The American Spectator

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(Page 6 of 15)

The apparent dissonance notwithstanding, that her place in the party of race was eternally secure was easily understandable on the basis of its basic history as Mr. Lord succinctly points out. She made no bones of retelling all the Lost Causers' reasons why she hated the Republicans -- because they successfully prosecuted the Civil War, Sherman burned Columbia out of cruel spite, Lincoln ended slavery after promising not to and a victorious Union otherwise semi-successfully imposed its will on the South for decades to come. But, it wouldn't take long once she got to talking for her not so subtle disdain for other races to surface and how she held Republicans responsible for all that unpleasantness, too. And about her support for the modern Dems given their seemingly contradictory and antithetical racial policies? Well, Mr. Lord nails it again. She understood their true motivation and it's all of a piece to one, like her, obsessed with race and power. Better to be in a position to dictate and direct the racial spoils system, much as in the old south, than not, especially under the new rules. She was perfectly comfortable with the self-regarding antebellum tradition whereby so-called enlightened white Southern masters understood that using sticks alone was a poor way to keep the help in line not to mention the prospect of damaging their "property." For effective influence over their assets carrots were wanted, too. The modern Democrats, now comprised of mostly self-regarding northerners, who also had no great love of different races, have simply modified their methods over time as the law, social custom and evolving morality on matters of race have taken away more and more of their sticks. Carrots rule now. And as in the days of segregated buses, it's government that doles out the carrots just as it was Montgomery's city code that wielded the sticks and so Dems mean to stay in control of that system.

p>Knowing this I've used a debating tactic for many years on the perplexing question of how it is the Dems have managed to cast themselves as the party of racial reconciliation when it's us Republicans who bled to end slavery and supported ending Jim Crow in much larger percentages then Dems ever did. This tactic works particularly well with younger folks. I point out that in all of those old B&W photos and newsreels from the Civil Rights era of diners being assaulted, marchers being set on by police dogs and fire hoses, taunting political figures standing in school room doors, masses of white hooded men around burning crosses, etc., etc. every single angry looking white man and woman is almost certainly a Democrat. And it's only slightly different today. Sure they've changed their political tactics but the goals remain the same. They always were and still are the party that seeks to impose its will in social and racial matters to its benefit and at the cost of dependency of their so-called beneficiaries. Their view of their charges is unchanged and is reflected in the condescending and cynical assumptions behind all of their ideas and policies. And so today, just as in my news of yore analysis, in every news clip and photo where there are angry people stirring the pot of racial spoils and seasoning it with the bitter divisiveness of victimhood they are all almost certainly likely to be, Democrats. br> -- Mark Shepler br> Jupiter, Florida /p>

I take no position on anything Lord says in this article save one. Iraqis are not "people of color" for God's sake! They are Caucasian, period. Why is it that so many people assume, apparently, that only blond, blue eyed Northern Europeans are Caucasian? It's ridiculous. To think of anyone in terms of facial features or skin color is stupid, anyway.

Can we not have done with this business of saying "people of color?" I am of Northern European extraction. What does that make me, transparent? Does my skin not have a color? I am certainly not white, which is the color of the screen on which you are probably reading these words. I am Caucasian. I am neither proud nor ashamed on that fact. It is just that, a fact, and one as inconsequential as the fact that I am of a certain age or the fact that I live in a certain state. Big deal!

p>Lord sabotages his own argument, in part at least, by making this basic mistake. Again, at the risk of being repetitious, Iraqis are not Asian, they are not African, they are Caucasian. Perhaps Lord should have said that Iraqis are considered by some to be incapable of embracing democracy because they are not European. I don't agree with that thesis, but at least it would have made more sense than referring to the color of their skin. br> -- William Rupp /p> p> NEW IRAQ INTELLIGENCE br> Re: Philip Klein's

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