Faith No More?

A troubling element of our country’s political discourse has increasingly piqued my interest as of late. And on Tuesday, last week, it seemed to have trembled to a denouement in my mind.
Our lame-duck former President, Jimmy Carter, took it upon himself to address our national yellow streak in matters of pervasive (or perhaps only perceived) racial tension.

His comments were directed at a portion of the populace that he believes, from his own experience, to be a racist contingent that only recently began to voice “intensely demonstrated animosity” toward President Obama, a man who is bi-racial. His reasoning comes on the heels of Rep. Joe Wilson’s decorum-busting outburst during the President’s recent televised address to Congress.

Carter’s personal experience of the South does indeed justify his acknowledgment of existing racism; and some elements of a rancorous populous may in fact continue to harbor such bigoted personal views. But his comments directly singled out a certain protest movement, popularly known as the Tea Parties, though sometimes childishly derided as “tea-baggers”.

This grass-roots organized movement literally began when CNBC’s Rick Santelli floated the idea of a July 4th tea party on Lake Superior to protest government bailouts for homeowners with underwater mortgages. It was fueled further by Dr. Bob Basso’s YouTube video portraying a Thomas Paine-like patriot calling for Americans to stand up to the Washington elitists who were passing the trillion-dollar buck while at the same time calling them “cowards”. The protests got a head start by staging rallies around the country on the IRS’s April 15th filing deadline, and so have also been referred to as tax protests. The demonstrations have rallied further with “Town Hall” meetings hosted by constituents’ Congressional Representatives, focused on the debate over proposals for Health Care/Insurance reform that, if instituted haphazardly, would likely add more government bureaucracy and result in higher taxes to fund it.

But all of that couldn’t possibly matter due to the fact that our Nation’s 44th president is “a black man”.

Now I’ve thought of this myself, hoping to live up to Attorney General Eric Holder’s expectations for brave citizenship, and to not cower down by sweeping under the rug any possible racially-motivated misgivings. Problem is I still have trouble doing that. You see, I actually pay attention to campaign rhetoric and the vetting of candidates running for office. I know that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, to a mother and father of dissimilar ethnicity. And that he spent time as a young boy in Indonesia. And that he went to Columbia University, home turf of radical Marxist William Ayers.

I also know that he is a husband, and a father of two young girls.

He, like the vast majority of the American public, whether protesting or not, has greater interests at heart than what color he or they or you or I are. He is a family man, and by all accounts, an American. I may disagree with his words and actions while he is representing our nation’s interests, but I am only doing so because he is the Head of State. I would not venture argument in regard to his family’s home life, as I would not expect argument to my own.

This is the difference between what Rep. Joe Wilson, the Tea Parties, and the Town Hall protesters endeavor to debate, and what true racists would use to disparage the man himself. Those who would follow the latter course are detestable, and it is not cowardly to marginalize them and deny them the satisfaction of their prejudice.

Unfortunately, I find it troubling that the leadership of the Democrat Party, from Secretary of State Hillary “it takes a village” Clinton to Rep. Nancy “for the children” Pelosi to Sen. Barbara “don’t call me Ma’am” Boxer to President Barack “teachable moment” Obama have repeatedly demonstrated a fundamental condescension towards the ability of average Americans to carry out spirited debate over national issues, and a lack of faith in our ability to conduct our personal and economic affairs. This lack of faith in the republic is untenable and in no way does it honor the intentions of this nation’s founders. It is primarily the republic’s responsibility to ensure domestic tranquility and promote the general welfare, and it is secondarily the government’s responsibility to assist.

And when Americans are patronized as “cowards” for not furthering the bitterness of the past, or branded racists for speaking out against encroaching legislation and expansion of government powers, then the image in my mind of Uncle Sam is no longer one of him pointing at me, personally, entreating me to stand and do my part. It is of a castigating disciplinarian wagging a chastising finger in my face.