Hatred and Prejudice

Yahoo! News - A EUROPEAN CONVERSATION

I stumbled across this Op-Ed piece on Yahoo, and could not help but use this as the opportunity to sound-off about perhaps the most distressing turn of events in the past twenty years.

The left, specifically, the "vocal left," have become the most hate-filled, pre-judging, and bigoted group of people in America today, while at the same time continuing to repeat the tired, old accusations of the "right" being the party of hatred. The "tipping point" for me was while listening to Janeane Garofalo on Wednesday night during the Republican Convention, when she first apologized to the world, saying that the Republicans don't represent America, and then she made it clear that she was tired of being portrayed as a homosexual hating, racist, war-monger (loose paraphrase--forgive me, I was driving.) I could only assume, given the context, that she was saying that the RNC was coming across that way, and could give the impression that "all of America" is like the Republicans.

Heck, I found myself for once in agreement with Janeane Garofalo. I am tired of being classified as a racist, homophobe, and warmonger. For a moment there, I thought Janeane had herself realized that the attacks from the left were unjustified. Alas, I finally realized that she was just taking another tact for attack.

I have seen increasingly in conversation a trend on the left to condemn in hate speech all things conservative. My daughter called home from her first day in college, upset not just that she was one of only a few conservatives (perhaps one of 2) in her Dorm, but that the others were mean to her when they found out that she was. I advised her, in my most fatherly tone, dripping with irony, that she should take a moment to reflect, and then ask "isn't 'tolerance' supposed to be your value?"

Another woman, in a discussion I was having, pointed out what she considered to be "facts" that support her conclusion that the Republican Party is the party of the KKK. Her reasoning? The Republicans have taken the South in nearly every election since Reagan in 1980. Case closed. Yup--if you are a Southerner, you are a racist. In fact, when I challenged this view she stated that "it's what I believe, and you can't change that." She then followed it up with the statement that things are now changing though, as northerners are moving south, taking on the more technical jobs.

Bigoted.* Prejudging. Discriminatory. And yes, I am talking about the liberals.

Let's set up a few facts here. One of the charges made, and made consistently by Air America personalities including Janeane, as well as other "good meaning, hate-spewing" liberals, is that all, yes all, good social change has been brought about by liberals and Democrats. In the words of Ronald Reagan, "There you go again." It just ain't so!

If we start with the "Father" of the Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln, we see a man who in dedicating a cemetery affirmed the beliefs of our founding fathers, noting that they were "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." He demonstrated this in his "Emancipation Proclamation" freeing the slaves. He also demonstrated this in his desire to bring the South back into the fold, through a period of reconstruction that he saw as "healing." Alas, he was cut down before he could see that vision to fruition.

In fact, Lincoln's vision of reconstruction never took place, and his Vice President, then President, found himself the first President to be impeached, (followed over 100 years later by President Clinton) simply because he sought a kinder, gentler, reconstruction, welcoming rather than punishing the South. Who impeached him? The Radical Republicans--yes, "radical" because they wanted to see equality in the South move even faster.

The Republican party continued to be progressive. While the Democrats fought to maintain their control over government, the Republicans sought to expand the political franchise, pushing for the suffrage of women (right to vote). While I am linking to an obvious partisan site, let me point out that I first learned of the role of the Republican Party while listening to a lecture from a Women's Studies class at a major university. The point was hit home to me, since knowing the group as well as I do, the facts had to be incontrovertible for the Republicans to get "any" credit.

The Civil Rights movements of the 50s and 60s are the keystone to the Democrat/Liberal claim to moral high ground. Interesting, in that it isn't their hill! President Eisenhower (R) worked "quietly" for civil rights during his tenure throughout the 1950s. Eisenhower pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1957, although as noted it was watered down by "lack of support among the Democrats." In fact, the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s, while pushed through, and credited to, the Democrat President Lyndon Johnson, would not have passed had it not been for the overwhelming support of the Republican Party. Interestingly, John F. Kennedy, then Senator "had opposed Eisenhower’s 1957 Act to keep in with the Democrats hierarchy as he had plans to run for president as well as Johnson. " The Republicans voted in a far larger majority than the Democrats, leading Johnson to praise the Republicans. Interestingly, Senator Al Gore Sr apparently voted against the Civil Rights Act.

The history of the Republican Party has always been one of inclusion--often inclusion won not only through sweat, but through blood.

Let the liberals continue being "Mean spirited." Let the liberals continue to push bigotry and hatred. But please, do not let them continue to lie.

HOMEWORK: Thanks for completing your previous homwork. Your assignment this time? Check the links I included in this post, and then post a comment on the most interesting fact that you learned, while reading through these histories. In fact, if you don't believe something I say, or dispute a fact, I encourage you to to find another source, and share that. This is about learning, and Truth, not pedantics.

from Dictionary.com: Bigoted is "One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ."