You can tell a lot about a person by what they chose to believe and how they come to believe it. A case in point is the bizarre spike in race-baiting as an alternative for substantive redress of public grievances. This phenomenon is indicative of an ominous turn in American political dialogue. It also happens to be indicative of the cognitive aptitude of those involved.
In the sixties, my family watched on television as policemen with dogs, batons and fire hoses attacked Civil Rights marchers in the south. Like anyone with a conscience, we grieved such inhumanity and were inspired by the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. And like anyone with knowledge of history, we were a little frightened by Malcolm X. But whether the message of Black America was delivered with the finesse of a Christian minister or the hostility of a thug turned Muslim radical, we knew the source was the same: black Americans were justifiably frustrated with being treated like second-class citizens.
In the years since, the American people have become far more tolerant of one another. Racial, ethnic, religious and cultural differences still separate us, but we have found ways to get along – not because the government made us, but because we know it’s the right way to behave.
Until recently, America was starting to feel like the post-racial melting-pot which our devotion to equality under law demands. In 2008 a majority of white voters elected our first black President. It was a leap of faith in his untried abilities. It was an expression of our national confidence in the righteousness of inclusivity. Since then, the euphoria has waned. Many who voted for the man are coming to regret it. Those who opposed him are seeing their worst fears manifested.
Ironically, the greatest current threat our color-blind society are not traditional “Jim Crow” racists; but rather the most vocal advocates of egalitarianism and our new “post-racial” President. Charges of racism have been cast about with such frequency and disregard for facts that if one based their impression on the rhetoric alone, they would assume that our racial divide is more irreconcilable today than it was when Dr. King first marched.
Fortunately, they would be flat-out wrong.
The way to grasp the method behind the current race-baiting madness is to recall a statement by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel who said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” He knows that people will accept infringements on their rights and autocratic power grabs (like those for which the Obama Regime has become known) when they believe that some greater cataclysm or injustice will be averted in the process. The “Crisis-Management” style of governance plays on the constant tension between immediate self-interest and long-term self interest. And politicians, especially Leftists, are masters at manipulating that rivalry to their advantage.
The Democrats won election on flimsy rhetoric of “Hope and Change” slathered on top of eight years of Republican ineptitude, incessant Leftist propaganda and a campaign advantage of being the media darling and going up against a really old, boring, disengaged opponent. In other words, anyone could have won.
Once in power, this ultra-left-wing clique realized that they had nothing on their agenda that could possibly be sold to the majority of Americans on the merits of long or short-term self interest. Let’s face it; the proven scourge of socialized medicine, exploding deficits, inconceivable public debt, skyrocketing energy prices, higher taxes and perpetual double-digit unemployment are not all that attractive. As the glamour of our shiny new post-racial President wore off and the grinding realities of his Statist agenda became apparent, we were no longer amused. In fact, we were pissed.
The post-inaugural scrutiny (which should have been pre-election analysis), revealed a man wholly unsuited to the job. His upbringing, his moral, political and ideological influences, his associations and dubious professional background all bode ill for America.
While we overlook the dismal failure of the mainstream media to perform its essential duty of vetting candidate Obama’s character, capabilities, credentials and agenda, we must accept blame for reveling in the naïve euphoria of our historic post-racial affirmation. While Obama was the golden child of America all was well. His ascension seemed to prove our own rise above a tainted past.
But once the rapture subsided and appropriate political standards and expectations came to bear, many discovered that the new President was sorely lacking. As he ruthlessly pressed his clearly Socialist agenda; as he and his cronies in Congress audaciously disregarded the protests of their constituents, the inevitable criticism began. This is when the inadequacy of the President’s political power base was revealed.
Almost immediately upon the introduction of reasonable dissent, the nation that had just elected a black man to its most venerated post was supposedly riddled with racists. The rational response to this hogwash was disbelief – not that there are racists in America, but that an ideological brain-trust that had just accomplished a victorious Presidential campaign would resort to such crude and indefensible tactics.
Simply put, the ideological left has revealed its total ineptitude in friendly persuasion and rational discourse by offering clearly contrived charges of racism against rational, articulate and relatively civil criticism of the President. Almost everyone, especially those promoting this idiocy, know it to be nothing but a ploy to avoid addressing the issues on the basis of their rational, lawful and practical merits.
Despite any temporary shock value or distraction that bogus claims of racism may deliver, the concerns they attempt to silence or deflect will still be there when race-baiters and their dupes are revealed for the con artists and fools they are. Finally, the only value to be obtained from this nasty pastime is to reveal the utter lack of objective value the President’s agenda offers; the woeful shallowness of his clique’s intellect, and the embarrassing naïveté of the millions who gave any credence to such an adolescent ruse.
In other words, race-baiting is an instant intelligence test. Those who promote it prove themselves ignorant demagogues. Those who believe it demonstrate ineptitude in deductive reasoning. Those who hope to gain political clout by it, show they both lack the character to merit trust and that they believe the American people to be a heard of mindless sheep.
Is there racism in America? Yes. But based on recent events and Obama’s past, it appears the only real threat racism poses to our political process originates from the Oval Office.
