The Facebook post above is a real one. It is not made up. It is not a Photoshop. However, it was taken down by early evening today. Unfortunately for the GOP, this was both shared and had screen shots taken of it by various people and news organizations. Of course, since then, the Iowa GOP has posted the obligatory retraction claiming that it was not authorized, and they knew nothing about the post. They said:
“Earlier tonight, a contractor of the Iowa GOP made a post referencing a discussion on race that the GOP believes was in bad taste and inappropriate. We apologize to those whom were offended, have removed the post and are ensuring it does not happen again.” – A.J. Spiker, Iowa GOP chair.
Yes, it is always an outside person, a contractor, a not authorized person, a mistake, a loner. However, for those of us who are Latinos or African-Americans, it becomes harder and harder to believe when this happens time after time. I know that, inevitably, I will receive the posts from people who will find some off-the-wall story that proves that, somehow, Democrats are exactly the same, and that I am so wrong for bringing this up. But, I am not wrong for bringing this up. I used to vote Republican back when. But, the climate in the most conservative parts of the Republican Party has become a climate that allows for the worst types of bias to come crawling out of the sewer.
That bias is excused by branding it under a different name. Thus, there is no racism. It is class warfare. There is no official support for all this. There are only unauthorized users. There is no attempt to minimize minority voting. There are only reasonable rules to restrict a too long period for absentee voting. There is only a questioning of people who have been voting for decades who now have to prove again that they are citizens. There is only a restriction of hours, because those are all the hours we need for people to vote. There are only reasonable voting ID requirements that happen to prioritize those who have cars and driver’s licenses and penalize those who would have to wait for endless hours in a state DMV office in order to get a non-driver ID. This while being unable to earn money at their jobs because people who do not have cars are almost inevitably poor and unable to afford giving up a day of work to stand in a long line, at the end of which they may be rejected for not having exactly the right paperwork to get the ID after the hours of wait.
On the liberal side, there are indeed those who are trying to suppress conservative Christians for being conservative. President Obama just had another injunction approved by the USA Supreme Court over the issue of contraception. There is little doubt that there are various school districts that have gone too far in their no-tolerance rules. However, those no-tolerance rules have been excoriated by both conservatives and liberals. There is little doubt that there is a clear attempt to suppress those who are anti-abortion, with no allowance being made even for those who are moderate and would have no problem in restricting abortion after the first or second trimester. I could give more examples of liberal craziness, and will in my next post, but you get the idea.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post commenting conservative editorial writer and fellow Latino, Ruben Navarrette, Jr. In that post, he commented that he was sick of both conservatives and liberals. I find that the Facebook post above simply confirms my agreement with him. The bottom line is that our country is being damaged by the two extremes. The extremes of both sides attack any attempt at reasonable accommodations. The extremes of both sides are so concerned about winning that they are little concerned about the overall political health of this country.
But, the reason I so urgently oppose the Tea Party is that what there is in the Tea Party is a nationwide organized outpouring of policies and attitudes that are detrimental to minorities and to a holistic pro-life position. That type of organized and consistent attempt to suppress certain groups puts them beyond the pale. To simply cover those attitudes by claiming that the Tea Party is purely about economics is both deceptive and inappropriate.
As for the Facebook post itself:
Another of those “Funny Because It’s True” attitude skewers like you find on South Park when they hit a winning combo. In this case, about playing the Race Card by the Tyranny of the Most Easily Offended. And how you always make exceptions for those you like.
I will also note that many people confuse racism and prejudice. While all sorts of prejudices abound, racism is marked by systemic and often political support. I suppose it’s not impossible to act in a racist manner in a vacuum, but it would be very difficult without systemic and structural societal support.