Race Race

I am not the first to note the increasingly racist character of the 2008 Democratic primary elections. Even Sen. Hillary Clinton, tentatively the also-ran, acknowledged that her support was coming from distinctly white lower classes. Several polls have indicated that a high percentage (1/3 to 1/2) of white Clinton supporters will not vote for Obama in the general election. A much lower fraction of Obama supporters would return the favor by not voting for Clinton, were she the Democratic candidate. Thus, racial bias continues to thrive in the Democratic party, probably because of its origin and persistence as a party of the South.

It is interesting to note the twists and turns of History, which I believe shows its chaotic nature. Northern urban liberals captured the Democratic party in the 1920s and used it to propel FDR into office, with a lot of help from the Great Depression. I think the common element which held Democrats together in the New Deal was the emphasis on the needy lower classes. That is, the predominant fracture-line in American politics during the Great Depression was socio-economic class, not gender, race or ethnicity. Moreover, despite the efforts of Eleanor Roosevelt, the primary focus of the New Deal was helping white men, who were the voting majority at that time. Class solidarity was reinforced by the advent of World War II, especially since government propaganda depicted the war as 'us against them' in the crudest, even racist, terms. The success of the Democratic party after World War II was bought by American victory and a flood of consumer goods, secured by the bonding of GIs (always pictured as white males) who soldiered and suffered for their country. The Democratic coalition fell apart in1968, victim of the "generation gap:" the Baby Boomer generation did not bond with its Greatest Generation parents.

After 1968, the white lower classes returned to their roots, abandoning the urban-liberal controlled Democratic party in favor of increasingly provincial and religious Republicans. (Religion is ultimately about sex and blood [kinship].) Blue collar whites not only elected Richard Nixon, but also Ronald Reagan and the Bushes, father and son, to the Presidency. The Clintons, despite Hillary, managed to take hold in the South because Bill Clinton established himself as a "good ole boy." (Good ole boys are not run by their wives, as proven by Bill Clinton's peccadilloes.) Jimmy Carter managed to get elected for just one term, mostly in reaction to the criminality of the Nixon Administration, but also because he had Good Ole Boy credentials having served as Governor of Georgia. Foreshadowing the fate of President Clinton, Carter lost support when it was revealed that he had lusted in his heart and moaned about our national misery. Moreover, Rosalyn Carter was too liberated for lots of white men.

The period of American History from1968-2008, 40 years representing about 20% of all American History, is very revealing of the character of the American people. White Americans will pay lip service to racial and ethnic equality, but most do not and will not practice it. This is most recently demonstrated in the widespread hostility toward Hispanics, all of whom are suspected of being Illegal Immigrants. (Of course, the fact that all European descendants are considered illegal immigrants by Native Americans is ignored.) The myth of the Melting Pot applies only to European immigrants who arrived in the big cities of the North after the Civil War, and maybe to those Irish immigrants who fled the potato famine as well. It never applied to the Chinese and Japanese who sought their fortune in the United States, particularly in California. Sadly, here in Northern California, Asians and Indians could be murdered with impunity until after World War II. In the 19th century, bounties were posted for Indian scalps. As I claimed in The Graduate Student's Question, the United States has always been a racist country.

The on-going 2008 Presidential election is becoming a test of cultural change. Large numbers of blue collar whites will once again abandon the likely Democratic candidate, Sen. Obama, in favor of Sen. McCain. According to most polls, the major reason for that choice is pure and simple: race. Large numbers of white voters will not vote for a Black man. 2008 is, then, reminiscent of the events, such as the Lincoln-Douglass debates, leading up to the 1860 election. All of this makes Sen. McCain the 51% choice, come November.

Posted 06/04/2008 09:33:02 AM                Last update: 06/04/2008

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