A co-worker forwarded me an email that makes so much sense I have no choice but to post it. The following list of lessons comes from Umair Haque via twitter. Dear Congress, dear Mr. President. Stop everything you are doing and read these. They are short enough to fit into your schedule, and simple enough to understand.
- The first lesson is: when you don’t reinvent institutions at a time of systemic failure, the problem doesn’t just magically disappear.
- The second lesson is: when you prop up the institutions causing the crisis, instead of reinventing them, the crisis will deepen.
- The third lesson is: when dysfunctional institutions prop one another up, prosperity’s a house of cards. Crisis becomes stagnation.
- The fourth lesson is: when propping up failed institutions has drained your resources, you’ve turned a crisis into a catastrophe.
- The fifth lesson is: the longer it takes you to see a crisis for what it truly is, the disproportionately worse it’s likely to get.
- The sixth lesson is: when people who are prisoners of the paradigm that caused the crisis are in charge of fixing it, bet on… more crisis.
The NAACP recently issued a new report by Devin Burghart, Leonard Zeskind and the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights that “exposes the connection between numerous Tea Party leaders and racism.” (get the full report here)
This paper was sponsored by The Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights (IREHR). It describes itself as “a national organization with an international outlook examining racist, anti-Semitic, white nationalist, and far-right social movements, analyzing their intersection with civil society and social policy, educating the public, and assisting in the protection and extension of human rights through organization and informed mobilization.”
The Forward gets off to an encouraging start: “We know the majority of Tea Party supporters are sincere, principled people of good will.” The authors then write “it is important that we have a reasoned political debate without the use of epithets, the threat of violence, or the resurrection of long discredited racial hierarchies.”
Overall, the report is informative. As just an average guy and not a career politician or political expert of any kind, I enjoyed reading the detailed information provided about six of the major Tea Party organizations. (FreedomWorks, 1776 Tea Party, ResistNet, Tea Party Nation, Tea Party Patriots and Tea Party Express). The authors provide information on the founders of each group, some basic financials, the stated goals or missions for each group and their membership demographics. They also refer to smaller groups including SmartGirl Politics, Americans For Prosperity and Red State among many others, and promise to deliver a report providing more detail about these groups.
Beyond the history of the tea party groups, the rest of the report is a biased delivery of standard leftward talking points. After all, when you can’t win an argument on facts you can either admit you are wrong, or you can resort lies and name-calling. Allow me to summarize:
- Any reference to people that want secured borders, including groups like the Minutemen or supporters of AZ1070 are called “anti-immigrant.” Correction #1: We are anti-illegal-immigration. They use the phrase “anti-immigrant” 29 times in this report.
- The authors seemingly obsess over the “birther” element of the tea party movement. The word “birther” appears 12 times, as does “birth certificate.” Correction #2: The vast majority of tea party people are tired of birthers. They are not the mainstream.
- The word “racist” is used 58 times in the report, “racism” is used 26 times. Yet other than discussing the backgrounds of a very small number of people in the movement that have radical views or are/were associated with groups that virtually all tea party people disavow, the report offers zero proof of legitimate racism or violence. They mention two specific tea party signs that were offensive. (how many thousands were displayed?)
The focus on the far-right is obvious, hence the racism motif presented throughout this report. As an aside it would be great to see their focus on the far-left to see what they come up with when looking at groups like ACORN, the ACLU, or the Obama administration for that matter.
As you dig deeper into the report and try to find the actual substance, you quickly find that there is none. The authors trot out the failed yet still popular lies that Barney Frank was called a fag, John Lewis was called a nigger, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus were spat upon. None of these have been proven true, but facts don’t matter when you are playing the race card.
The authors hint at racism throughout the tea party movement, but other than their discussion of a few fringe personalities, they provide no proof. Here are just a few comments that typify the non-statistical portions of the report:
- “The Tea Party movement as a whole is a multimillion dollar complex that includes for-profit corporations, non-party non-profit organizations, and political action committees.”
- “The result of this study contravenes many of the Tea Parties’ self-invented myths, particularly their supposedly sole concentration on budget deficits, taxes and the power of the federal government. Instead, this report found Tea Party ranks to be permeated with concerns about race and national identity and other so-called social issues.”
- “Nevertheless, the impact of President Barack Obama’s election, and the fact that the First Family of the United States has ancestors who were once the property of white people, has had an effect. It is not direct and mechanical, like a cue ball hitting the nine ball into the corner pocket. But it is identifiable nonetheless.”
- “Theirs is an American nationalism that does not always include all Americans. It is a nationalism that excludes those deemed not to be “real Americans;” including the native-born children of undocumented immigrants (often despised as “anchor babies”), socialists, Moslems, and those not deemed to fit within a “Christian nation.”
The report also uses the common trick of pointing out comments from blogs and then finding the person that posted the comment and tying that person to a fringe group, then looping back around to try and connect it to the actual Tea Party. This technique is used more than once. And I have to ask the authors, do you really want to go down the path of comparing the content of posts between liberal versus conservative blogs and web sites? I welcome that challenge any time. The same can be said about death threats. They mention angry voicemails left at the NAACP after its resolution condemning “racist elements” of the tea party. Shall we compare those messages to the threats people like Glenn Beck receive? Or for that matter people at FreedomWorks or Tea Party Express? Again, I say bring it on.
For me, this report jumped the shark when it actually presented concern over the political opinion of the lead singer of a band that appeared at a Washington D.C. rally. Really? The band? They also complained about a sign that said “Honk if I’m paying your mortgage” because they felt it was insulting to the poor that many entitlement programs are aimed at.
Let me leave you with the closing statement, which actually may be all you need to read to get the gist of this report:
“It is here, at the conjunction of nativism, opposition to birthright citizenship, the denigration of President Obama, and the fear of the new majority in American life, that the unstated racism embedded within the Tea Parties becomes vocal and unmistakable.”
I think you get the point. Overall, the historical data provided about the larger tea party organizations is interesting, but if I were a college professor I would give this paper a failing grade if the goal was to persuade.
I received an email last week that needs to be sent to every Republican Texan you know, allow me to paraphrase for you.
Recently on Fox News Americas Newsroom with Bill Hemmer, Fox contributor Bob Beckle issued his number one pick for upset of the election: Bill White will defeat Governor Rick Perry.
This is the race my wife has been worrying about this most, and this is the race that I am now worried about the most. I had the honor of interviewing Governor Perry last month and I asked him why here in Texas we are seeing more White signs, banner ads and television commercials than Perry promotions. He said that his team is focusing more on social media and that I should expect more advertisements as we get closer to the race. Well… the race is about three week away now and I’m still seeing more White than Perry.
If you are thinking about not voting because you have a problem with Rick Perry on a certain issue, ask yourself if giving control of the state to a liberal Democrat is worth staying home for. NO candidate is perfect. You have to find the candidate that you agree with most on, perhaps 70% or more if possible.
Here are some things to think about.
- Bill White is anti-gun and supports gun control in Texas. He was one of only two Texas mayors to join New York Mayor Bloomberg’s anti-gun group. He later resigned after seeing popularity polls and claimed that he didn’t know what he was joining. Seriously? Why not try “my dog ate my application info sheet.”
- Bill White personally made Houston one of the largest illegal immigrant “sanctuary cities” in America. Yet he has the audacity to claim that Rick Perry hasn’t done enough on our border? Homeland Security has repeatedly refused to send the manpower and money needed to protect our southern border while Bill White does everything he can to encourage illegals to enter Texas.
- Bill White supports Obamacare. It is ridiculously expensive, raises rates on seniors, causes millions to lose their coverage, and new problems with the bill are discovered every week. That’s what happens when you don’t read bills before passing them. And White supports it.
- Bill White refuses to commit to not raise taxes on Texans. Rick Perry got Texas out of a financial hole in 2003 without raising taxes, and is trying to do the same again this year.
- Speaking of money, while mayor, White raided pension funds to pay for highly questionable programs that he instigated as mayor. He left Houston in a financial mess that was verified by the current mayor. And try Googling “Bill White Metrogate.” He’s involved in a scandal that nobody is hearing about. Do you want him to lead Texas?
- Bill White has no intention of releasing his tax returns. Apparently he is a fan of Obama’s version of transparency: seal or conceal, just don’t reveal.
- Bill White supports Cap and Trade, and in fact he has said that he feels the legislation does not go far enough.
- Bill White supports the ridiculous Obama EPA grab of Texas emission laws. Adoption of these laws will kill tens of thousands of Texas jobs.
- Bill White is a trial lawyer and he opposes lawsuit reforms.
- Bill White has repeatedly said that our military should have a say in national elections, but not state or local elections. Could this be because Texas has one of the largest military populations in the country, and the military largely votes Republican?
If you have a problem with Rick Perry, ask yourself if not voting, or worse, voting for White, justifies turning Texas over to an illegal friendly, anti-gun, pro-Obamacare, pro Cap & Trade economy destroying liberal. If you still think White deserves your vote after reading this, please stay home or change parties. Bill White is bad for Texas.
What is the mission of the NAACP? “The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.”
All persons? I don’t think so. Talk a walk through the NAACP web site and show me where any race other than black is represented. This isn’t a racist statement, it is simply an observation. Look at the awards from the most recent “Image Awards” and find me a non-black reference other than “Dora The Explorer.” (personally I think Little Bill is a ton better than Dora. The music is awesome, and Little Bill lacks the incredibly annoying voice that Dora has.) Claiming that the NAACP promotes the welfare of all racist is like saying that ACORD promotes the welfare of all political parties. Prove me wrong.
Apparently this year the organization is taking a page from the Obama playbook by removing any and all transparency surrounding the creation of its official resolution aimed at tea party members. Thanks to Philip Klein at the American Spectator, we know of a few portions of the current draft of this resolution:
- “Some Tea Party members have used racial epithets and verbally and physically abused African-American congressman and others, and have been charged with making dangerous threats against duly elected public officials…”
- Another line of the resolution called the Tea Party movement a “threat to the pursuit of human rights, justice and equality for all.”
- “BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the NAACP call upon all people of good will specifically but not limited to all political parties and human rights organizations to publicly repudiate the racism and expel the racial instigators of the Tea Party, and to stand in opposition to its drive to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era.”
Hmm. I’ve been to several tea party events including the original 9/11 DC rally and the 4/15 Alamo rally. I can say with confidence that these events were outstanding examples of courtesy, patriotism and camaraderie. To suggest that these events were racist in any way is dishonest. To assert in writing that they are an attempt to “push our country back to the pre-civil rights era” borders on insane.
Yet these stereotypes exist because the press continues to spread lies, and our president and first lady continue to willfully mislead the American public about race issues purely for their own personal gain. This disgusts me and it should disgust you too.
Remember when Michelle Obama first played the race card on 60 Minutes? Instead of using their own life as an example of what minorities can achieve in America, she chose to remain divisive. And now, at a time when race relations appear to me to be as tense as they have ever been in my lifetime, does she take the high road and use her pulpit at the NAACP to try and unite people? No. Instead, the NAACP feels compelled to craft a condemnation of an organization that it does not understand, based on evidence that does not exist. Of course, you cannot defend yourself against something you are not, but that is besides the point.
I would like to see the NAACP summit try to join communities, not divide them. I would like to see our president creating racial harmony and understanding, not poking his nose into racial issues only when the white community can be blamed (see the Cambridge Police, the freedom of the Philadelphia New Black Panthers, or the lawsuit(s) against Arizona for a crime that does not exist). I wish I could say that our president was a uniting force. Instead, I sadly see a man focused on his legacy, not his leadership. Perhaps he could learn something from the following excerpt from a speech from a great man, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Oh, there will be a day, the question won’t be, “How many awards did you get in life?” Not that day. It won’t be, “How popular were you in your social setting?” That won’t be the question that day. It will not ask how many degrees you’ve been able to get. The question that day will not be concerned with whether you are a “Ph.D.” or a “no D.” It will not be concerned with whether you went to Morehouse or whether you went to “No House.”… On that day the question will be, “What did you do for others?”
