The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 7 of 15)

George Neumayr writes, "Geraldine Ferraro's remarks confirm that beneath left-wing paternalism lurks considerable racism."

Remember the U.S. Supreme Court justice who could not define pornography, but knew it when he saw it? What might be Neumayr's definition of racism? Or sexism? Here's the tricky part of the definition: if you make it something intuitive, e.g., drawing absolute conclusions about someone first, foremost and perhaps exclusively on the basis of race (or sex), then the net begins to haul more than the usual suspects.

Recall the summer of 1993, when Dinkins and Giuliani were staging a mayoral election "do-over" in my home town, and President Clinton condemned those who would vote against a candidate because he was a "different color." As a matter of fact, in the 1989 election, one race in NYC voted 95% for the candidate of that race, and another race put that candidate over the top. And in the election of 1993, the same race in NYC again voted 95% for the candidate of that race, but they were not the intended targets of Clinton's condemnation. What possible definition of racism could exclude that 95%?

Hardly a day goes by without an article in a major paper that describes women offended as women by the difficulty Hillary Clinton the woman is having with Barack Obama the man. What possible definition of sexism could exclude those women?

Yes, of course, a definition could be put forth that achieved the desired result, that snared only the usual suspects, despite the ridiculous complexity of the definition, much like how the Ptolemaic description of celestial movements achieved the desired result, satisfying the requirement that every object revolve around the Earth. It took a while, but Copernicus got it right and Ptolemy got it wrong.

There is so much intense, systemic racism and sexism intrinsic in the Democratic Party that almost nothing the Democratic Party acts upon escapes an intuitive definition of the respective pathologies.

p>Not the usual suspects at all! br> -- Frank Natoli br> Newton, New Jersey /p>

Regardless of the outcome, I hope that this Democratic primary has been instructive for American blacks. The Democrats are perfectly willing to take the ninety percent voting margins of American blacks, but that is as far as it goes.

p>In other words, blacks can polish the brass ring. However, they should not have the unmitigated gall to try and grab it. br> -- Herman Ziebell

topics:
Education, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Television, Religion, Abortion, Environment, Global Warming, Constitution, Law, Supreme Court, Iraq, NATO, Africa