Nationalist kitsch and the GOP

By Michael J.W. Stickings

kitsch (n.) -- something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste. (dictionary.com)
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"[P]olitical movements rest not so much on rational attitudes as on the fantasies, images, words, and archetypes that come together to make up this or that political kitsch... Kitsch is the stopover between being and oblivion."

-- Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
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Watching the RNC this week, what came to mind was the phrase "nationalist kitsch," the authoritarian kitsch of the right. From the hyper-patriotic chants of "USA! USA!" to the hyper-patriotic symbolism and iconography to the hero-worship and mythologization of McCain and the military to the gaudiness and tackiness of the clothing and sets to the self-sacrificial message "Country First," the event's major slogan and theme, to the speeches and spin, what dominated this past week in St. Paul and in the GOP generally was unironic and unabashed kitsch.

It was the usual political theater, but worse, a largely substance-free affair rooted in vitriol and lies. We expect this sort of thing from Republicans, but, with the country mostly against them on the issues, all they had left was McCain's personal story, abridged for hero-worship, the excitement generated among the faithful by Palin, and the usual fictions they spin regarding the Democrats, the country, and the world beyond. Even on that last point, they weren't able to present their worldview at all effectively. It was a pathetic display, a failed attempt to reach out both to independents and to the base, as when McCain, last night, cynically presented himself as an agent of change with nothing more than Bush-style conservative policy proposals.

And, of course, they had the kitsch, the fantasies and images, words and archetypes, the package into which all of this went, the frame around which all of it is being sold.

There was anger and bitterness on display this week in St. Paul, as well as sarcasm and arrogance, bigotry and intolerance. But it all amounted to nothing but an excited base, with Palin overshadowing McCain and the party still uncertain of itself and its future. It was all quite revolting, really, spirit-draining and soul-crushing, a kitschy show that seemed as amateurish and incapable as Palin herself.

And yet, nationalism and hero-worship have worked before and may yet work again. And if they do, if McCain and Palin and the Republicans somehow pull this off, the next stop will indeed be oblivion.