davinxtk
Jan 27th, 2005, 12:21 PM
The emerging liberal bigotry
By FRANCIS BROADHURST
As we recognize the achievements of the Rev. Martin Luther King in advancing civil rights in America, reflect on how far we have come in 40 years.
King led a national sea change in race relations. He made us acknowledge race discrimination was as un-American as the feudal state, and denial of voting and employment rights to Americans of African or Latino descent lessened us and contradicted the tenets that led to our nationhood.
Color and ethnicity are still barriers to many who want only to be judged by their character, abilities and willingness to progress. There have been many success stories, but there are still too many reports of discrimination.
The most surprising incidents of bigotry come not from Klansmen or white supremacists, but from an unexpected source - liberal Democrats, including black leftists, who refuse to recognize achievements of minority conservatives.
We expect bigotry from the Klan and reject it. Should we tolerate it in those who claim to be liberals?
Five decades ago, Republicans led the battle for equal rights while Democrats from the "Solid South" and the Midwest fought it. The struggle was finally won in Congress. The Civil Rights Act became law in 1964 despite filibusters by overtly racist Democrat senators. The law ending racial discrimination in voting, housing and civil rights took years to filter down to the states and ultimate acceptance by the white majority.
Given the hostility of many Democrats today to black and Hispanic voters who support President Bush, and given their utter disrespect for black conservative judicial and other GOP appointments, I wonder where the liberals went.
Unwarranted and untrue attacks on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and other Democrats brought a sharp rebuke from the black intellectual community, chaffing under Democrat tutelage.
Angela Onwuachi, a self-professed "card-carrying Democrat," writing in the Chicago Tribune, warned Democrats to back off their racial insults. Expect similar rebukes of the liberal left for their rude treatment of Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice at her confirmation hearing.
If minorities stray from the liberal plantation, they are deemed incapable of rational, independent thought. They are accused explicitly or implicitly of carrying water for their "white GOP bosses." This disparaging attitude has been seen in remarks about other minorities in the Bush administration, on college faculties and in the news media.
Why do they fear independent-thinking minorities? Walter Williams, a George Washington University professor who is black, put his finger on it in an essay excerpted by the Federalist Chronicle:
"The idea that government doesn't grant rights is offensive to those who wish to control our lives," wrote Williams. "Therefore, to gain greater control, the idea of Natural Rights, God-given rights and Christian values must be suppressed. The idea that rights precede government was John Locke's Natural Law philosophy which had a significant influence on our nation's founders.... They chose to refer to Natural Law as rights endowed by the Creator. The attack on Christian ideas and Christian public displays is part and parcel of the leftist-control agenda in another way."
That may explain the vicious attacks on Justice Thomas who, during his confirmation hearing, said he believed in Natural Law. What does that mean?
It means what John Adams said it meant when he defined the revolutionary spirit that led to independence:
"You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments, rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe."
"Nothing in our Constitution," wrote Williams, "suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is a protector of rights."
If liberal obstructionists in Congress, the media and academe could only come to grips with that, we might see the end of the new racism that is emerging as minorities break free from the Democrats' plantations.
By FRANCIS BROADHURST
As we recognize the achievements of the Rev. Martin Luther King in advancing civil rights in America, reflect on how far we have come in 40 years.
King led a national sea change in race relations. He made us acknowledge race discrimination was as un-American as the feudal state, and denial of voting and employment rights to Americans of African or Latino descent lessened us and contradicted the tenets that led to our nationhood.
Color and ethnicity are still barriers to many who want only to be judged by their character, abilities and willingness to progress. There have been many success stories, but there are still too many reports of discrimination.
The most surprising incidents of bigotry come not from Klansmen or white supremacists, but from an unexpected source - liberal Democrats, including black leftists, who refuse to recognize achievements of minority conservatives.
We expect bigotry from the Klan and reject it. Should we tolerate it in those who claim to be liberals?
Five decades ago, Republicans led the battle for equal rights while Democrats from the "Solid South" and the Midwest fought it. The struggle was finally won in Congress. The Civil Rights Act became law in 1964 despite filibusters by overtly racist Democrat senators. The law ending racial discrimination in voting, housing and civil rights took years to filter down to the states and ultimate acceptance by the white majority.
Given the hostility of many Democrats today to black and Hispanic voters who support President Bush, and given their utter disrespect for black conservative judicial and other GOP appointments, I wonder where the liberals went.
Unwarranted and untrue attacks on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and other Democrats brought a sharp rebuke from the black intellectual community, chaffing under Democrat tutelage.
Angela Onwuachi, a self-professed "card-carrying Democrat," writing in the Chicago Tribune, warned Democrats to back off their racial insults. Expect similar rebukes of the liberal left for their rude treatment of Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice at her confirmation hearing.
If minorities stray from the liberal plantation, they are deemed incapable of rational, independent thought. They are accused explicitly or implicitly of carrying water for their "white GOP bosses." This disparaging attitude has been seen in remarks about other minorities in the Bush administration, on college faculties and in the news media.
Why do they fear independent-thinking minorities? Walter Williams, a George Washington University professor who is black, put his finger on it in an essay excerpted by the Federalist Chronicle:
"The idea that government doesn't grant rights is offensive to those who wish to control our lives," wrote Williams. "Therefore, to gain greater control, the idea of Natural Rights, God-given rights and Christian values must be suppressed. The idea that rights precede government was John Locke's Natural Law philosophy which had a significant influence on our nation's founders.... They chose to refer to Natural Law as rights endowed by the Creator. The attack on Christian ideas and Christian public displays is part and parcel of the leftist-control agenda in another way."
That may explain the vicious attacks on Justice Thomas who, during his confirmation hearing, said he believed in Natural Law. What does that mean?
It means what John Adams said it meant when he defined the revolutionary spirit that led to independence:
"You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments, rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe."
"Nothing in our Constitution," wrote Williams, "suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is a protector of rights."
If liberal obstructionists in Congress, the media and academe could only come to grips with that, we might see the end of the new racism that is emerging as minorities break free from the Democrats' plantations.