Can You Pronounce Counterproductive, Boys and Girls?

Ole Steve King (R, Iowa) is in the news again, this time endorsing rape and incest as part of an anti-abortion crusade. This is yet another example of the incredibly counterproductive efforts of conservative politicians.

The gauze has been removed from our eyes, if indeed there were any left, to now clearly see the racist and misogynist roots of the American conservatives in general, and the GOP in particular. Possibly because they have become experts in getting voters to vote against their own interests, they have been working very, very hard against their own interests, too. Here are a couple of examples.

These knuckledraggers have been working feverishly to make abortion as impossible as they can make it. They have put restrictions on abortion clinics, thereby driving so many out of existence that in some states one cannot be found. They have been pushing more and more anti-abortion laws in the states and are angling to get the Roe v. Wade decision of the Supreme Court expunged or severely amended. These efforts run counter to their racist roots, however. Anti-abortion efforts means that more black and brown babies will be born than white babies as black and brown people have higher birth rates. (I looked them up; I did not just assume this fact.) More black and brown people will mean more black and brown potential voters and eventually the end of white supremacist politicians. These idiots, were they true to their racist roots, should be falling all over themselves to provide government paid abortions for all black and brown citizens as their racism trumps their abortion objections (pun intended).

Conservatives were appalled when college age youths were running amok opposing the Vietnam War. How dare they! They were still wet behind their ears and were not paying deference to their elders. Abominable. Consequently, conservatives, using bogus arguments (nobody even fact checked them!), got federal bankruptcy law amended to disallow student debt to be discharged under bankruptcy. This combined with federal funding guarantees of student loans has led to an immense amount of student dept piling up . . . more than credit card debt in this country. In this manner college students and college graduates are chained to the status quo by their debt. They can’t afford to “stick it to the man” if that would mean losing their job. So, that settled their hash!

But, the student debt crisis has produced a decline in homeownership, marriage, and childbearing rates among the young. The mostly white college-educated young are having fewer children (because of economic insecurity) and avoiding homeownership as an unaffordable excess, and therefore don’t see marriage as having any advantage over shacking up. So much for encouraging “positive family values” that the GOP is so enamored with.

So, these racist idiots are encouraging more births of black and brown babies and discouraging the births of white babies, diminishing their own political futures thereby.

Is there no one in charge of the American conservatives? Oh, Trump. I guess that explains a great deal. The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

Postscript For the younger generation, the title is a hearkening back to Mr. Rogers, a television personality focused on teaching children.

 

 

Republicans Racist? Surely Not!

There are some making the argument that the Republican Party is not really the party of racism. They point to the facts that black people overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama and white people for Mitt Romney as being two sides of the same coin. They don’t seem to bother to compare the 90% Democrat voting of blacks for Barack Obama to the 90% Democrat voting of blacks for white presidential candidates much either.

Now, I am not one to say that Republicans are primarily motivated by racism, but I do believe it is a major thread of the Republican fabric of politics, that it is a significant motivation in Republican politics. Consider their voter suppression activities: they simultaneously disadvantage blacks, Hispanics, and Democrats. All three of which is just fine with the Republican rank and file. And look at the kind of criticism our first black President has garnered from the rabid right: Obama bin Laden, Obama as a monkey, Obama as a witch doctor, Obama as a non-citizen (When did we make blacks citizens anyway? I don’t believe in the federal government in any case.), Obama was born in Kenya, “You lie!,” etc.

None of these are racial, I am sure. (Sarcasm alert, sarcasm alert!)

Richard Nixon’s southern strategy coupled with Lyndon Johnson’s Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts resulted in all of the racists in the South become Republicans (they used to be Democrats!). Yes, there are racists in the North. Yes, there are racists in the Democratic Party. But the vast majority of Southern racists took up residence in the Republican party and are still there. And the South is the regional bastion of the GOP.

If you want evidence as to whether this is true, all you need to look for are the usual dog whistle comments. Most recently we heard from Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul in support of Cliven Bundy. When Bundy got lathered up and started on his favorite topic of “the Negro” both of those Senators denounced his comments, well actually their press secretaries did, in written statements, so there will be no video or audio record of the two Senators denunciations but their prior approval of Mr. Bundy’s antics will be widely available in those formats.

This is how the race card is played, without race being brought up. And Republicans, especially ambitious Republicans, better learn how to curry the favor of racists, even if they are not racists themselves, because a significant fraction of their base is.

Put Them to The Question!

To put someone “to the question” was a phrase associated with the Inquisition and while I intend no torture, I expect more than a little discomfort.

The people to whom “the question” needs to be put are those who, like the guy at the CPAC gathering blurted out that slaves should have been grateful for the food in their bellies and the roofs over their heads (apparently he didn’t know that slaves mostly had to build their own shelter and grow their own food . . . after work, of course). Other pro-slavery comments seem to come from the Christian Right and, predictably, from Southern politicians.

Appalling. For every one who utters such appallingly ignorant views, I suggest the question below to be put:

You are awoken from sleep, clapped in handcuffs and ferried in the dark to a new location. There you are forced to work for free, are expected to eat very substandard food, and sleep in very substandard circumstances. Complaints result in beatings if you are male and rapes if you are female. You may be sold to some other but you get none of your purchase price. Your life doesn’t change. If you try to escape your bondage, you will be mutilated or crippled but not so much that you cannot still work . . . for free. The question is: “Would you volunteer for this?”

If slavery were such a fucking bargain, if Africans were to benefit so much for being exposed to American culture and be given free food and free shelter, would they not have volunteered?

There were such cases, called indentured servants, mostly involving poor Europeans but there were laws and rules governing how they were to be treated, and there was a time limit with each such contract. If you were abused by your “bondsman” you had legal recourse. No such guarantees were offered to slaves.

All of the above mentioned idiots need to have the question put to them. If they answer “yes” you will know everything you need to know about them. If they answer “no,” there might be (just “might” be) some hope for them.