Nov
9
One Down, Two To Go
November 9, 2008 | | 2 Comments
It should be clear by my previous posts that I was not a supporter of Barack Obama for President. That said, I am glad that we have finally reached the point where a black man can achieve our nation’s highest office. Now, I’m not so naïve to believe that we have eliminated racial bigotry because of this election. Two racist men were arrested for plotting Obama’s assassination already, so we know that we still have a ways to go, but we have reached a significant milestone in this election.
The Declaration of Independence states,
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln reaffirmed these words in his famous Gettysburg Address,
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Racial barriers continue to fall as we work towards true equality, knowing we will never fully achieve that goal. Unfortunately, this election has also made it clear that we still have a long way to go to begin to see gender equality and eliminate religious bigotry. It began with attacks on women in general, and Hillary Clinton in particular during the Democratic primary were despicable. One example is a slogan that was used by the very people that were insisting on racial equality. It ultimately found its way onto a t-shirt.
It’s hard to take people seriously that they want to eliminate one form of bigotry when they use another one to do it. This bigotry continued after the nomination of Sarah Palin for Vice President on the Republican ticket. Several people, primarily young ones were seen wearing shirts and shorts with a disgusting slogan. It is so foul I will not display it here. For those that are interested in seeing it, I’m sure you can find it (if you haven’t seen it already). It says “Sarah Palin is a…”
There were other actions that showed we still have a long way to go before we achieve gender equality. How many news articles focused on Palin’s clothing, hair, etc., while this was never mentioned for the men? How many photographs did you see of Palin’s legs, angles which would never be used for a man? The mainstream media continues to feed the shallowness of many Americans.
The final issue is that of religious bigotry. It started in the Republican primary with attacks on Mitt Romney’s faith. There were many that said they couldn’t vote for a Mormon. Some of the strongest attacks came from evangelical Christians who should never allow bigotry to taint their faith. The Bible speaks towards the equality of all men and women, even more so than our Constitution. Even one of the candidates joined in on the attacks. Mike Huckabee asked a question that he had to know would stir up this bigotry,
Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?
Attacks continued after Sarah Palin was thrust into the spotlight. Her membership in an Assembly of God church brought on all sorts of wild accusations. Having been a member of several church within this denomination in my past, I can assure people that the people there are pretty much like other normal everyday Americans. I was speaking with a co-worker the day before the election, and he said something to me that really struck me.
Sarah Palin is just another Pat Robertson.
For those of you that don’t know, Pat Robertson, the head of Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) which hosts the popular show The 700 Club ran in the Presidential primary in 1988. He has over the years said some controversial things, including calling for the assassination of the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez in 2005.
Now I can tell you that although there are some in the Assy of God like and support Pat Robertson and his ministries, he is far from the leader of that organization, and certainly not representative of most of its members. This comment comes from a self-proclaimed moderate, you know the ones that are tolerant of the viewpoints of everyone?
I wonder what this co-worker would have thought if I’d related Barack Obama to Louis Farrakhan and many of the controversial things that he has said and done, simply because they were of the same race? His statement would seem to be based completely on his ignorance of the members of Palin’s church and denomination, without any facts on which to base it. This isn’t even like what many were saying about Rev. Wright at Obama’s church. His statements were well documented, and it is known that Obama was a member of that church for 20 years. There’s no evidence whatsoever that Palin was ever involved with Pat Robertson’s ministries or agreed with anything he has said or done.
Even though my candidate did not win this election, I was very pleased that America has progressed from its racial bigotry in the past to be able to elect the first black man to its highest office. It would seem however, that we still have much work to do before we will see the same for women and religious citizens of our great nation.
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RMA Radio…
With the end of the campaign, and the success of the Blog Talk Radio show we did there, the RMA has decided to take to the netwaves and continue the show as Rocky Mountain Alliance Radio, also on Blog……
I am Fotones de Akba (from Red State).
Thoughtful remarks about bigotry.
It’s a very difficult subject. Obviously, everyday social interactions break down the distances between people. And knowledge can help IF individuals are intellectually curious. BUT fundamentally, it seems to me a question of temperament; some people thrive on openness and inclusion — and other people do not.
I suspect one thing. Tolerance can not be legislated. And another thing I suspect is that some differences are insurmountable. Conflict is inevitable.
And obviously, even “moderates” can turn into “absolutists” when they feel that laws and institutions don’t seem to support tolerance and relativism.
Human social life is very sticky.
IRA in new york city