A Nobler Approach to Tragedy & Real Solutions

The shooting of 9 Black worshippers in a church in South Carolina was an evil, horrible act by a depraved, hateful racist.  The Christian grace, on the other hand, of the family members who only days afterward offered their forgiveness, stands in stark contrast.  They could have done as relatives of recent police shooting victims have done, and incited anger and violence and divisiveness, but chose not to.  They took the high road.  This, despite much more incontrovertible evidence of racist motives.  And we should be grateful to them, and take lessons from them. 

They also stand in contrast to those who, while perhaps well-intentioned to prevent repeats of such acts, seem to act in knee-jerk fashion to attack tools and symbols of the perpetrator – his gun, and the Confederate flag.  But clearly conveyed in their statements are political jabs for political gain.  Both against defenders of the 2^nd Amendment (& by association with the GOP which has more often championed that), and, more puzzlingly, somehow trying to paint the GOP as defenders of the Confederate flag, or the right to display it & racism for which it supposedly widely stands.  And to paint themselves as the champions of Black lives and anti-racism.  E.g., Hillary Clinton’s speech at a Black meeting sanctimoniously and indignantly going beyond SC GOP Governor Nikki Halley’s removal of the flag from the capitol, saying that it “shouldn’t fly anywhere.”  On her "high horse," as Obama likes to call it.  And quick to get on the latest PC bandwagon, apparently other politicians, states, corporations, etc. are anxious not to be the last, and thereby subject to being accused of racism. 

Of course every time there’s a high-profile, mass shooting, there’s an immediate rush to remove guns from society.  Pres. Obama fell right into it -- immediately.  Despite every evidence globally to the contrary that that doesn’t solve the problem.  And despite the president’s statement that we’re so unique with mass shootings, or with higher rates – we’re not – Norway, England, Russia, etc.  And countries with more liberal gun laws have lower gun homicide rates than those with the more restrictive laws.  As the saying goes, when guns are criminalized, only criminals will have guns.  And of course mass killings have involved knives & cars – are they next to be banned?  Where there’s a will (to kill), there’s a way.

 Getting at the root of the problem – often identifying and treating mental illnesses or other indicators of radicalism & violent tendencies – is possibly more difficult, but ultimately much more productive.  People around this young killer, like his friend, say they were aware of, and concerned about, some of his statements and tendencies.  But did nothing, and now regret it.  The same with the Colorado theater shooter, and Major Hasan at the army base.  There will always be nut jobs in society with various supposed grievances and rationales, and just as with terrorism, “if you see something, say something.”  You may save one or many lives.  Better parenting, family values, religious values, personal responsibility (rather than victimization and rationalization), etc. are also more productive avenues than barking up the gun and flag trees.

It is much more of a mystery how Democrats can try to hang the Confederate flag (and racism, for that matter) around the necks of Republicans.  It seems like projection, from a historical perspective.  Anyone with even a minimal knowledge of history should be aware that the Republicans were the abolitionist party from the time of Lincoln, the first Republican president.  It was the Democrats of the South who formed the Confederacy to preserve slavery.  It was Republicans who were champions of Blacks throughout Reconstruction and the era of Jim Crow laws, and for many years the only Black members of Congress were Republicans. And up at least to the 1960’s – LBJ acknowledged that it was the Republicans who passed the Civil Rights Act over the objection of the Democrats, who were still staunch segregationists (e.g., gov. Wallace), KKK members (e.g., Democrat Senator Byrd, etc.).  The Democrat Party fostered and protected institutionalized slavery and segregation for 150 years – much longer than any slave-holding or apartheid regime in Africa or elsewhere.  And the KKK used the American flag, not the Confederate.  But now Louis Farrakhan is crying for pulling down the American flag instead.  And do we tear down the Washington & Jefferson memorials because they were slaveholders?  Starting to sound like the ISIS destruction of anything historical.

Kennedy artfully began to transfer the “championship” of Blacks to the Democrat party, wooing Martin Luther King, spending lots of “walking money” in campaigning, and promising entitlements which began to buy votes.  I won’t say that that was their motivation necessarily – I’m sure many or most felt/feel good intentions to help them, but getting their votes was certainly a result.  I’d contend that many of those policies have not only not improved the status of Blacks (and other minorities), but rather kept them down (on the “welfare plantation”) or worsened their situations morally, economically, and in high crime rates, with inter-generational, single-parent welfare.  And I’d contend that conservative principles have their true interests at heart, and have generally been more successful where tried.  The worst poverty and crime are in places long controlled by Democrats.  And we haven’t seen their conditions improve, or race relations, under a Democrat Black president.  Rather, they’ve worsened.

A basic safety net is not even in dispute – but a massive entitlement program that is a dole, and continues to grow beyond reason, is.  A report just came out of a study of the results of affirmative action in colleges (at least in California?) to show it has had a clearly negative effect.  And similarly, I think bi-lingual education has been shown counter-productive, however well-intentioned.  I generally don’t really impugn the motives of liberals/progressives – they’re typically very idealistic and heart-felt -- I question the amount of thought put into their policies and solutions, and the longer-term results – unintended consequences.  The road to you-know-where is paved with good intentions, and the devil is in the details.  Knee-jerk acceptance of various policies, just because they purport to address various problems (the cause du jour), or because it’s popular in the media or certain circles, does service to no one.   Majority consensus, or the media or PC projection of it, is not always right.

There is particularly egregious hypocrisy by the Clintons.  Bill as governor in Arkansas signed a bill to place a symbolic Confederate star on the state flag.  He was a member for many years of an all-white country club.  And speaking of Bill, we all know about Hillary’s server, but do you know where Bill’s server is?  Hooters.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist.  No, just as with the Civil War & the Civil Rights Act, it took a Republican (Nikki Halley) to set things more right.  But just as with Kennedy, Hillary is right out there claiming to go even farther, to take the “lead,” after all the years of inaction.  Just as Rahm Emanuel said, “never let a crisis go to waste.”  And where there is no crisis, create one.  Quick to take up the flag issue, which is unlikely to save any lives and only maybe make someone feel good, but slow to recognize the factors killing many more Blacks, and keeping them in poverty.

Maybe the explanation for the Democrats’ notion of the GOP/conservatives as defenders of the confederate flag (and the racism that it may represents for some small number – most Blacks polled don’t care about the flag) is the fact that the South has become more conservative, and that (the South & conservatives) is associated with red-necks, who somehow are associated with the racism that prevailed in the historically Democrat South.  A few leaps of logic and time there.  Although Nikki Halley articulately explained how for most, by far, the Confederate flag (just as the Texas flag) has other meaning – military honor (the South provides a disproportionate contribution to our military), history, independence, pride, etc.  The young shooter said in his writings that he couldn’t find any KKK or white supremacist group anywhere to join in and further the cause, so he’d have to take it upon himself – a lone wolf.  Doesn’t that in itself say that the South (at least South Carolina, where the Civil War began), has come a long way? 

People who’ve lived their lives in the South say there’s not rampant racism (it seems more common in Northern cities – Blacks are flocking back to the South), and the flag has very different meanings from that.  Of course it can be difficult logically to dissociate the traditions and military history from the horrible cause they were fighting for.  But it wouldn’t be the first time there’s compartmentalization, or cognitive dissonance.  Certainly Democrats seem to sweep their racist history under the rug, or even project it onto the GOP.  And soothe their progressive consciences by claiming to be the arch-champions of the oppressed minorities.  Never mind that that plays into their (& the professional race-peddlers’) political and economic benefit, and is perpetuated by keeping them oppressed with policies that, intentionally or not, perpetuate it and never really improve their lot.  The quote attributed to Einstein comes to mind – “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the very definition of insanity.”  Obama was supposedly elected in part to help put division & racism behind us, but now he is saying racism is “in our DNA” – sounds like perpetual job insurance for the race-baiter Democrats.

Of course any Black who doesn’t tow the Democrat line (Clarence Thomas, Ben Carson, etc.) is dismissed as an “Uncle Tom.”  There can be no other approach to solving problems than the Democrat line – the same applies to women, etc.  And anyone who’s not a Democrat, by default, must be racist.  It’s easy then to dismiss conservatives after such demonization – they don’t even need to be heard, seriously considered or debated.  “End of discussion.”  Oh, that’s right, that’s the title of a great book just out by Guy Benson & Mary Katharine Ham (http://endofdiscussionbook.com/).   Which goes hand-in-hand with Democrat Kirsten Powers’ “The Silencing” (http://www.regnery.com/books/the-silencing/).   They can’t win with facts or logic, so they shut down any consideration or discussion of them.  So much for liberal freedom of speech and free market of ideas.  And freedom of choice.