The other day, my good friend Professor Keith Burgess-Jackson pondered why columnists like Frank Rich rail on and on about the racism of Tea Partiers - when nothing could be further from the truth. I added a comment that I thought they did so because they cannot win in the battle of ideas. So - they then resort to slurs and attacks of "racist."
Today, I read this column by Roger L. Simon, civil rights worker of the 60's era, and former far leftist.
Why is the Democratic Party clinging to racism like a wall full of barnacles on the hull of a rusted ship? The most popular explanation is that that is their lever on political power. With 99 percent of African-Americans and 77 percent of Jewish-Americans (excuse the reactionary hyphens), not to mention a huge percentage of Hispanic-Americans, voting their way, what’s not to like? Keep America divided according to race and keep getting elected.
Putting it bluntly, the Democratic Party clings to racism because they are s–t out of ideas. They have nothing else to say. At this point, almost everyone acknowledges liberal policies don’t work economically and the Dems have little they can do but call names. This is even more true of socialism, a system which has consistently shown itself to be the initial ramp on an inexorable glide path to totalitarianism. Progressivism, liberalism, call it what you will, has completely lost its appeal to the majority of Americans on an ideological level. So what’s a poor Dem to do? Wave the bloody shirt. Cry racism!
Thanks, Roger, for clarifying and highlighting it far better than I could.
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