One of the most effective tools in the liberal arsenal is the race card. It is short, exploits struggle and comes easily from a philosophy based around entitlement and exclusionary practices. While it's no secret that it's used, it still hurts when they call the "religious right" racist. It hurts because there is no connection between loving God and wanting lower taxes with racism. Just the opposite is true.
President Bush has been accused by Al Gore's campaign and the NAACP's Julian Bond of racism and supporting the confederacy and slavery. Yet, what no "leader" the in the black community ever points out is that he has placed more women and minorities in his cabinet than any president in history. No "leader" in the black community stood up for Secretary Rice when liberal pundits called her "brown sugar" in the confirmation process. It's an awkward truth because Democrats throughout American history have been more tied with racism than the Right.
The Democratic party kept power in the south through racist platforms. Its leaders, such as Robert Byrd use the N-word countless times and in public. Byrd even said he supported the KKK because of its "traditional American values." The 1924 Democratic National Convention was host to one of the largest KKK gatherings in history, and FDR was known to be racist against Japanese and Italians. He even tried to nominate Hugo Black, a KKK member, to the Supreme Court to ensure a liberal dominance. Even today, the Left continues its racism through Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and having a "black caucus." Just imagine the outrage if Republicans had a "white caucus."
Democrats also hurt the civil rights cause by filibustering the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was only stopped by Republican minority leader Everett Dirksen when he invoked a cloture rule.
Twenty-one Democratic senators opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the House, 40% of Democrats voted against it, 80% of Republicans voted for it. This was a common trend, which continued with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Who can we thank for the Democrats lack of support for the advancement of colored people? Al Gore's father who helped organize the opposition, and Robert Byrd for leading the filibuster.
By far the worst attack orchestrated by the Left on race is from their philosophy. When Martin Luther King pushed for the judgement of a human being on character it inspired the Civil Rights Act and made equality within the races more tangible. Sadly, after his death the push by black leaders to work hard, get educated, and be more than your obstacles morphed into a sense of entitlement. Black Leaders like Jesse Jackson saw a greater advantage in exploiting the strife of a black person, and built a mindset among black communities that regardless of the law or your individual effort, the white man will always be leaving you to rot. I find it humorous that the party that claims idealism, where one person, one idea can change the world, would rather foster a "what's in it for me?" attitude than working and living together.
Now don't get me wrong. I know many liberals, and growing up in a relatively liberal area I became great friends with them, and many I know are genuinely good people. I'm also not trying to imply that liberals are racist; that would make me as bad as those I'm taking to task. What I am trying to single out is that the liberal philosophy which tries to sound inclusive, is really exclusive. As long as it pushes for the advancement of some based on class warfare, race, age, gender, etc it will continue to alienate the rest of the population. Look at how much of the liberal agenda relies on the topics of "social justice" but only for minorities, fixing the legal system but only for criminals, expanding the economy by only focusing on strengthening labor unions, etc. As campaign slogans they all sound good, and their voters vote for them because of how nice it all sounds. The truth is, the practices of these ideas exclude more than include everyone. Worst of all through race, by trying to solve the equality gap by discriminating on tests and hiring practices.
So how does the race card work then? Most people who have faced struggle in their lives don't want to hear about how they can make it better. For many people they feel a sense of entitlement. They want to hear about how awful they have had it, how bad others should feel for them, and what they deserve because of it. The Left plays to this selfish instinct in human nature because their philosophy is based around entitlements. But the trouble is, selfishness is a vicious cycle. It never ends and it only worsens. For example, the Left talked about reforming inner city schools since LBJ, and little education reform was actually made until No Child Left Behind. Their tactics are purely political and cant be expected to solve the real problems of bringing equality, and making a better life for yourself. Inspiration doesn't come from using the race card, only increased racism. And sadly, it's something we can thank the Left for.
Will Haun is a freshman in the School of Public Affairs and one of the Eagle's two conservative columnists.
