We’re All N*****rs Now

[arendt]

We’re All N*****rs Now
by arendt

Welcome, liberals, moderates, and un-rapture-able heathens; welcome to n*****rhood.

Soon you too will be stopped by law enforcement for no reason other than your n****rness. You too will be lynched or outsourced to Gitmo or slaughtered like Amadou Dialou because you have been declared to be a non-person with no legal voice or rights.

You already watch the plantation owners get away with murder, while DHS makes you strip at airports, just to remind you they can do it. You too take chump change for wages, while they give the overseer jobs to pudgy, pasty, testosterone-addled frat boys who like to yell and drink. You do it because those overseers are backed up by half a billion non-urban Chinese, bankrolled by so-called American corporations, who would kill for 10% of that chump change.

If you are a witch, I mean a female liberal, you had better get yourself barefoot, submissive, married, and pregnant. If you are gay, you had better disappear before you get disappeared. If you have an education, you better take stupid lessons.

Welcome to the new Tara. Massa George needs you liberal slaves to work hard so he can piss your labor away throwing parties for his corporate goombas; and he has sent Uncle Tom Delay and Darth Cheney to hammer you if you don’t pull dat barge, tote dat bale. But, if you are a meek and loyal slave, you too can be a house n****r, just like Colin Powell.

Make no mistake, the South won the Civil War. They won because they never stopped fighting it; because they have hated with religious fervor for close onto two centuries; because they have never learned anything and never forgotten anything. The only lasting legacy of the American revolution has turned out to be slavery. First it was old-fashioned bondage. Then, Jim Crow apartheid. Now, it is to be corporate feudal theocracy backed by an Orwellian police state.

Liberalism is dead because liberalism has failed to come to grips with the power of insane, unreasonable hatred, willful ignorance, and vindictiveness. Because it politely acquiesced to secrecy, treachery, and calculated unscrupulousness. Because it tolerated murderous intolerance. Because it was so pacifistic that it could not organize to defend itself against a relentless, decades long campaign to trash our educational system, to subvert our free press, to bring CIA tactics to bear on the American population. Great Society liberals were outmaneuvered for a quarter century, being systematically robbed of the legacy of 100 years of activism. Let’s face it. We had some power, and we lost it by playing fair long after it was clear the other side would stop at nothing.

The beacon of America is extinguished. We are now just the world’s biggest banana republic - look at NOLA. Michael Harrington’s “Other America” lives. The racism is right back out in the open. Unapologetic. We don’t help our fellow citizens there. We label them lazy looters, and we occupy the place with airborne divisions. We kick the poor n*****s out so the rich boys can get a lot of our tax dollars to rebuild their plantations. It feels like Guatamala down there. I expect them to appoint Eliot Abrams as military governor any day now.

Today, we are nothing more than a tribe with nukes; sort of like Guns and Roses on steroids. At the moment when global resources like oil are running out, ecologies are collapsing, species are going extinct, and human population is exploding, the financial elites of America have decided to press the age-old delusions of war god and empire upon a world that needs science and cooperation. If technical civilization survives these barbarians, whom our lack of vigilance has allowed to steal the world’s biggest arsenal, America will be remembered as the biggest and worst in a long line of patriarchal tyrants.

----

NOLA isn’t a wakeup call; its an earthquake dropping the roof on America’s bed. But what is the response so far?

I still hear from many DINOs, (especially red-state ones) that the Roberts nomination can’t be stopped, that party-line bills passed without ever being read by a Democrat can’t be stopped, that Chertoff and Brown can’t be fired, that George Bush can’t be impeached, that the illegal war in Iraq can’t be ended, that further tax cuts in the face of financial disaster can’t be stopped.

This kind of Democrat is already a n****r. And that is why today’s Democratic Party leadership is doomed.

We need a party that can include genuine patriots, liberal or conservative. We need a party that can’t be divided by Culture War tactics. We need a party that agrees to support the real Constitution, not some corporate theocrat lies. We need a party that balances the budget by raising taxes on the richest 1% and by cutting an obscenely bloated military budget that lines corporate pockets without providing real security.

The only qualifications for membership are to uphold the real Constitution, without any original intent bullshit, to reduce the military to rational levels, to end the stifling secrecy that has engulfed the people’s government, to proactively work to bring manufacturing back to America, to re-regulate and de-conglomerate the media, and to enforce the separation of Church and State. Any leftie who expects we can accomplish more than that in the current circumstances is as delusional as a rapture-addled fundie.

But, if you stick to those basic qualifications, you already have many Republicans in your new party.

Go ahead, flame me for using the N-word. I am beyond caring.

[Sunkiss BlueStar]

1. Listening to Manson's "This is the New Shit"..

just to put things in perspective as I scroll through the news. But I've always been part of the n*****hood.

fugwb

[WindRavenX]

2. I fucking love you

:thumbsup:

And nominated.

Racism isn't dead...boy oh boy is America racist...they just do a good job of brainwashing us to accept it...

[eleny]

3. Oh so Recommended!

[WindRavenX]

4. KICK

For fuck's sake people, read this. It's important.

[eleny]

6. I copied and sent it to myself in email

Are you all watching Cynthia McKinney on C-Span now? She's running down the lack of response by FEMA. Saying - the local and state authorities were victims, too. The Feds had to respond to help them. Does this not nail another important point?

[Burma Jones]

5. Recommended..........

Just tone it down, we don't want to offend anyone...:sarcasm:

Amazing isn't it, not only have these no-neck monsters taken over, but they have done so with the tools created by much more enlightened minds.

[Iris]

9. No toning down! People need to be offended.

[melody]

11. People deserve to be insulted when they're innocent?

No group of people "deserves" to be unfairly generalized about. I refuse to tone down my appreciation for the south because you are offended.

I loved the article, right up to the hate attack against an entire ethnic group - southerners (who are, in fact, largely a distinct ethnic group).

[arendt]

20. No argument about political movements can be made without generalizing...

When a political leadership adopts a stance, and it is not condemned or resisted by the populace, that stance is legitimately attributed to the populace.
If I can't have that chain of responsibility, I can't have a political discussion.

Here are the only specific things about the South I said:

<snip>
1. Make no mistake, the South won the Civil War. They won because they never stopped fighting it; because they have hated with religious fervor for close onto two centuries; because they have never learned anything and never forgotten anything. The only lasting legacy of the American revolution has turned out to be slavery. First it was old-fashioned bondage. Then, Jim Crow apartheid. Now, it is to be corporate feudal theocracy backed by an Orwellian police state.
<snip>

It this is not true, then why are the policies of Bush what they are? Look at the facts: much of the platform of the CSA is now the policy of the GOP. And of the corporations too. But, the corporations have decided to flee the North and set up their sweatshops in rural America if they don't head straight for China.

<snip>
2. Michael Harrington’s “Other America” lives. The racism is right back out in the open. Unapologetic. We don’t help our fellow citizens there. We label them lazy looters, and we occupy the place with airborne divisions.
</snip>

These things didn't happen? They didn't happen in the South?

Maybe now you know how I feel, being called a Massachusetts liberal like that's some shame.

As I said, the liberal "don't hurt anybody" attitude has got us into this mess. I will not back down on my criticism of the plantation mentality. Hannah Arendt had a lot to say about the racism in African colonies, and especially in South Africa. Racism is part of authoritatianism; and racism in America today is making a comeback.

This incident happened in NOLA. Its a fact that NOLA is in the South. If we had such an incident in Detroit or Chicago, I'd be bashing the white trash mentality. Is white trash less offensive than "the South" to you?

arendt

[melody]

23. This thing has happened in the north as well

I don't consider "white trash", "cracker", "redneck" or ANY ethnic slur to be non-offensive. I think all trivialization and generalizations about people are offensive. What makes it wrong about one group of people (and it's not only morally wrong, but logically wrong), makes it wrong for ALL people.

You're not commenting about the establishment, you're generalizing about the entire region. I'll remind you of some famous southerners: Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and there are many, many more decent folk along with them. When you speak of "southerners" you demean all of them AND many other innocent people including ALL the victims of Katrina, while giving a pass to northerners like Michael Ashley of the Aryan Alliance and a lot of people in other states.

The problem is the culture of racism among people, not just southerners.

It also gives northerners a false sense of moral superiority - there are as many racists in the north (and beyond) as in the south.

[arendt]

27. Alright, "the Confederate establishment", "the plantation mentality"

but we've got to have a sound-bite label.

And, the kind of hand-wringing and "some of my best friends are (fill in
your ethnic group)" justifications are exactly what killed liberalism in
America. We can't keep making excuses for the culture behind the
establisment/mentality.

Yes, as another poster pointed out, very few Confederates were slave
owners, but the poor white population was manipulated by the plantation
owners - you poor whites are at least better than blacks. Its the same
manipulation today.

You can say that this cultural problem is everywhere; but that's like saying
everyone who has a drink is an alcoholic. Yes, there is racism everywhere;
but its not as deeply embedded and openly part of the culture as in the
South.

I don't have a "sense of moral superiority". I'm fighting for my life and my country. I will fight these bastards where I find them.

arendt

[melody]

29. You have the illusion that south = racism

I have this same argument with freepers about "crime culture" in African-America, et al. It's an illusion based on false inferences and generalizations. It is unfair at its foundation.

That "plantation mentality" was a northern one as well. More northern companies profited from slavery than southern ones did. No, it isn't more deeply entrenched - it's just more open in the south. Just as there were plantation owners, there were people like my great-granddad who helped run the Klan out of his city. There is a deep division that at least is on the surface and being dealt with - it's the "old south" versus the "new south".

As for whites, while there were piedmont whites who worked on plantations (including one of my ancestors), the vast majority of the white south is descended from the Scots-Irish and northern English descendants of slaves. There was no "you're better off" mindset among the vast majority of these people simply because most people couldn't afford reading materials. These people were in the southern Appalachians and were avowedly anti-slavery. *They* are the base culture of the middle class and shanty south, not the plantation whites.

Is there racism there? Of course. But the truth is racism is EVERYWHERE. It is most dangerous among the affluent (and therefore, white) - and the fact of the matter is I know as many racist northerners as I do southerners.

I know it's personally empowering and exhilarating to make such statements, but it is also often deeply unfair.

Incidentally, do you know any southern folk?

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[arendt]

50. You don't know me, but you sure know how to play the victim card

I have been posting here for 4 years. You can go shove your ridiculous
charge that I might be a freeper. And, please, excuse me, just exactly
who am I supposed to be "bigoted" against? My own race? Your rhetoric
is over the top. Cool off.

I didn't say the Scots-Irish ruined America; I said Joe Bagaent said that. Can
you parse a sentence? Joe Bagaent's stuff gets posted here a lot. Have
you ever replied to one of those threads? I doubt it or you wouldn't have
stupidly popped off on me. So, basically, I offered a cite; but you blew it off to
bash me. Its clear you are more interested in confrontation than educating yourself.

By the way, I'm Irish. So, you are mistaken about me again.

And, I must insist that you stop putting words in my mouth. I am not pouting;
I am defending myself against your ideologically rigid pummeling of my
legitimate gripes with Southern culture.

The rest of your post is looney left, holier than thou, ranting. In case you
hadn't notice, the Civil War you accuse me of starting has already been
running for twenty years. And it was started by hypocrites like Gingrich,
Delay, Lott, and the rest of the Boys from Brazil gang of crypto-confederates.

You've got one note here, and its tiresome. Your last sentence is pure projection.
I'm going back to bashing Bush. You can continue to play with yourself.


arendt

[melody]

57. Oy

My one note is the one you are ignoring. And I didn't say you were a freeper, I compared you to one. If you believe what you have quoted, then it seems to me you are prejudiced.

You quote people for substantiation and then dance around your claim?

My posting (which you had removed, obviously) merely spelled out why racism is logically unsound. If it is logically unsound in one instance, it is in another. All observations you make are your own subjective assessments based on non-objective data. That's all any of us have - our personal opinions.

Bigotry is wrong AND irrational, no matter the subject of its hate.

[melody]

58. Incidentally, Irish is not the same thing as Scots-Irish and...

As for "playing the victim card", I'm from California. I'm merely defending the rights of people against bigotry. I do the same when African-American people are spewed with this nonsense.

Are the people who cry out for justice in all circles "playing the victim card"?

Welcome to my ignore list.

[arendt]

60. You split hairs about Irish vs Scots Irish, but I'm a racist?

Do you want me to submit to a DNA test?

This is your third threat to shut up.

Will you please do so, you bloody hypocrite?

arendt

[melody]

64. I'm not casting any aspersions upon Irish people, just saying your defense

...that you are Irish is incomplete in the face of your other comments.

All people of every ethnicity deserve equal respect, is my point. I don't care what your ethnicity is. There's a vast difference between pointing out someone is Irish (which I did) as opposed to Scots-Irish (in other words, Ulster folk) and saying all Scots-Irish ruined America which is what you intimated. One is a racial statement, the other has the structure of a racist statement.

I don't think you understand the structural foundations of this argument, is my point. It seems like you're not logically following through your ideas from start to finish. I normally don't try building on that foundation with most people who don't think structurally, which was the reason I was withdrawing from the discussion. However, the ignore feature is gone with all the other goodies, given the Level 3 status on the server.

On what ethical ground do you stand to condemn someone else's racism if you have equal biases of your own?

[ProudDad]

28. NO WHITE PERSON is innocent of this disease

I've never known a white person who didn't carry the baggage of the racist programming that the entire white world imbues us with as children.

We ALL have to recognize our racism and not succumb to it, north, south, east and west!

[melody]

30. exactly -- and it is most dangerous in Europeans because we rule things

eom

[Karenina]

45. Arendt hits the ball out of the park

and ProudDad hits the jackpot!!!

[whopis01]

54. correction - NO PERSON is innocent of this disease

Speaking as a non-white person, I can assure you that all people carry the baggage of racism with them. It is not something that white poeple have a monopoly on. In the US white racism was institutionalized, but that doesn't mean other people can't be racist.

[Wordie]

55. I think you are probably right...it may be a survival mechanism gone awry.

I read something years ago which seemed to explain it. When we were hunter-gatherers, or perhaps long before that, it was crucial that our young were able to recognize danger. As we were (and are still) social animals, we needed to be able to distinguish between us (our own tribe or group) and them (those other tribes or groups who were competing with us for scarce resources). Therefore, the ability (and tendency) to see things in that US-THEM dichotomy is really a part of our genes. The problem, of course, being that it may be a non-adaptive mechanism at this point.

I have been thinking about this thread ever since I read it yesterday and have mixed feelings. It may be that the concept of "the south" is what makes the discussion so difficult. I do think southern culture is different than that of other parts of the country, but it differs in all sorts of ways, and may depend on the particular part of the south in question. I also think that to be poor in the south, black or white, is to experience an utter powerlessness that does not occur in other parts of the country. And that must be a reflection of "southern culture."

[Burma Jones]

35. There is a "Sarcasm" smiley at the end of the phrase, OK?

[Iris]

36. sorry nb. I haven't slept much over the past week or so.

I'm a little to foggy to detect sarcasm!

No bad feelings?

[Burma Jones]

38. Of Course Not

How could I disparage an Iris....:loveya:

[Iris]

39. sweet!

[melody]

13. No-neck monsters?

Is that a racial slur against all southerners?

[Burma Jones]

34. No, it is a Tennessee Williams ( a Southerner) Reference

From Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It describes rich, spoiled, awful children, incapable of sympathy and only interested in stuffing their own faces. Greedy, rotten and spoiled children that grow up to become Haley Barbour.

We have them in the North too, they work on Wall Street or go to Yale and become President under suspicious circumstances....

[melody]

37. Cool as long as it's a Williams reference, that's fine ;-)

I wish I could come up with a nifty reply quoting A Streetcar Named Desire. :(

[Burma Jones]

40. Well, "I've always depended on the kindness of Strangers"

kinda works for the situation. Have a good night.

[melody]

42. I was leaning toward something novel, like one of Blanche's other riffs

n/t

[Burma Jones]

52. How about

"Southern Comfort, I wonder what that could be".......

[melody]

65. hey, that'll work :)

[ProudDad]

71. How about "Stella!"

:)

[Raster]

7. the plantation mentality in all its ugly glory is alive and well in the US

New Orleans should drive that point home to EVERYONE!

[cssmall]

8. Hm.

I don't disagree with the premise of your argument and I feel that we do need a new party; however, I feel a bit insulted because my heritage is here in the South. My family has always lived in the South and has long been of liberal bent, according to my grandfather, who said he was more than happy that Kennedy actually gave minorities a guarantee of civil rights and that if Roosevelt was so damn good, why didn't he? I think what you should clarify is religious fanatics and that this is difference in class.

America's opiate is the fact that everyone seems to believe that they can come from nothing into something, truth is, that doesn't happen much. It is the offical state religion of the US, don't kid yourself. Otherwise, I agree with everything in your writing, it's pretty god damn right.

[arendt]

18. I will not apologize for disliking the plantation mentality...

its not my fault all the plantations were all in the South. Its also not my fault that the KKK and its cryptic spawn organizations (like the one Trent Lott speaks to) got their start in the South.

I am not attacking individual Southerners, but I am attacking the "plantation owner" mentality. (Sort of like the Moslems who say "I hate the American Government, not the American people.") Imagine you are an American in Europe today. People will be upset with you, even if you say you're a liberal American. You are going to have to understand where they are coming from. I suggest that liberal Southerners are in the same situation vis-a-vis the rest of America at the moment.

And, I'm not a pacifistic liberal. (To speak to your point - ) We are fighting the same kind of theocratic, racist fanaticism that fueled the Confederate States. What am I supposed to do? Completely ignore the overlap between the CSA and the GOP base? And what do pro-Bush people love to wave? The Confederate Battle Flag. I will not tolerate the display of that traitorous battle flag by people seeking to suppress protests against the illegal war in Iraq.

The South has a history. That's a fact. History has consequences. When the current officials of the solid GOP South start behaving like Americans again, I will stop with the regional stereotyping. Not a bit sooner.



arendt

[cssmall]

19. Agreed but you will lose me if you do not differentate between the two.

That is just as bigoted and close minded as they are. I have fought my whole life against the plantation mentality and the KKK morons in the state of mine. I live in the state that has the HQ for the KKK.

I am not pacifist either. And, by the way, State's Rights started the Civil War, not slavery or religious fanaticism. I realize that the South is the hotbed for Bush, but you should be very careful with how you generalize us based on our history. 1% of us held slaves, my family was, thankfully, never part of that.

But, you have all rights to your opinion and I to mine, it just so happens that ours are in common.

[arendt]

21. I will try, but the "conciseness filter" is an issue

Does everyone know what "the plantation mentality" is?

Opposition to industrialization started the Civil War. The Slave States tried to reduce tariffs, and this punished Northern industry. The Slave States tried to colonize Central America, and the government made them stop several times.
I agree that it wasn't slavery that started the war -- although, the religious fanaticisms of the abolitionists stung the apologist Southern clergy.

arendt

[cssmall]

22. Opposition to industrialization?

That was a part of it, but you have to realize that the North utilized slaves in their factories, read Archaeology magazine's Mar/Apr issue for more information on that.

Honestly, a lot of the literature that I have come across illustrates that the Northern corporations wanted cheap labor and the slave population in the South was perfect for that. Neither fucking side in that disgusting conflict was pretty and deserves any credit, one for owning slaves and the other for exploiting them after the war.

A factory in the North is just another word for plantation, especially for the Irish, Scottish, Italian and African-American.

[melody]

10. There were more southern abolitionists than northern

I loved this article right up to the unfair generalization about the south. My family is as southern as anyone's, and it is and was filled with very caring, liberal folk. There is a deep liberal tradition in the south (as I've mentioned before, Arkansas had the greatest number of Marxists of any state at one time).

It's as unfair to generalize about southerners as it is to generalize about *any* group. I know racists in California who are every bit as obnoxious as any racist southerner.

Also remember, these people who've been dying during and after Katrina ARE southerners.

[chomskysright]

70. Western NC & Eastern TN were FEDERAL folks: no plantations there

[melody]

73. exactly - most of the Appies were non-aligned

n/t

[distantearlywarning]

12. I was thinking this EXACT thing this morning.

Down to the ugly word you used.

In fact, I did a double-take when I saw the title of your thread, and had to check my memory to see if I had actually written a rant this morning and forgotten about it.

But anyway, I totally agree. I think you are 100% correct, and I am sure that that is how this administration thinks of all of us.

[mandyky]

14. Preach it Brother (or Sister)

Unfortunately, truer words have never been spoken.

[Q]

15. And let's not be shy here...

...some Democrats have joined with the Plantation owners and are trying to weaken and destroy our party from within.

There is no room in 'their' banana republic for a party of the people.

[lateo]

16. Fucking A!!!!

Boofucking YA!

[Wordie]

17. You get my vote...and kick.

[peacetalksforall]

24. Your piece should be documented and archived for the history books

to come following this racist disaster.

Recommended!

Who are the compilers of this atrocity against the people? There is a treasure trove of facts, rumors, comments, and essays that need to be saved. There are even some words from the right wing propaganda press (I'm shocked to admit) that spilled out for a 24 to 36 hour period before they were reigned in by the WH and told to report only the good news (and/or to report bad news with a lilt to their voice).

Great job, Arendt!

[ChipperbackDemocrat]

26. Thank you arendt

Thank you for saying what I've believed my entire life.

To the powerful. To the corporate. To the Grover Norquists of the world. We truly all are nothing more than the shackled slaves of the modern era. Regardless of what skin color you wear, you are seen as expendable.

The robber barons of this age are counting on racial discord. They need it to perpetuate their hustle and tighten their grip and corporate power. And now with the lifeblood of our economy depleting we are going to fall further and further in unless the human family reclaims its humanity en masse.

I fear the future will be one of us all "sticking to our tribes", unfortunately. We will be divided by our colors, by people who are only interested in the color green.

[Burried News]

25. I appreciate your thoughtful post. Change can not be effected

without taking a risk. You have set a good example.

[OzarkDem]

31. As a woman I would say

welcome to the plantation. Women have been losing ground for the last 10 years or more. I know we like to think otherwise, but in spite of education, more women in the workplace, etc., we haven't gained much and are losing plenty.

[annabanana]

32. I think you have nailed it.

And I think, if there was ever a fair and accurate vote, the will of the people would bear you out.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

33. I'm a nigger.

And proud of it.

[Dora]

41. Sign me up.

This is something that should be HEARD.

I would read it outloud to myself right now, but I don't want to wake up the tyke.

[Stand and Fight]

44. ...

[ladylibertee]

46. WHERE DO I SIGN UP ??????

[NVMojo]

47. Nail meet head! Hit succeeded!!

[AtomicKitten]

48. A Quote From Someone I Admire

"Liberalism is dead because liberalism has failed to come to grips with the power of insane, unreasonable hatred, willful ignorance, and vindictiveness. Because it politely acquiesced to secrecy, treachery, and calculated unscrupulousness. Because it tolerated murderous intolerance. Because it was so pacifistic that it could not organize to defend itself against a relentless, decades long campaign to trash our educational system, to subvert our free press, to bring CIA tactics to bear on the American population. Great Society liberals were outmaneuvered for a quarter century, being systematically robbed of the legacy of 100 years of activism. Let’s face it. We had some power, and we lost it by playing fair long after it was clear the other side would stop at nothing."

[Lerkfish]

51. you.are.my.hero.

well stated, and powerful! thank you for stating so eloquently what I feel.

[Nikki Stone 1]

53. Now, it is to be corporate feudal theocracy backed by an Orwellian police

Perfect!

[mistertrickster]

56. This is exactly what I thought after Bush stole the 2000 election . . .

Now we all get to know what's it like to have our votes disappear, just because the white man can. Now we all get to find out what it feels like to read the stirring words of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Gettysburg Address and realize it doesn't mean BULLSHIT for us and "our kind." Now we get to feel the burning blind rage of injustice when the great freedoms of this great country are sold for a few pieces of silver, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it, is there, cause we're nothing but a bunch of n****rs to the people running our country.

Welcome to colored neighborhood, white boy.

Yeah, I've felt like a second-class citizen in my own country for a long time now.

[tom_paine]

66. Funny. I thought THE EXACT SAME THING after 2000, too

And it turned out to be more true than I ever imagined.

[blondeatlast]

59. Excellent work; you should publish this, Thank you for sharing it

with us here.

[Dr Fate]

61. I'm a "Nayger" myself.

n/t

[mrcheerful]

62. Whats new?

Come on the republicans learned at the start of the 20th centuary that fear can control common sense. Why was cocaine made illegal? Because black dock workers used it and then raped white women. Why was opium made illegal? Chinesse workers were luring white women into opium dens and raping them. Fear controls america better then anything else. Look at everything from the drunk driving laws to Meagans laws and how they are used to scare people into thinking they are safer. Problem is no law will prevent crime, a person can not be arrested before he/she breaks the law, so all of these lists and drunk check stops aren't stopping any crimes. those who do reoffend go missing from the list or find ways around being caught until after something bad happens. Republicans do one thing great, they play on peoples fears and use them to farther their agenda. Remember in the late 60's and early 70's republicans were saying that the constatution was out dated and useless. They have been under minning our rights every since by using fear and a few high profile cases to get it done with. Out of 55,000 registered sex offenders, this year 2 committed crimes in florida and neither was registered, one used a false address the other never bothered to register after moving to florida. Every since the florida murders local news stations have been trying to scare people, theres a registered sex offender living near a school, yet they fail to mention he had been living there since 1991 now he is a danger to kids coming and going to school.Fear the great republican aide.

[Wordie]

63. kick

[Blue_Tires]

67. ttt for the night shift

[lyonn]

68. tough, rough and truthful

this subject gets my mind racing when I think of the injustices of prejudice. Not that we all don't have them, but we pretend we have conquered this problem.

How many influencial minorities, especially blacks, have benefited from affirmative action? Education opportunities are the answer to the erasing the prejudices that exist. Educate not incarcerate. Put money into education in the inner cities for instance. Use smaller neighborhood schools instead of huge institutions. Get some pride going for those that are having a rough start in life.

Thanks arendt, I like your thoughts.

[chomskysright]

69. such DEMS are L.A.D.'s: Lard Assed Dems: GO AWAY L.A.D's

[bluedawg12]

72. Victimized white males voted the red state victory.

"They won because they never stopped fighting it; because they have hated with religious fervor for close onto two centuries; because they have never learned anything and never forgotten anything."

Yup, today they fight the civil war by calling it the culture wars.

But it's a backlash against the "human rights" movements of the last 30 years.

Civil rights,womens rights, gay rights, animal rights, environmental causes, makes them crazy.

They are convinced that the above groups are all anti-gun ownership, against states rights (code for abortion law and civil rights), for abortion, for gay marriage,weak on the military, and for weakening faith, family, and country.

Now, we know that progressives are not monolithic, but THEY are.

So, how do we break into the nations consciousness and appeal to largest voting mass? Tough problem. Dean has good ideas on this.
BTW- he would not make a good candidate-but he is a good analyst of it all.