Country First?

Up until this point, I have not commented on the campaign or the messages of John McCain. However when watching the Republican National Convention (RNC) I noticed the repeated theme and new slogan of John McCain was "Country First."

To many people they may have thought, what a patriotic, pro-American, positive thing to say. I personally took the motto "Country First," as a very nationalist, not anti-American, but rather perhaps a bit of a fascist thing to say. Yes, that’s right, country first, over its people. Let us sacrifice for the country!

I respect John McCain’s service record. In fact I admire his sacrifice for his country. However we have become a consumer driven country that has thoroughly invested into the military industrial complex. In doing so we no longer feel it is country first, but rather individual first. Perhaps it is the ways of old in "Country First" that McCain finds support for his new slogan.

In his acceptance speech Obama, said that we all put country first. I feel this is an inaccuracy, we have learned to put individual first, and to forget about those who we do not benefit off of. We do not put country first. However our government should not follow a policy of country first, but should institute a policy of people first.

The question may arise; how is country first different from people first? Country first puts the needs of the country above the needs of the people; these needs are not synonymous. The needs of the people ought to be what the needs of the country are. However far too often the people are ignored, and a few special interests are placed above those of the general population.

What is it that really bothers me about "country first?" It's is the nationalist undertone, that no matter how you feel, the betterment of your country should precede the betterment of the individual, and the objectives of the people in mass. In putting country first, we deny our own desires.
Maybe I'm too much of a consumer to see the value in putting my country first. A representative government as ours claims to be, should not chain its citizens in servitude from which they may not break free, but rather our government should be in service to its people. With a slogan of "Country First" on both sides, surely we are left to know that we will continue to represent the interests of a few, while the general populace remains ignored, abused, and in servitude.