Are We Racist?

I recently read an article on FOX News that former Law & Order star Angie Harmon is having to defend herself against claims of racism because she disagrees with Barack Obama’s current direction as President.

"Here's my problem with this, I'm just going to come out and say it. If I have anything to say against Obama it's not because I'm a racist, it's because I don't like what he's doing as President and anybody should be able to feel that way, but what I find now is that if you say anything against him you're called a racist.” She goes on to say, "But it has nothing to do with it, I don’t care what color he is. I’m just not crazy about what he's doing and I heard all about this, and he’s gonna do that and change and change, so okay …”

I have to agree with her here. The left is using the fact that the man is of dark skinned descent to further their claims that Conservatives in America are racist. For the most part, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The general public will tell you they don’t disagree with the color of his skin, but of the policies he is putting forth. It could be that people are uncomfortable with him being a socialist rather than black.

I’ll give you a few examples. The recent news that the CEO of General Motors has been “asked” to step down by President Obama is one example. If he doesn’t GM cannot continue to get money from the administration in order to stay in business. This shouldn’t have happened for a number of reasons, but we won’t discuss them all here. The government has no business telling a company who can and can’t be in charge of their business, even if the government is “invested” in that company because that shouldn’t have happened to begin with. That’s bordering on unconstitutionality.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has requested the power to seize other firms besides banks in order to help with financial distress of firms such as large insurance companies, hedge funds, and investment firms. The Obama administration got a taste of the power they have with the auto industry and banks by investing in them and bringing them under government control. They now want to extend that power with these other firms. This is similar to a vampire. Once you start feeding you can’t stop or you die.

Those are just two quick examples of socialist practices already in play in this administration there are more, but that’s not really what this article is about. It’s claims that you are a racist if you disagree with President Obama because he’s black. Well, lets see what the definition of racism is.

Racism – noun

A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
Racial prejudice or discrimination.

Both of these definitions of the word suppose that you are saying that his race tells you that he is wrong. Well, I don’t think race has been brought up in disagreements with him in the general population. Sure there are a few people that will say he’s wrong because he’s black. Look at the statement from Angie Harmon above. She doesn’t say I think he’s wrong because he’s black. She says, I don’t like what he’s doing as President.

A well thought out, intelligent argument against Barack Obama will tell you that his positions are leading towards more government control over parts of America and that once you begin to get power all you want is more. I believe that is where the disagreement with the man comes from. People don’t want the government controlling what they do. They want the government out of their hair as much as possible. The only people who want the government involved in their lives are the people looking for handouts, the ones who don’t want to work hard for their stuff. They want to know that the government will be there to give them what they need.

Racism stems from people not being given a “fair” shake because they’re a different color. It was a big problem in the 17 and 1800’s because people who were not white were not thought of as people. As time went on laws had to be created that gave people the same rights as everyone else no matter what the color of their skin was. In the beginning those laws were good and necessary though I believe they are less and less relevant as we go along.

People want a colorblind society. I do as well. The color of a person’s skin is not, and should not be an issue. You judge people on the words they speak, and on the actions they perform. Everyone is created by God with the same rights as the person next to them. There is no doubt about that. It’s in all of our founding documents.
Racism comes because people are hurt and even killed because of the color of their skin. They’re not given a job because of the color of their skin. If you truly want a colorblind society you have to remove these things from your thinking. They need to be taken off of applications for employment, education, and anything else that asks you what race you consider yourself. Until then people are always going to judge you by what you call yourself.
We need to remove labels such as African-American, Italian-America, Asian-American. What do all of those phrases have in common? They all label you as something before you’re an American. If you truly want to have a society where you are judged by the person you are you have to quit labeling yourself as something other than American. That’s what we all are, Americans. We’re not black, we’re not white, we’re not Asian. We’re people. We’re Americans.
If you disagree with a person you’re not a racist. You have a different viewpoint than them. It’s not wrong to have a different opinion from someone, especially in this country. It’s the beauty of America. People from all over the world can come here and live the life they want to live no matter what color they are, what religion they are.
I will continue to disagree with these positions of our President, and yes he is OUR president no matter what political party you belong to. If you’re an American he is your President. I will not however consider him wrong because he’s black. That would truly be Un-American.