As
I watch the pathetic Republican parade of so-called presidential
candidates strut their stuff I�m struck by what these
people think are the important issues facing the United
States and how conservatives define �liberty�. It�s
old hat, I know, to suggest that to them it means we all
do things their way, but it�s hard to get away from it
when they keep reinforcing that definition.
Take social issues, for example. Abortion? Forget about it. Birth
control? Evil. Gay rights? Don�t even bring it up. Social
fairness? European socialism. And on it goes.
For Americans who define themselves as progressive or liberal,
these positions are bad enough. But for the Republicans,
they�re nothing more than bread and butter positions from
which the real discussion can begin, which brings us to
the subject of race. Yes, race.
As we hack through the weeds of our �post racial� society we come
upon the GOP, the Party of Lincoln, and its best and brightest
using black Americans as examples of bad policy. Whether
it�s Newt I�m-out-of-my-mind Gingrich and his food stamp
example � � I'm prepared, if the NAACP invites me, I'll
go to their convention to talk about why the African-American
community should demand pay checks and not be satisfied
with food stamps.�- or Rick what-century-is-this-again
Santorum - "I don't want to make black people's lives
better by giving them somebody else's money�- the overwhelming
impression is that these people really believe that all
voters are white. Or at least most of them.
How else to explain it? Even George Bush didn�t stoop this low.
The baffling part of this is that the message is being
targeted to working class white people, who benefit from
the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP)
� or food stamp program � in greater numbers than blacks.
Roughly a third of all recipients are white, about a fifth
are black. Half of all recipients are children. Is Gingrich
planning to get these kids jobs? Oh, wait! He did say
something about that. �Most of these schools ought to
get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor
and pay local students to take care of the school. The
kids would actually do work. Child labor laws, he says
are �stupid.�
What is really happening here, it seems to me, is blame. An overwhelming
majority of Americans believe the country is in trouble
and declining. The evidence strongly suggests that the
reason we are in this mess is poor leadership caused by
the undue influence of big-money interests on Wall Street
and other financial sources. These are the folks who convinced
past administrations to de-regulate the markets which
then ran the economy into the ditch. You all know the
story. But these same interests are funding the GOP campaigns
and they are not in the mood to blame themselves, the
top one-percenters, so they reach down, way down, to blame
the people at the bottom.
How else to explain the reference to �poor blacks on food stamps�?
Or children? Or the elderly? Or the sick? Or unions?
The solution to our current problem lies in what we are willing
to give up to make things better. That�s where the game
is now. The Republican field believes the sacrifices should
be made at the bottom and so, in their thinking, the blame
lies with the Americans who are benefiting from the so-called
entitlements. But these are the people who are already
suffering and whose hold on security is tenuous or non-existent.
These are the working poor who work at Wal-Mart
or Burger King for minimum wage and still need food stamps
and other assistance. Many of them are white. Are they
asking themselves why the likes of Gingrich and Santorum
and the others are playing them against their black brothers
are sisters? Do they care?
Between now and November we will all be subjected to what is likely
to be a sickening political attack season that promises
to bring out the worst in our discourse. Perhaps when
it�s over we�ll take a look at the wreckage and see if
we can pick up the pieces and rebuild this country free
of the poison that�s in the air today.
BlackCommentator.com
Guest Commentator, Larry Matthews, is a veteran broadcast
journalist. He is the recipient of The George Foster Peabody
Award for Excellence in Broadcast for his reporting on Vietnam veterans.
He is also the recipient of a Columbia/DuPont Citation,
Society of Professional Journalists, Associated Press,
and other awards for investigative reporting. He is the
author of I Used to Be in Radio, and two novels. Click here to
reach Mr. Matthews.
