The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

English writer Samuel Johnson once famously said that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." The context of the quote was primarily directed at the British Prime Minister and aimed at what Johnson felt was false patriotism. Fast forward 230 years or so and I think the current version of this quote should be, "racism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". And just as in Johnson's day, it isn't actual racism that the quote is targeted at, it is the false racism used by many of today's politicians. Jimmy Carter (you know the ex-president who penned an anti-Semitic book) lectured us that the strong opposition to the Obama healthcare proposal was based on racism. Several Congressmen and women and liberal columnists have raised the issue that the opposition to the Obama health care plan is based on race. What do these people think? That the American people didn't know Barack Obama was black when they voted for him? We suddenly woke up 9 months into his administration and realized he was black so we have to oppose him?

I believe that the major reason why we are hearing this charge now is that the liberals through the years have found crying racism is an effective political tool. It neutralizes opposition. It attacks presumed motives not actual actions or words. The idea they are attempting to propagate is since the "speaker" is operating from "hate" every possible criticism by that "speaker" is racist, and thus they don't even have to answer any criticism. It is easier to demonize the opposition with a bogus charge of racism than it is to argue the facts of the proposal that the majority of people don't want. The left is attempting to "shame" the white moderates who supported Obama in 2008 into supporting his healthcare plan or risk being labeled as a racist.

The numbers however, just don't add up. Like I wrote above, a large portion of the 69 million American people who voted for him last November just didn't wake up and realize Obama was black. In fact, Obama got 41% of the white male vote, the largest percentage of white males to vote for a democrat presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976. Race wasn't a major factor in the election, why is it suddenly the factor now? The latest polls show 53% of the country approve of the job Obama is doing as President while 44% disapprove. That doesn't strike me as racism. If racism truly was behind the opposition to the Obama healthcare plan, wouldn't those numbers be significantly worse?

An even more telling story of numbers is the comparison at comparable times in the process of Obamacare now and Hillarycare some 18 years ago. At about the same time in 1991, 44% of the population supported the massive federal takeover of healthcare. The latest poll I saw shows that 41% of the population support Obamacare. Those similar numbers show that the issue isn't race. The issue is, that despite being the holy grail of the left wing in this country for over 30 years, a federal takeover of healthcare is not something the majority of Americans support. It is that policy, not whatever race the proponent happens to be, that is the cause of the strong opposition.

Despite the ease which charges of racism seem to flow from the left in this country,they are actually doing more harm than good. By glibly charging racism on legitimate policy differences, the left is diluting the impact that any legitimate charge would carry. It is a sad day in this country when we can't criticize our president on policy issues without a bogus charge of racism being bandied about. It really has become that racism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.