Defining Terms.

I think opponents of McCain ought to fully embrace his self identification as a maverick. But this ought to be done in stark opposition to the idea of change. This distinction, while subtle, if made properly, will pound into the public the idea that McCain rides the same solitary and irrational path that his predecessor blazed. By all indications the Bush administration’s unilateralism is the very essence of the Wild Western ideals of independence and vigilante justice.

In this formulation McCain’s gung ho attitude on war, whether towards Iran or Russia, negates the positive association one may have of the term maverick. This may be an exaggeration but I think it very likely that the USA would be in two more entirely extraneous excursions at the moment were the past months under a McCain administration. And this is not good.

Another association that should be made with maverick is the mob justice. I mean these guys (GOP) are pure thugs in the tradition of Casa Nostra, bullying, voter intimidation and lying are all means to ensure the end of control over power, the value of which is pure profiteering (starkly contrasted with the nominal goal of democracy, freedom or apple pies). Here, we associate maverick with independence from the law, a society where power is a right, not a privilege.

And in fact these two ideas go hand in hand with each other; one of McCain’s advisors was on a lobby that was paid, PAID, to place Georgia in the good graces of the US government. Once there, the Georgians felt as though military adventurism was their right, protected as they were by the umbrella of American hegemony.

Really, McCain is a maverick. But this is a song that’s been blaring for the last eight years.