The Liberal Race-Mongering Derby

Posted on | April 10, 2014 | 25 Comments

About three weeks ago, I briefly took notice of a debate between liberals Jonathan Chait and Ta-Nehisi Coates about the “correct” view on race relations. Ann Althouse notices that the debate has continued, and has been recapped by Clare Sostanovich.

Let me add two cents: Back in the 1990s, when some piece of legislation was pending in the Republican-held Congress — its passage in doubt because of President Clinton’s veto threat — I talked to a GOP House member who explained the basic political calculus: “It depends on whether we want a bill, or whether we want an issue.”

That is to say, they could make changes in the legislation so that the President would sign it, thus giving Republicans a chance to claim credit for the bill, or else they could pass the measure as it stood, forcing the President to veto it, and giving Republicans an issue that they could then take to voters in the next election.

It seems to me that Ta-Nehisi Coates, who offers himself as a progressive spokesman for black America, must make a similar choice: Does he want to address racial problems with the idea of doing something about those problems, or does does he just want to continue invoking a sense of black grievance that is more or less permanent? Does he want the bill, or does he want the issue?

Many conservatives have observed that liberals thrive on the political exploitation of problems that their policies never solve. As Ronald Reagan quipped: “We had a War on Poverty. Poverty won.” Of course, liberals have never stopped claiming that poverty is a problem which always demands more liberal solutions. But if they ever got rid of poverty, liberals would be out of business, and so they are politically invested in policies that don’t actually work.

All of this discussion was originally provoked by Rep. Paul Ryan’s remarks about “inner-city” culture as a cause of poverty. Talk to any upwardly mobile middle-class black parent, and they will tell you that one of their greatest challenges is trying to prevent their children from adopting that “inner-city” attitude which is too often presented in popular culture as the only way to be “authentically” black.

It’s really sad to see how often black suburbanites — teachers and accountants and managers who have worked to earn their kids a chance at life in affluent communities with good schools — are heartbroken that their sons and daughters reject the opportunities they’ve been given, instead getting involved in drugs and gangs and every other “inner-city” problem their parents sought to escape.

Such problems involve layers and layers of complexity that cannot be explained — and certainly can never be solved — merely by reference to white racism, nor by invoking a historic “legacy” of discrimination. In 2014, it is impossible to say that racial discrimination is worse than it was half a century ago, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. Yet it is perplexing that liberals refuse to consider the paradoxical possibility that liberal policies of the past have in some ways caused (or at least, made worse) the problems that liberals so frequently complain about today. Go read Doug Ross’s summary of how race hustlers tried to smear the Tea Party as racist, a timely reminder of how Democrats shamelessly exploit racial division for partisan purposes.

Whatever your problem is, “vote Democrat” is never the solution.

Category: Racism

Comments

25 Responses to “The Liberal Race-Mongering Derby”

richard mcenroe
April 10th, 2014 @ 11:41 am

I’m sorry, Stacy, but I can’t read your article until you document exactly what percentage respectively you are of Scots and Irish. Otherwise you might be inauthentic and lack any standing to comment.
robertstacymccain
April 10th, 2014 @ 11:46 am

(Trembles with Celtic berserker rage.)

Scots enough for you?
TC_LeatherPenguin
April 10th, 2014 @ 11:59 am

Scotsmen? Bloody useless part of yer DNA, mate. ;-p
RS
April 10th, 2014 @ 12:00 pm

Agreed. And, BTW, only the Irish can play the pipes. I will not argue about that.
RS
April 10th, 2014 @ 12:08 pm

You know the world has turned upside down when the accouterments of a successful middle class life are derided as being an attack on cultural expression. Of course, what those who’ve bought into that view fail to realize is that it is Progressive, Leftist white people who help perpetuate that view in order to prevent blacks from attaining the success they ostensibly desire, which, most probably would cause them to become much more conservative.
richard mcenroe
April 10th, 2014 @ 12:08 pm

(Trembles with Celtic berserker rage.)

And then blows up a car or head-butts a stranger in a bar? It’s important.
richard mcenroe
April 10th, 2014 @ 12:10 pm

I dunno. “March of Cambreadh” sounds a little weird on the Irish pipes. Not unlike “Warrior’s Song” on a recorder.
RS
April 10th, 2014 @ 12:10 pm

Query: How do you tell who the bride is at a Scots wedding? I don’t know either, but it’s important. She’s the one you’re not supposed to punch in the face.
richard mcenroe
April 10th, 2014 @ 12:11 pm

Speaking of race-baiting, the ProgNazis are trying to get Condi Rice blackballed from the board of DropBox.com. I just signed up to use it. http://minx.cc/?post=348464
Bozikek
April 10th, 2014 @ 12:27 pm

“Whatever your problem is, “vote Democrat” is never the solution”

What if your convicted of a violent offense, we need more revolving door prisons!

…not that I have ever been convicted.
Paul H. Lemmen
April 10th, 2014 @ 12:46 pm

I have. I think the revolving door should be disabled. I also think 100% of a sentence should be served (I served about 90% and I truly believe it would/should have been 100% except that medical costs inspired my release). If I ended up being sent back to prison, should I serve 100% of that sentence? Damn betcha!
Paul A'Barge
April 10th, 2014 @ 1:00 pm

Both of these guys are *ssholes and a complete waste of time.
Quartermaster
April 10th, 2014 @ 1:42 pm

In “The Story Of English” a story is told of a Scotsman who married a rather substantial Bride. A friend who saw the new couple asked the new groom, “are you going to get her all in one trip?”
Quartermaster
April 10th, 2014 @ 1:52 pm

Who is debating? Certainly not the race hustlers. They’re trying to dictate, not debate.
Rosalie
April 10th, 2014 @ 2:01 pm

Or you’re being released from prison and need Obamacare.
Art Deco
April 10th, 2014 @ 3:06 pm

Wm. Bratton et al were highly successful at improving public order in slum neighborhoods. The political class in Coates’ native Baltimore is largely composed of people who could not be less interested, including the current mayor. Down the road in Washington, a critical mass of politicians and voters ran Adrian Fenty out of office consequent to his attempt (through the agency of Michelle Rhee) to improve the performance of the District schools.

—

Improving the quality of life in slum neighborhoods means vigorous law enforcement and schools (under whatever ownership and financing regime) that sequester trouble-makers, hire and retain competent people, and give all stakeholders transparent feedback about the performance of those students.

—

Of course, if your priority is RESPECT, you get irritated when cops embarrass hoodlums, irritated when incorrigibles are subject to discipline (and you fancy the demographic balance of the incorrigible population just has to replicate that of the general population or someone is taking advantage), irritated when salaried employees with a high melanin content are subject to performance standards….

—

The trouble is, Coates and others have the wrong priorities and are unwilling to look urban reality in the face.
storibund
April 10th, 2014 @ 3:22 pm

Eh. Racism is so yesterday.

Gay is the new Black.
Eric Holder is ‘Fed Up’ with … | Regular Right Guy
April 10th, 2014 @ 3:33 pm

[…] The Liberal Race-Mongering Derby […]
Frankly Bored
April 10th, 2014 @ 3:35 pm

That is so cis-heteronormative and patriarchically racist! Actually, I have no idea what any of that means. I just started typing random sylables while making my “angry” face and stamping my foot…
The Daley Gator | Race Mongering Derby indeed!
April 10th, 2014 @ 6:07 pm

[…] The Other McCain notes that problem solving is not the goal of race pimps, problem creating is […]
Quartermaster
April 10th, 2014 @ 7:58 pm

Stick around! We’ll train you in the art of proper denunciation. Just observe the masters of the art you’ll see and soon you’ll be there with teh best of us.
Adjoran
April 11th, 2014 @ 1:17 am

I saw a few days ago – it may have been at Hot Air, I’m not sure – that during the initial brouhaha over Ryan’s remarks the leftist jerk Bill Maher had a panel of liberals discussing some of Ryan’s “racist” quotes about responsibility and the like, which were universally condemned from every angle. Then he revealed that one of the quotes – the one regarded by the panel as most offensive – was actually of Michelle Obama, not Ryan.

Kudos for Maher for that much honesty.

For leftists, who regard Democrats as their party and only choice, the issue is not only preferred but imperative. They need to keep blacks very aware and resentful of “racism,” real or not. They cannot afford to have blacks voting on other issues.

In 1960, Nixon won 37% of the black vote. After the civil rights bills battles, no Republican Presidential candidate has won more than Reagan’s 13% in his 1984 landslide. If any Republican could manage to even split the difference and attract 25% of black votes, he would win in a landslide.

For Democrats to compete, blacks have to be kept in the 90% range, and the only way to do it is to foster hate, fear, and resentment.
Katherine Sebelius sacrificed for the greater good: The Wheels of Obama’s Bus go “thump, thump, thump!” | Batshit Crazy News
April 11th, 2014 @ 2:55 pm

[…] TOM: Liberal race mongering derby […]
Art Deco
April 11th, 2014 @ 6:27 pm

Actually, I have no idea what any of that means. I just started typing
random sylables while making my “angry” face and stamping my foot…

Your name isn’t Alan Sokal is it?
Frankly Bored
April 14th, 2014 @ 7:17 am

No, but I did pull a Sokal hoax in a senior philosophy class more than a few years ago. Good times!