Fear and Loathing in the Establishment
To an outsider, the quirks of US politics are at times funny, and
at times scary. The latest quirk seems to be coming from the
Democratic side, where the fear of Ron Paul stealing their thunder is running rampant. And I am not surprised, as Ron Paul is certainly
a greater advocate of civil rights than the Democratic mainstream
(excluding people like Gravel and Kucinich). To be honest, I was expecting
assaults from the Neo-Cons, but they have mainly resolved to ignore
Paul and hope the whole thing will blow over. The Democrats on the
other hand are now making more or less overt accusations of Paul
being a cryptoracist, which they base on the now infamous
ghost-written Survival Report article and on a host of even more
ambiguous theories.
For a supposed cryptoracist, Paul is certainly doing a poor job.
Like saying in a public debate that the 'war' on drugs is biased
against minorities and should be ended? That is not going to
make his cryptoracist friends happy. Having rap songs written about
him? That is going to be pretty embarrassing at his next KKK rally.
As far as I can tell, the flaw in US politics is that intent is
deducted by deciphering nuances and minutia in speeches. You
have people looking for hidden meanings and sinister codewords. Every
sentence is dissected and twisted to meet a certain end. I guess this
is born out of necessity, as politicians tend to lack the
proverbial spinal column and looking at their records is absolutely
pointless. But Ron Paul is a completely different animal. To see if
he is a racist, you only have to look at his record.
So, has he voted for restricting civil liberties? No. Has he voted
for preferential treatment to some racial group? No. In fact, Ron
Paul is probably one of the least racist people in politics; he
doesn't advocate taking from any racial group and he doesn't advocate
giving special privileges to any racial group. And let's face it,
setting different rules for someone purely based on race is racism,
no matter how well-intentioned the motives.
I use to hold the Democrats in relatively high regard. As a slight
hope for America that is about the take world with it into whatever
hell awaits us at the end. But their recent ineptitude on reigning in
Bush and now this pathetic smearing of Ron Paul, has made me
understand their failings. They are not the voice of reason in
America, but just another part of the establishment, terrified of Ron
Paul disarming them, simply by saying the things that they should
have been saying from the beginning.