The Martin Luther King holiday is a time for reflection on the struggles of our civil rights era past, but sadly it is also a time for race baiting politicians to score political points and this year is no exception. New York Senator, Hillary Clinton used the backdrop of the King holiday to attack the Bush administration as one of the worst in history. The senator also likened the US House of Representatives to a “plantation” which squelches opposing views. “We have a culture of corruption, we have cronyism, we have incompetence,” Clinton noted in a speech to a mostly black audience in New York. The one truth about politicians is the fact that without exception, most are hypocrites at heart. The fact that any person with the name Clinton can stand up in public and decry corruption is laughable. Furthermore, for a Democrat to complain that dissent is not tolerated is equally hilarious. No Political Party in history has done more to undermine political debate and discussion, castigating their opponents as evil and deriding those with differences of opinion. Even members of their own party, who don’t tow the party line, are left out in the political wilderness.

Clinton went on to laud Democrats for most, if not all, of the progress made in this country regarding civil rights. In a sense Clinton is correct, Civil Rights era legislation would not be possible with out the leadership of key Democrats, but such legislation would not be law today without the efforts of the GOP, who voted in overwhelming numbers in favor of both the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act, something Democrats cannot claim, in fact only 63% of Democrats in the House voted in support of the Civil Rights act, compared with roughly 80% of Republicans.

Since the 1960s, however, no party has done more to undermine people long oppressed by Jim Crow and segregationist policies. The Left has promoted one program after another that serve only to foment a culture of dependency. They have discouraged entrepreneurship, limited choice and opportunity for education and discouraged hard work and resourcefulness through mindless welfare projects, which promote idleness. Indeed, it is the modern Democratic Party that has wholeheartedly embraced the plantation concept. Not only have they dismissed those whose views contrast with their own, but they have fully embraced a paternalistic mentality, not unlike the planters of yore.

Generations ago, slave owners maintained that the slave system was beneficial, that slave owners were in a better position to care for the slaves than the slaves could themselves and thus in a better position to make decisions on behalf of the slaves. This too is the paternalistic covertly racist attitude of the Democrats, who contend that the state, and by extension the left, is best suited to make decisions on our behalf as they “know best.” Sadly, many prominent Black politicians embrace this Democratic position. Are they brainwashed? Perhaps, some however, like the house slaves of that bygone era seek only to reside in the big house and eat the master’s scraps; in return they must surrender their independent thoughts.

Not only are Democratic policies insulting and detrimental to minorities and the poor, but when is the last time you saw a minority in a leadership position within the Democratic Party? One need only ask Party Chairman, Howard Dean how many Blacks he has on staff. No he’s too busy courting those voters with “Confederate Flags” remember? And what of Mr. Elitist himself, John Kerry? Even Bill Clinton did less to promote minorities through the ranks than the current President Bush, yet we are to believe that minority rights are of paramount concern to Democrats. And yet the Dems argue that it is the left that is intolerant, just ask Michael Steele of Maryland which party is more open to dissent. Michael Steele, who is black, is the GOP candidate for US Senate and has become a frequent target by Dems even have even resorted to racially tinged attacks, why? Because they are just so tolerant.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/nyregion/17speech.html