Is this the sort of "dialogue" that Obama had in mind? Is this the sort of "racial tranacendence" we were promised by the Democrat's messiah?
Or, is this simply the end game maneuvers of the Democratic's multi-decade pimping of identity politics and victimhoodology?
The only legacy that the candidacy of Barack Obama is going to leave with the American people is one of racial polarization ;divisiveness; and identity politics taken to the nth degree. Amazingly, this could have been predicted at the very start of the campaign as the two Democrat-approved victim groups lined up to do battle for the nomination, each believing they represented the purist victims of the evils of the white male capitalist oppressors.
If ever there was an example of how people regularly delude themselves into thinking they are doing "good", when in fact they are leaving the door open to the worse aspects of their own human nature, this qualifies.
Let me give you an example of how human nature typically operates--better expressed as "how 'good' intentions do not guarantee 'good' results":
A rigorous statistical examination has found that smoking bans increase drunken-driving fatalities. One might expect that a ban on smoking in bars would deter some people from showing up, thereby reducing the number of people driving home drunk. But jurisdictions with smoking bans often border jurisdictions without bans, and some bars may skirt the ban, so that smokers can bypass the ban with extra driving. There is also a large overlap between the smoker and alcoholic populations, which would exacerbate the danger from extra driving. The authors estimate that smoking bans increase fatal drunken-driving accidents by about 13%, or about 2.5 such accidents per year for a typical county. Assuming a smoking ban is still worth it, the results suggest the need for a more aggressive approach to drunken driving - or a nationwide smoking ban.
Adams, S. and Cotti, C., "Drunk driving after the passage of smoking bans in bars," Journal of Public Economics (forthcoming).
This "but I meant well" defense is the increasingly familiar cry of the 'typical' clueless leftist do-gooder, who makes it his or her business to force us to do what they believe is 'best' for us. They go about their daily lives trying to control every little aspect of everyone else's life for their own good and supposedly that of society. They rail against the 'oppression' of the free market and capitalism (see Barack's race speech for good examples of this); and speak of 'empowerment' and 'power to the people' and other catch phrases of the warmed-over marxism they perpetually spout.
The do-gooder leftist in all the various ideological incarnations--the antiwar crowd, the environmental crowd, the communists, socialists, and assorted collectivists--offers the rationale that he does what he does for the "common good" and for "social justice", "peace" and "brotherhood". His high-minded, self-righteous rhetoric justifies (to him anyway) imposing his will and beliefs on others for their own good; and he will not hesitate to use whatever coercive capablity he has at hand to get others to do what he wants and what he says.
The capitalist, on the other hand, is overtly out to pursue his own selfish profit, and understands he must use persuasion. That is, he must convince people that his ideas and the products of his mind are better than all the rest so that they will be willing to part with their hard-earned money to possess them. His desire for power over others is manifested in an indirect manner because people must wnat what he has to offer and believe that they will benefit from an interaction with him.
There is no parallel social limitations on the behavior of the leftist. This tyrant wannabe does not feel the need to convince others of the veracity or even the effectiveness of his ideas; nor does he accept defeat when others are not interested or resist their implementation. He knows in his heart what is best for everyone, and he will use coercion, if necessary. First he will try guilt. Then when human nature fails to live up to his expectations, he will give fatherly admonishments and point you to the one true way. He will be gravely disappointed in you, when you still don't see things his way. This will be the ultimate justification for his do-gooder plans.
It's really cute how Obama has framed the current debate: if you don't vote for me, then it will be definitive proof of the latent racism of America. It will prove that Reverend Wright is absolutely correct in his assessment, don't you see? Are we the KKK of America, after all--or will we be redeemed by doing the right and proper thing--i.e., vote for a man or woman on the basis of his or her color or gender and not on the basis of his or her ideas?
This is the casual racism and sexism that the do-gooder left has done for the legacy of the Democratic Party. By manipulating the Blacks, the Women, the Gays, the [insert your favorite victim group here] they have fashioned for themselves a 'rainbow coalition'--or to put it another way, a' politically correct' path to power that actively promotes racism, sexism--and any other prejudice they can think of--all in the name of eliminating or opposing racism, sexism and prejudice. Wow.
In other words, they bring about and make worse the very thing they claim to be opposed to; but at least in the process they make their dupes feel really really good about themselves and fully 'empowered'.
The leftist's desire for power is direct and absolute; and this is a direct consequence of the utopian ideology that drives them.
There is no area of your life which will escape his intrusive psychopathology, because he justifies it by saying he is really doing it for your sake--from banning smoking to telling you how you must vote to avoid being a racist or sexist oppressor of the innocent.
The clever leftist always manages to hide these darker motivations--the envy, greed, and desire for power (for this is human nature)--and pretend they don't even exist--even to himself. He tells himself he does not possess such dark motives; that his motives are pure and uncontaminated by the kind of self-serving goals the selfish capitalists pursue. They see themselves as the 'pure' embodiment of salvation even as they utter the same old banal platitudes and silly slogans and chants for "peace", "brotherhood" and "justice". These slogans and chants comfort the leftist; and even as the consequences of their cluelessness wreak havoc and discord all around; they are still able to feel oh so good about themselves. And that is what is important, after all.
Experiencing too much knowledge and insight about the their unconsciousness motivations would make the 'typical leftist' extremely uncomfortable; perhaps even causing him to question some of his basic assumptions about himself or his beliefs.
This is the essence of the "dilemma of the utopians". They see themselves as so pure and righteous; so correct and virtuous; how is it possible that their beautiful utopian dreams always turn into such horrible human nightmares?
You can then count on the true leftist believer to close his eyes not only to his own internal reality, but also to the external reality that proves the uselessness of his beliefs in the real world. Few on the left have ever acknowledged the nightmare of the Soviet gulag; or Lenin's purges; or China's crackdowns. Few have ever even accepted the incredible human cost their ideologies have taken on humanity; the death the suffering and misery. Even today, they actively support all the future Stalin's (like the thug Chavez) in their grabs for unparalleled power. Chavez, of course, follows the pure utopian aspirations of the typical leftist and is only allowing himself to become "dictator for life" because he wants to help his people.
Even fewer will admit that the lovely policies supposedly to promote social justice and to eliminate racism and sexism have actually had the reverse effect of encouraging its rise; as they tacitly maintain and nurture a victim class and a victimhood mentality that grows more and more entitled and bitter every day.
Thus we have the logical and inevitable progression: from supposedly trivial smoking bans to 'racial unity' and tolerance through the acceptance of reverse racism and bigotry in the name of political correctness and the larger 'good' to moral relativism on an even larger scale, i.e., overt dictatorship.
The legacy of the 'typical' leftist is almost always just the opposite of what they believe it is. Such is the power of the unconscious mind; and such is the reality of self-deception and the mindless worship of emotions over reason.
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