The American Spectator

Al Adab| 9.28.09 @ 6:18PM

Shameless, but why should any of us be surprised? The race baiting left is so full of hypocricy that, were it oil, we would be Saudi Arabia.

Mary Louise| 9.28.09 @ 6:18PM

Invoking our rule that every progressive man, woman or group who insists on judging people by the color of their skin will likewise be represented, here's the link to the White Democratic Underground, the web klavern where progressives go to don the hoods of their long heritage.

Boy, that's beautiful!

Mary Louise| 9.28.09 @ 6:30PM

The good news is that change has never been easier to chronicle and iconify.

That picture of Obama as the witch doctor that had the Leftroots up in arms was so hokey looking.

The coming together of the races through normal, daily interaction, that's been happening for a good long while now, creates a truth with its own image that forbids an unwritten or cut-and- paste icon.

Mary Louise| 9.28.09 @ 6:53PM

Benjamin Franklin is my favorite Founding Father because he really loved women. Adams too. The letters he and his wife wrote to one another are exemplary of partnership and individuality.

And I think we think of the Founding Fathers as being born with all of their thoughts and opinions, and we don't often wonder about how their thoughts and opinions might have changed or evolved.

Here's a letter Franklin wrote in 1763 to a John Waring:

Being but just return'd home from a Tour thro' the northern Colonies, that has employ'd the whole Summer, my Time at present is so taken up that I cannot now write fully in answer to the Letters I have receiv'd from you, but purpose to do it shortly. This is chiefly to acquaint you, that I have visited the Negro School here in Company with the Revd. Mr. Sturgeon and some others; and had the Children thoroughly examin'd. They appear'd all to have made considerable Progress in Reading for the Time they had respectively been in the School, and most of them answer'd readily and well the Questions of the Catechism; they behav'd very orderly, showd a proper Respect and ready Obedience to the Mistress, and seem'd very attentive to, and a good deal affected by, a serious Exhortation with which Mr. Sturgeon concluded our Visit. I was on the whole much pleas'd, and from what I then saw, have conceiv'd a higher Opinion of the natural Capacities of the black Race, than I had ever before entertained. Their Apprehension seems as quick, their Memory as strong, and their Docility in every Respect equal to that of white Children. You will wonder perhaps that I should ever doubt it, and I will not undertake to justify all my Prejudices, nor to account for them.

Nick| 9.28.09 @ 7:09PM

How "hope'N'changey" of Whiteboy Underground!

Liberal Reader| 9.28.09 @ 7:10PM

Yes --

Because we all know that Democrats are a bunch of racists.

This really fits. I mean, there are those out there who wonder about Republicans, which is strange: the party of Southern white men? Duh! Obviously it's not racist. What are these people, fucking stupid?

ConservativeWanderer| 9.28.09 @ 7:21PM

Liberal "I See Racists Everywhere" Reader:

There is exactly one former member of the Klan in Congress. What party does he belong to?

What party filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (led by the Congressman mentioned above)?

What party did Abraham Lincoln, the President who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, belong to?

How long are you going to spin and drag red herrings and obfuscate before you answer these simple questions?

Curtis Rasmussen| 9.28.09 @ 7:43PM

As a victim of liberal thought on race, I agree with you. The dixiecrats saw the end of their oppressive reign with the civil rights act and had to change their tune. Instead of oppressing minorities directly, they labeled us as victims that needed their guiding hand to move ahead.

Unfortunately, this turned many Americans into a permanent underclass, always getting enough to survive but trapped in a cycle of dependency that was hard to escape.

Once again, race is a hot topic. Who is calling the race card every time the populace disagrees with their arrogant self serving policies?

Liberals. And I am sick to death of it.

Charlie Mac| 9.28.09 @ 11:11PM

Got White Sheet, Jeremiah? It's not a coincidence that the only one-time KLAN member in Congress is a democrat.

Liberal Reader| 9.28.09 @ 7:14PM

But seriously, Mr. Lord.

You seem a bright fellow. Someday it's going to hit you. The reason why the vast majority of blacks vote Democrat is NOT that they are fools who don't know what's good for them.

There's something else going on, and it's called "the Southern strategy," the nastiest, most insidious political plot against a minority group in modern times. It's some shameful, sleazy business, Mr. Lord. The Democratic Party's affair with segregation ended in the 60s: ever since then, the Republican party has been de facto the party of those disappointed by the successes of desegregation and the Civil Rights movement.

tonypal| 9.28.09 @ 8:24PM

But seriously Mister Liberal Reader.

The reason the vast majority of blacks vote democrat is they've been sold a bill of goods. Tell me, what is exactly has the democrat party done for blacks, or minorities in general, over the past 40 years. We've heard the promises, yet we still hear the same complaints.

As for your comment that " they are fools who don't know what's good for them", why is that so hard to believe when we have enough people in this country willing to vote for a man whose biggest accomplishment is graduating from law school.

Charlie Mac| 9.28.09 @ 11:17PM

I feel bad for poor black folks in the inner cities: They've been voting straight-ticket democrat for 50 years and the cities are uglier eyesores than ever. The poor folks in the inner cities are just modern day slaves living on rich white liberals' crime infested plantations.

Obviously, democrats can't govern.

George| 9.28.09 @ 11:45PM

"The Democratic Party's affair with segregation ended in the 60s"

The Congressional Black Caucus disagrees.

Richard L. Kent| 9.29.09 @ 6:29AM

"There's something else going on, and it's called "the Southern strategy," the nastiest, most insidious political plot against a minority group in modern times." You are hideously wrong. Legalized abortion is the nastiest, most insidious political plot against a minority group since Auschwitz. It's nothing less than a deliberate, left wing plot to exterminate poor blacks. Shame on you and on any "Southern Strategy" babbler who can't see the dumpster in front of their face.

Nobama| 9.29.09 @ 1:30PM

Great post, Richard. Democrats' callous disregard for the unborn is no different than their callous disregard for black slaves. Different centuries; same ugly ideology.

Al Adab| 9.28.09 @ 7:20PM

As we clearly see from the above, the left continues to view people as members of groups rather than as individuals possessing rights and deserving of respect. To them rights are government grants to group members rather than inherent in an individuals humanity. That is why they turned so quickly during the campaign on Juan Williams of NPR even to the extent of calling him "not black".

Democrats (and leftists) are neither racists nor ignorant. They are however, trapped in a world view of dubious origins which leaves them unable to discern the truths upon which the Constitution is based. There lies the clear and present danger to our Republic.

ConservativeWanderer| 9.28.09 @ 7:37PM

Very well put.

I haven't seen your name before... if you're new here (as opposed to just being in threads I haven't checked out), welcome!

Mary Louise| 9.28.09 @ 7:39PM

I spent all day on the Net, most of it at City Journal. That place is the Nuts! Next to Amspec, of course. :)

I've got to send you guys some more money, I've been meaning to do that for a few weeks now. See, if I write it, I'll do it.

Oh, and we should encourage the Trolls to pony up too. They use Amspec more than anyone. I'm sure they wouldn't want to be thought of as moochers or Net Welfare Kings. No queens here, that I know of. :)

Anyway, back to the City Journal. this
is so beautifully written, and I had never heard of Zora so that's doubly delicious. Some choice quotes:

***Now, suppose a Negro does something really magnificent, and I glory, not in the benefit to mankind, but in the fact that the doer was a Negro. Must I not also go hang my head in shame when a member of my race does something execrable? . . . The white race did not go into a laboratory and invent incandescent light. That was Edison. . . . If you are under the impression that every white man is an Edison, just look around a bit.****

Too right! And now for some more.

***It seems to me that if I say a whole system must be upset for me to win, I am saying that I cannot sit in the game, and that safer rules must be made to give me a chance. I repudiate that. If others are in there, deal me a hand and let me see what I can make of it, even though I know some in there are dealing from the bottom and cheating like hell in other ways.***

***Equality is as you do it and not as you talk it. If you are better than I, you can tell me about it if you want to, but then again, show me so I can know. . . . If you can’t show me your superiority, don’t bother to bring the mess up, lest I merely rate you as a bully.***

*** It’s time for us to cease to allow ourselves to be delivered as a mob by persuasive ‘friends’ and become individual citizens.***

Deborah D| 9.29.09 @ 8:06AM

Mary Louise -- I love Zora Neale Hurston. Her autobiography, "Dust Tracks on a Road" is wonderful, one of my favorite books. She was an amazing woman living in an amazing time. I'd forgotten how wonderful her words are. Thanks for reminding me and for posting the link.

P.S. I notice on Amazon that there's a relatively new "autobiography" which includes Maya Angelou as a writer on it. Not sure about that one...but the one I read in the early 1990's was by Zora herself alone. Just FYI.

Mary Louise| 9.29.09 @ 2:38PM

Deborah,

As I mentioned, I'd never heard of her before yesterday. It's nice to know I'm under-read here.

When I was 15 I happened on the book Black Like Me, by John Howard Griffin. Within months of completing that I had a fellow student who was black save me from serious humiliation.

As you get older you see the importance of what you read, and the gravity of how you lived.

If you love books, you'll never be alone.

Jeffrey Lord| 9.28.09 @ 8:49PM

LR…

“Someday it's going to hit you. The reason why the vast majority of blacks vote Democrat is NOT that they are fools who don't know what's good for them.”

Respectfully, LR, that is not the reason blacks vote for Democrats.

The Democratic Party, sad to say, from its very beginning to this moment, has based itself on appeals to race. This is the party’s historical culture, in a consistent thread from slavery to segregation and lynching in the days of old to today’s racial quotas and identity politics. After a brief – very brief – moment in time in which the party supported the GOP position on civil rights (remember that the 1964 Civil Rights bill and the 1965 Voting Rights Act were simply “do-overs” of the 14th and 15th amendments to the US Constitution, plus the 1866 and 1875 Civil Rights Acts that were passed by the GOP over Democratic opposition. Also, the percentage of GOP votes for the 1964 Civil Rights bill was higher than that of Democrats.)

The so-called “Southern Strategy” of which you speak (“," the nastiest, most insidious political plot against a minority group in modern times” according to you) was in fact the GOP under the leadership of the much despised Richard Nixon in fact dragging voters from the Democratic South into a culture that was founded on an opposition to slavery and racism. From a culture that you seem to suddenly find nasty and insidious only in 1968 - literally a century and three years after the GOP thought this whole thing had been ended with the close of the Civil War. (The latter, by the way, which your 1864 nominee wanted to cede by giving up on the slavery issue. Surprise, surprise.) Strom Thurmond entered and ended his time in the Democratic Party as a thorough-going racist. He died a thorough-going Republican and an integrationist, his most famous staffer and fan the black columnist Armstrong Williams. Indeed, it was Nixon who in fact desegregated the public schools in the South once and for all.

But this is yesterday’s history. The point here is that under the guise of “tolerance” and “diversity” the Democrats have instinctively migrated to their own history. What, after all, is the difference to appealing to the all-white vote in 1960 Georgia (where JFK got a huge margin) or the all-black vote in Harlem (where Bill Clinton carried the day)? Answer: Zero.

Both rely on appeals to race. It is the instinctive, automatic appeal for Democrats – be they black, white, or, in today’s politics, Latino. The idea that underneath skin color, a surface characteristic as surface as hair or eye color, is a real human being with the same blood, organs, wants, desires - and most importantly dreams - etc as any other person walking escapes. Escapes totally.

I don’t mean to offend here, but LR, you yourself are displaying this characteristic. You say:
“The reason why the vast majority of blacks vote Democrat is NOT that they are fools who don't know what's good for them.” Why do you look at these voters and see color? I see Republicans failing to convince ordinary voters because the GOP tries to sound like Democrats – which is to say, they patronize. And heck, if you're going to be patronized, why not be patronized by somebody who means it?

What you have right is that African-Americans, as my late boss Jack Kemp liked to say, are just as shrewd in the political marketplace as they are in the economic marketplace. If the GOP builds a better mousetrap, a superior political platform, blacks – anyone of any race – will come. If not, bye-bye! Deservedly so, I might add.

You, LR, are the one applying the racial lens here. And I would submit this is because you swim in a political culture that has pumped this sewage into the water from Day One. In its policies, its political platforms, its laws - its approach to just about everything, period. Remember that the now departed Van Jones said white environmentalists were poisoning blacks – not that bad environmental policy was hurting people. And he was a star of the Obama Administration per the Obama Administration.

LR…again respectfully. Wake up. We believe in a color blind America. It’s been a long road. Get your people out of the way and let’s move on. Who cares whether Obama is black? Whether a GOP congressional candidate is black? What is it they want to do???? That’s what is important.

We here in the Lincoln/Reagan/Bush/Kemp GOP believe that. Get off the stick!

Nick| 9.28.09 @ 9:19PM

Mr. Lord,

You forgot to mention that their founder, Andrew Jackson, HATED Indians. He did appropriately pick the jackass as their mascot, though.

Mary Louise| 9.28.09 @ 9:33PM

Nixon got 36% of the Black vote. 36%.

Strom Thurmond mentored Armstrong Williams, yet and IIRC, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's staff of law clerks didn't boast one who was Black.

To be reduced to counting in this way is obviously wrong and very counter-productive. But it's not the fruit of a Republican mindset.

ConservativeWanderer| 9.28.09 @ 10:39PM

I also don't enjoy bean-counting this way, but...

First African-American Secretary of State (as well as the second) were appointed under that eeeeeeeeeeeeeevil Wepubwican Boooooooooooooosh!

Daisy| 9.28.09 @ 11:30PM

You know very well why liberals push identity politics--they've got nothing else. They're all about victim hood; which inspires nobody!

In the arena of ideas, liberals got nothin' of value, folks; the only way they can ram (Emanuel) their Marxist policies through congress is by stealth.

Liberal Reader| 9.28.09 @ 11:39PM

Mr Lord

On colorblindness: Imagine if the Germans in the 1950s had said, "Let's stop all this talk about Holocausts. There are not Aryan Germans and Jewish Germans, there are only Germans. Let bygones be bygones. The past is the past. From now on, anyone to complain about the Holocaust is a racist!"

That person would be thought morally insane. In fact, such a position would be tantamount to Holocaust denial, a monstrous and anti-semitic insult.

So it is with Americans who claim that race is a thing of the past, just something Strom Thurmond and a bunch of white hooded southern Democrats cooked up one summer. Slavery? That was over a century ago! What more is there to say about race?

In fact, even to MENTION race is in itself racist! To ask, What role does race play in our politics? is to be considered a bigoted question, asked by racists in furtherance of a black-supremacy agenda.

You KNOW this is rubbish, Mr. Lord.

Now, why did Ronald Reagan begin his campaign in front of an all white audience in Philadelphia Mississippi bragging about the beauties of states' rights, not three miles from where the slain bodies of three civil rights were dug out of the earth just under two decades before?

Did he begin his campaign in this way because he was eager to hold out a welcoming hand to black folk? Can you possibly believe such nonsense?

Symbols, as you know, Mr. Lord, in politics, in art, and in life, are important: people pay attention.

Let me tell you how it is:

Blacks do NOT vote in such huge numbers for Democrats because they think Democrats are doing such a great job.

Blacks vote for Democrats in such huge numbers because they fear a minority in the Republican party are white racists; they believe, correctly, that it was to the Republican party that white racists fled in the 1960s.

In my view, there are plenty -- probably a plurality -- of black teachers, civic leaders, intellectuals, and religious leaders who would PREFER their children be inculcated with many values considered conservative. If you had a son, and you had the choice of having him taught he was a victim or taught he could grow up to be anything he wanted if he worked hard enough, which "lesson plan" would you choose?

It's pretty obvious. The Republicans do a better job communicating and up-by-your-bootstraps philosophy that is good for people and good for communities (when done right). I think black people recognize this.

Blacks are receptive to skepticism about the role of government in our lives, about taxes, about any number of issues on which Republicans have strong, morally focused arguments to make.

So again, why do blacks vote near 90% for Democrats?

They think many of you hate them and enjoy the idea of their young men being put down with the policeman's billy-club.

Kemp was a horse of a different color -- if you'll pardon the expression -- among Republicans. Something about him knew how to talk to anyone about the strengths of your party, and I always admired him.

I'm trying to imagine Jack Kemp's face contorted with rage and hatred shouting "You lie" at the nation's first black president in a joint session of Congress and somehow, I'm just not able to conjure that image.

Daisy| 9.29.09 @ 12:38AM

Unfortunately, I can imagine most of you liberals beet-red faced, spittle soaked and arms pumping furiously in the air, screeching 'BUSHITLER'!

It's a hideous, recurring nightmare that haunts my sleep. You leftists aren't exactly angelic, Jeremiah.

Nick| 9.29.09 @ 2:36AM

Marxist Reader,

You just don't get it, do you?

Read your post again. S-l-o-w-l-y, very slowly.

The fact that you THINK you know what BLACKS are thinking or know how receptive BLACKS are, makes you look like a racist.

Why, you ask?

Because you're acting like most black people think alike. Which is ridiculous. And for you to presume to speak on behalf of black people is beyond ridiculous. Even if you happen to be black yourself.

Just as it would be silly if I presumed to tell you what white people think.

People are people, created in the image and likeness of God. Each one of us is unique in all the universe and have our own reasons for what we do.

To see someone's skin color and assume something based on it, is prejudiced. Plain and simple.

Liberal Reader| 9.29.09 @ 3:13AM

Nick ---

True. But then what do you make of the VAST majority of blacks voting Democratic, given their differences from one another.

You're making my point for me.

Tim| 9.29.09 @ 1:16PM

MENTION, KNOW, PREFER...

What is it with that tic of yours? Is it the Jedi Mind Trick?

Daisy| 9.29.09 @ 1:39PM

Peer pressure is why most blacks vote democrat. Lord's column makes my point. Any African American who dares to think independently is subjected to abuse from the black community. Once black folks become more successful and confident, liberal peer pressure will lessen its thuggish grip.

I know a lot of successful blacks who are very conservative. They reject the 'herd' mentality; like the brilliant Thomas Sowell and Justice Clarence Thomas.

Jeffrey Lord| 9.28.09 @ 9:22PM

Nick...

Good point! Between hating Indians and owning slaves you'd think there might be a message there....

Raoul Ortega| 9.28.09 @ 10:45PM

You're being too hard on Liberal Racist. He's just proud of his (lily white) political roots for all the good that it's brought this country: slavery, secession, the Copperheads, segregation, Indian wars, lynchings, the Klan, labor violence, union thugs and so much more. And that's just the 19th century Democratic party. Just think of what comes next: Woody Wilson, eugenics, prohibition, soft socialism and so much more. We on the right and in the GOP can only wish we had such a list of contributions to this country on our side.

Liberal Reader| 9.29.09 @ 8:38AM

Well, Raoul, at least you have the intellectual temperament to give these issues the patient, nuanced, learned treatment they deserve.

Travis Johnson| 9.29.09 @ 8:02AM

Hi there,
I just wanted to point out that "Chocolate Salty Balls" is a song that Isaac Hayes (the singer) performed on "South Park." And I wouldn't be surprised if the person calling him an "oreo" wasn't black. As a black republican myself, I've had this epithet thrown at me once or twice.

Jeffrey Lord| 9.29.09 @ 9:26AM

LR...

I do not claim race is a thing of the past. I say progressives...who have made an entire political party based on using race - still use it. That would be the point. The Democratic Party has never stopped doing this...as I said...from slavery to identity politics it is all one and the same.

Ronald Reagan gave the states right line all over America. You are the one (and Paul Krugman!) who impute something that is not there. Leaving out, conveniently I might add, that Jimmy Carter began the same campaign that fall of 1980 in Alabama in a town famed as a home to the Ku Klux Klan - and made a point of getting his picture taken hugging George Wallace.

The question you ignore about Philadelphia, Mississippi is...why were those Civil Rights workers killed? Who killed them? The answer is that the Democratic Party ruled the roost in Mississippi, the killers were local Klansmen who were Democrats - and the fact that the civil rights workers were there in the first place is because liberals made a deal to give a pass to segregation, lynching etc in return for support of things like Social Security. The stain on Philadelpia, Mississippi was put there by liberals, sad to say. That kind of nonsense should have ended 100 years earlier. Mississippi, I would remind, elected two black men to the US Senate in 1870 and 1875 - both Republicans - because of the GOP sponsored change in voting rights and civil rights. This was undone by Democrats. They played the race card then - and still do. And profit politically. That is now and has always been their game.

The issue here is the future. Between those of us who insist on realizing Dr. King's dream of a color blind America, and Democrats/progressives who insist on hanging onto the old ways. That's a fundamental difference. Let go. The 21st century is here.

Liberal Reader| 9.29.09 @ 9:51AM

Mr Lord,

It's time to get this straight.

If you study history, you find that institutions, like nations and peoples, change.

The Democratic party has been around a long time. It has changed.

Its biggest change -- unquestionably -- occurred in the early 1960s, when northern liberals took hold of the civil rights issue. It is true that many Republicans were on God's side when it came to this issue; it is also true that IN THE SOUTH men who favored segregation were stubbornly Democrats -- even though they'd been chaffing at the bit for a few decades. (Roosevelt did not have it easy with these folks, neither did Truman.)

At last, the northern liberals won an internal struggle for the heart of the party and ever since it has been defined by its championing of civil rights legislation. True, many Republicans have lent a hand, including even Nixon. True, many southern Democrats -- like Carter -- made what seem like pretty half-hearted attempts to keep white racists in the fold. But the larger trajectory of the party for the past four decades has been defined by a civil rights agenda.

The results are that ethnic minorities vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.

Now, either this is because, as I said, they are foolish dupes, as conservatives contend, or they know how to vote their interests, as I would argue.

Take your pick.

I also add -- as many liberals would not -- that INTELLECTUALLY Republicans and conservatives have much that would be attractive to minorities. The best inner city school reforms, for example, have often been based on what most people would consider "conservative" principles of accountability and so on. But this only underscores my point: I don't think it's the Democratic party platform that necessarily holds many blacks. I think it's the perception of white racism in the Republican party. Again, you have to choose: either this perception is faulty, and once again blacks are fools and dupes; or, this perception is at least somewhat accurate, and the white racists who fled to the Republican party after desegregation continue to hurt it.

You also have to understand that blacks hear pleas for a "color blind" society -- with the obligatory quote from MLK -- as a kind of white-washing of the actual experience blacks have in our society.

Daisy| 9.29.09 @ 1:45PM

I don't think your party has changed. You show the same callous disregard toward the unborn today that you showed blacks in the past. If unborn babies could vote, you'd be all over the pro-life issue.

You're the party of expediency, ideals mean nothing to you.

Liberal Reader| 9.29.09 @ 10:00AM

Part of the problem, too, is that the intellectual dynamism of conservatism is being drowned out by a know-nothingism is that is appalling.

Certain populist leaders -- as is their wont -- parade their ignorance proudly, and their followers, overjoyed that the burden of having to inform themselves about the issues might be removed, eagerly follow these leaders down to Lethe, where forgetfulness and purity await.

I ardently hope the Republican party can produce thinkers and leaders like Kemp. For now, the hysterical buffoonery of Glenn Beck threatens to discredit the entire movement. Imagine -- for a moment -- William F Buckley blubbering and weeping on television like a foolish senile old woman the way Beck does. Consider too how hard Buckley and others of his generation fought against the Birchers and paranoiacs and racists in their midst. It's clear now why they thought that was a struggle worth the trouble.

Tim| 9.29.09 @ 1:19PM

"blubbering and weeping on television like a foolish senile old woman the way Beck does."

Yes, but at least he hasn't told us he gets wood when he hears Obama's voice.

Daisy| 9.29.09 @ 1:48PM

He hates Beck because Beck is successful; whenever Beck takes aim at the liberal agenda he hits a bulls-eye.

Go Glenn!

Un-learned Hick | 9.29.09 @ 10:00AM

I am continually appalled at race mongers who keep the chaos alive by fanning the flames of race. To hear Rev. Wright, Jesse and Al and now Jimmy Carter talk, you'd think we were a heartbeat away from Klan rallies and mass lynching for those uppity negroes. I hate to say this, but Jesse and Al et all needed a Rodney King or an OJ to re-ignite the race wars, because without racial tension and civil unrest, they are out of a job. If there were harmony between the races, Rev. Wright loses his power. Truly sickening. I think its the liberals that don't want to "move on."

Liberal Reader| 9.29.09 @ 10:15AM

Un-learned Hick --

You talk like Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton are somehow major figures in current American politics.

True, they've all had their moments. But Jesus Christ, are they really so determinate? And OJ? Rodney King?

When was the last time Jesse Jackson was even in the news?

Get a grip, man.

Un-Learned Hick| 9.29.09 @ 11:40AM

Thanks, LR, for proving once again that old hippies can be quite touchy, man.

Jeffrey Lord| 9.29.09 @ 10:16AM

LR...

"You also have to understand that blacks hear pleas for a "color blind" society -- with the obligatory quote from MLK -- as a kind of white-washing of the actual experience blacks have in our society."

But why is this so? It is because they are in a party that encourages racial differences. Has always done so and does now. This isn't limited to race either, by the way. Democrats wish to marginalize us all by sexual preference, gender, religion, skin color. This is what they do - and have always done. Why is it that that Democrats/progressives take after ...pick one...Clarence Thomas or Condi Rice or Colin Powell (Colin Powell!!!!!) Michael Steele etc etc etc - as "Uncle Toms" and worse ("Oreo")...It is because they have...again, as always...a proprietary attitude about blacks. And if you are black (or these days a woman, Latino etc) and leave the "intellectual plantation" they will try and destroy you. Thus the way to deal with Clarence Thomas was not to discuss the law, as was true of every other white nominee, but have some white Senate staffer push a reluctant Anita Hill forth to raise the oldest racial canard about blacks, that they are sexual monsters. Once all these arguments are made (women tell the truth, just asking for a date is offensive in the work place) then..when its the white Bill Clinton facing much more serious allegations from a slew of white women - hey, no big deal, its only about sex, boys will be boys, you drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park and you never know what will happen etc. This, LR, is racism. It is instinctive to Democrats. They have in fact never changed. Not from the day they formed around the idea of slavery to the latest imputation that Joe Wilson is a racist because he used two words ("You lie") on the Hous floor. (And for the record, having worked in the House, that is a violation of House rules and he should have been called on it.)

Again, we have to move forward. As Chief Justice Roberts has said, the way to stop discrimination is to stop discriminating. Now. Right now. Remember history - always. Look forward - change. Don't get stuck back there. It can't be undone. Five minutes ago can't be undone. The future is ours to shape. And in this corner, at least, it will not be shaped with racism.

Liberal Reader| 9.29.09 @ 10:38AM

Well ... two things, Mr. Lord.

1. I wouldn't want to live in a country where the arguments you make were defeated. I don't think you're being fair to Democrats, and I think you have a tin ear on the Wilson matter, but your larger point is well taken, and in the end, I like Sandra Day O'Connor's sense that if there is going to be affirmative action, it has to have some kind of severe sunset clause, or it will lose moral authority.

2. The notion that history can just be tossed overboard is very American and very conducive to optimism and the achievement of great things. Nietzsche wrote a fantastic essay on this topic. But it can also lead to terrible evils. Creating a "level playing field" -- by means, say, of education -- has to be informed by the conditions in which people are currently living and the conditions which have prevailed in the past. Nothing is neat, nothing is clean, and nothing is pure.

Liberal Reader| 9.29.09 @ 10:24AM

One problem is foisted on us by the term "racism," which sounds like a malady defined by ANY discussion or judgment based on race.

But that's just not true.

In this country, the "race" problem was a system of beliefs, customs, laws, policies, and institutions that enforced white supremacy for hundreds of years -- right up into our own lifetimes. (When Barack Obama was born, many states were still preventing blacks from VOTING. That's sort of important in a democracy, if you think about it.)

It is not just ANY judgment based on race that has divided and weakened our society: it is judgments designed to enforce white privilege that have historically afflicted us.

Blacks have NEVER enslaved whites in this country; they have never controlled the powerful institutions of society and used to it keep whites as second class citizens. NEVER. Racist websites and -- increasingly -- right wing radio claim otherwise, but I'm talking history now, not dystopian fantasy.

Over coming the heritage of white supremacy is what the civil rights movement was all about, not purging all considerations of race whatsoever from public discourse.

Yosemeti Sam| 9.29.09 @ 10:31AM

This is the Democrat party modus operandi:

They stoke and stoke and stoke and stoke the
ambers of putative racism on the part of Republicans through their own Democratic forte of - projection.

Jeffrey Lord| 9.29.09 @ 10:49AM

LR...

Racism is not about whites and blacks. To quote, literally, the dictionary (Webster's):

"Racism: A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement. Usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior."

Notice there is no mention of skin color.

There are "racist" blacks, Latinos, Asians, whites and reds. The Rwanda genocide was between two groups of blacks, and the news of the time said that racism - one group perceiving racial differences with the other - was the root cause.

LR, what makes America different (and I don't mean this in a patriotic, red-white-and blue sense) is that it is the only country in the world based not on race or ethnic heritage but an idea. As Reagan used to say, one can move to France but never be French, to England or Germany and never be a Brit or a German. Distinctly not so here. Not to get too Michael Jacksonish here, but quite literally "we are the world." President Obama is himself a walking example of this.

When you say: "Over coming the heritage of white supremacy is what the civil rights movement was all about, not purging all considerations of race whatsoever from public discourse. " you are unintentionally making the point. The Democratic Party wears its racist heritage as a scarlet letter. It keeps going there over and over and over again...because this is in fact its culture. It is a phony deal to say that race in this country is solely about whites, blacks and slavery. This cannot possibly explain the Latino/black propblem or the Asian/black problem. What explains these things is the insistence by some in our culture to judge others by race. It is always morally wrong, it always ends badly. And - this is important - no matter the color of those involved. The idea of America is in fact colorblind. It is an idea. Not a color. So yes, all considerations of race should vanish from the public discourse because they are not relevant to America. They are in fact cancerous, with a vivid history to illustrate. We object to Obama on health care, for example - because he's left, not because he's black. That's the way it has to work. It's up to us to make it work. But there are now, and, to my criticism, always has been those who profit politically from playing the race card. When you have an entire political party that built and still builds its base on this - its difficult to fight. But fight we must. Whether its 1865, 1965 or 2009.

Liberal Reader| 9.29.09 @ 1:09PM

I think that you make good points, Mr Lord, but that you minimize the cultural and political consequences of 300 years of slavery followed by an addition 100 years of apartheid and white privilege.

You don't just suddenly shrug it all off because Ronald Reagan says it's morning in America.

Don't get me wrong: I think that was a great message. But still.

And I think your view of the Democratic party -- presidents from which led this country through WWI, the Depression, WWII, and the Civil Rights legislation era of the 60s -- is a bit reductive. It sounds more like the parodic representation of the party you hear on Limbaugh than a good historical accounting of it.

Pete| 9.29.09 @ 10:53AM

"...judgments designed to enforce white privilege that have historically afflicted us"

This is the Democratic MO in my lifetime - and with the messiah's election, you can drop the word white. Keep the poor and minorities in their place by perpetuating their dependency on government money. After all, we white (or black) Democractic elistists know what is best for you common folk. Every word out of Osama's mouth drips with this condescension and his every action is designed to consolidate his power by creating more government dependency. Fortunately, those who haven't been enslaved by Democratic victimhood policy can see what is going on and are up in arms (perhaps literally, soon) over it. The bottom line is that Democrats treat the poor and minorities like subjects to be ruled (they treat us all that way), who are too stupid to know what is good for themselves, while conservatives would prefer to give everyone equal opportunity to succeed, regardless of race or socio-economic class. Some oversimplification there, but I think you can grasp the concept.

Angel| 9.29.09 @ 2:18PM

It's a class issue. Victor Hanson Davis wrote about this fact in one of his columns. He compared the standard of living of highly educated, affluent black kids at Stanford to the lower middle class white kids he observed while guest teaching in Michigan. The black kids had a huge advantage over the white kids with many more opportunities to realize their dreams in life.

Color's got nothing to do with it; liberals just use race as a cudgel to further their Marxist ideology.

The jig is up.

Nick| 9.29.09 @ 7:26PM

On the other end, you have black kids from terrible inner-city schools pushed into top universities through scholarships and affirmative action.

They are in no way prepared for the coarse work and end up flunking out. Way to help their self-esteem, bleeding heart liberals. David Horowitz has written much about this.

Jeffrey Lord| 9.29.09 @ 10:59AM

Pete.

You got it. Bingo!

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Nick| 9.29.09 @ 1:40PM

Marxist Reader,

Please don't use the Lord's name in vain. Some of us find it very offensive.

I'll try to answer your question from above.

I wouldn't even try to pronounce why black individuals vote democrat in the numbers they do. I'll assume for the sake of this argument that the poll numbers are accurate. To attempt to deduce why, it is better to use facts rather than use racial assumptions, don't you think?

For the facts, I'll use Detroit, since I've lived here all my life.
After the white flight of the '50s and '60s, blacks started to outnumber whites. In '67 there were the famous riots. At the same time there was the rise of black militancy, and welfare was destroying the family. The '70 census brought new gerrymandered districts.

In Detroit, this meant the elections of John Conyers and Mayor Coleman Young, both black and democrat. Charles Diggs had been the "black" Rep. since '55.

Is it a huge surprise that majority black districts would elect someone who is also black to represent them? It's also not a big surprise that they were democrats. Poor, working class city neighborhoods have been historically democrat since Tammany Hall went after the Irish.

It is a failure of the GOP that the democrats took over the inner-cities. They surrendered them without a fight and haven't even tried to make inroads to gain them back. They also assummed, in a racist fashion, blacks would always vote Republican because of President Lincoln.

I think all these facts, put together, do much to explain why so many blacks became democrats. Before the '70s, the GOP was competetive in big cities. Afterwards, democrats started the "all Republicans are racist" demagoguery. Coleman Young built his 20 year mayoralty on this racist tactic.

After 30+ years of this propaganda, it's no wonder some blacks believe this. It reminds me of how some Fundamentalist Christians believe Roman Catholics are going to Hell. They believe this, not because of what the Catholic Church ACTUALLY teaches, but because of what they mistakenly THINK it teaches.

So to sum up, I think Republican complacency and failure to show up to the fight, coupled with lies and conspiracy theories (Maxine Waters still spews the crackpot theory that Reagan and the C.I.A. invented crack cocaine and brought it to Compton) do more to explain why so many blacks belong to the democrat party.

Rather than such liberal canards like the "Southern strategy" turned racist democrats into racist Republicans, minorities think alike, or conservatives/Republicans think minorities are "foolish dupes". These are gross oversimplifications promoted by those with agendas.

Daisy| 9.29.09 @ 1:51PM

Nick, thin-skinned Jeremiah uses profanity on purpose; must be an Alinsky tactic.

Nick| 9.29.09 @ 2:22PM

Daisy,

Good point.
But there was a time in this country when such things weren't tolerated in polite company. I say we try to bring those days back.

Angel| 9.29.09 @ 2:39PM

I agree! The liberal varmint is the biggest foul language culprit on this blog. Predictable.

Liberal Reader| 9.29.09 @ 5:49PM

Bring what back?

Polite company?

Angel| 9.29.09 @ 6:37PM

What would you know about polite company, F-Bomb troll?

Angel| 9.29.09 @ 1:54PM

Hi, Nick! Hot weather over for the summer? How've you been?

Nick| 9.29.09 @ 2:25PM

Angel,

Hi! I've been good, how about yourself?

Yes, I think summer is over. Had to run the furnace for the first time last night.

Angel| 9.29.09 @ 2:36PM

I've been well. Heard you guys in the north east are in for a very cold winter this year. Have you heard this, too? They already have a foot of snow in parts of Montana and Colorado. Dang!

We're supposed to get a lot of rain in SoCal this winter--not looking forward to the mud-slides, but we'll sure take the rain!

Nick| 9.29.09 @ 7:13PM

Angel,

Yes, I have heard this. And I hope it's true. I need it to get into the twenties and teens for the phone to start ringing. Such is life in the heating and A/C biz.

Hope you get the rain without the mud-slides!
God Bless.

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