Okay, so if you've read this blog before, you know I have a problem with the Tea Party Movement. What I hadn't vocalized, though, were my suspicions about the entire motivations ultimately responsible for the beginning of this so-called "Grass Roots Movement."
Now, I don't have to. Rand Paul does it for me.
As I told a friend at work, the one who claims he was a "Tea Partier before there was a Tea Party," my suspicion was that the entire movement was based on the discontent about a black man being our president. No one will come out and say that; after all it's the 21st century and race relations are "so much better" these days. And admitting that one is racist is political suicide, even in the deep south.
However, I am nothing if not pragmatic. I am of the post-segregation generation. I have seen racism, on scales both large and small. My father was a racist. Most of his family were racists. I have worked, and still do work, with racists. The customers who patronize my business are racists. And I have known racist politicians.
So, when I hear about people questioning the fact that Obama isn't legally president because he won't/can't produce a birth certificate, in my mind, they're using that as a cover story because they can't say what they really mean: Obama can't be president because he's black. When I hear someone talking about Obama's "socialist agenda", I translate it as "black agenda." And when the Republicans, en masse, stall every piece of legislation or nomination that comes through the Senate, I think they're doing it because of race.
I'm not saying that everyone is a racist, far from it. But it would be incredibly naive of me to think that race has nothing to do with the current political climate in this country. I got into an argument with two friends of mine who are professors at a private college here. They claimed that race relations are better currently than they ever have been. I told them they were wrong; that the only reason they seem so is because it's illegal to do the kinds of things that were done before the Civil Rights Act was passed.
And if Rand Paul does have a "Tea Party Mandate," will that include trying to take us back to a time when the Civil Rights Act doesn't exist? Is this the whole aim of those in power with the Tea Party?
I think so, but I'm a pragmatist. I hope and pray that I'm wrong.
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