just in time to stall more diatribes on the same subject. Such crowd-pleasing gambits as ‘Communists in our midst’ and ‘lists of names’ were under consideration. At this point, it emerged that Agnew genuinely did not know that these phrases were the slogans of McCarthyism. ... In 1953, Agnew had been an apolitical manager of a supermarket, and in the years since he hadn’t bothered to find out about McCarthy.”

It’s appalling how often our leaders are ignorant of history and insensitive to the power of words. After the Sept. 11 tragedies in 2001, as the United States geared up for war in Afghanistan, George W. Bush said, “This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile.”

In Europe, which has had more experience with terrorism than the United States and is more sophisticated in its approach to combating terror, Bush’s use of the term crusade caused leaders to shudder. They want a battle between civilization and extremism, not between civilizations. In the Middle East, crusade is a reminder of Christian terrorism in the medieval period—and a synonym for extremism. Bush at the time was reportedly reading the study Warriors of God by James Reston Jr., about the third Crusade (Reston: “the crusades were among the most disgusting blots on the human record”). One wonders how much Bush absorbed of the volume.

Which bring us to Donald Trump. His use of “America first” panders nicely to U.S. chauvinism, to those who believe the United States is exceptional. “From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first. America first,” said Trump at his inauguration.

“America first” is a slogan used by the Ku Klux Klan (see http://tinyurl.com/zj2ta9w), by U.S. anti-Semites—including Nevada’s U.S. Sen. Pat McCarran—who opposed this country fighting against Nazi Germany, by Reform Party presidential candidate and Holocaust skeptic Pat Buchanan.

Trump seems to consider himself a legitimate judge of the quality of various races and religions: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he claimed. But the quality of his own appointees is hardly testament to his judgment of people.

Because the slogan is so associated with dark forces, Trump’s use of “America first”—however popular—sends a message that those forces are approved by a U.S. president. We would argue “America best” will never emerge from “America first.” Ω

What music were you into as a teen?

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GreGory Belle

Firefighter/fashion photographer I grew up in a Christian household, so my music range was very limited. I grew up listening to a lot of music like the Supertones. … And then one day I turned on the radio, and Third Eye Blind “Jumper” was one the radio. And it totally revolutionized my taste in music.

Kay roman

Job seeker The Killers, Jimmy Eat World. I’m trying to think now. … I was into Maroon 5 when they first came out. That was a pretty big band. When I was a teen, what else did I listen to? … I don’t know. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head.

Cody mCelroy

Clothing designer The Stones. … My uncle got me into that when I was 13, and then the Animals … Nirvana … the Cramps. … And then I got into like psychedelic music, ’70s, so I liked Black Sabbath. … Then, by the time I was 19 or so, I got into the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Jeffery fisKe

Federal technician Pretty much radio-based rock, I guess—rock, hip-hop, early 2000s, … like Papa Roach. … Panic at the Disco was another one. … A Day to Remember back when they were still kind of underground. Which brings me to my question. Kimberly Lynn Esse, will you marry me?

Peter Barnato

Entrepreneur Queen and Wu-Tang and Weezer and David Bowie. But I see all of these lists online where people are giving their top 10 albums. And I know they’re all full of shit, because I definitely listened to Sublime … in high school. … Oh, En Vogue, SWV, Aaliyah. … I forgot about that phase of my life.