Everything is still about racism

I saw some random post on social media complaining that, "Everything is about racism." As usual, I wanted to respond with, "Imagine how non-white people feel, and for totally different reasons." I've learned that such engagement is rarely constructive, so I moved on. But the truth is, everything is still about racism, because when you strip out everything else, it's the only thing left.

I am of course talking about the team that has hijacked the GOP, co-opted the term "conservative," and generally brought the vile hate for others into the culture in a way that made many feel emboldened to engage in it. Some of it is just blatant, and there isn't much else to do with it. Trump's debate rant about "eating the dogs," a reference to an absurd conspiracy theory about (legal) Haitian immigrants in Ohio, is hardly a new racist talking point. That's been around forever, but used to be applied primarily to Asian folks. What's so striking about this is that, ten years ago, uttering something like this in public would make it certain that you would not hold any high public office, let alone be one party's candidate for president.

If we back up, "make America great again" was an obvious racist dog whistle from the start. The implied sentiment is that we were better when people of color were not participants in our society, women stayed home and didn't vote, and it was even more dangerous to be out and LGBTQ. Of course they dress it up as if it's a matter of policy, but facts and data do not support their positions. Strip that away, and you're left with the racism.

For example, the things they keep banging on are immigration and crime, and worse, conflate them. They use scary words like "invasion" to infer that you're in great danger. Controlled immigration is not the desire of just one side, I think everyone wants that. But there are a bunch of inconvenient facts to consider. For one thing, crime in the US has been plummeting for the last four years. The FBI is not making that up. Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than so-called "natives," again, according to the same crime statistics. An anecdote indicating otherwise is not a trend, it's an anecdote (I don't think people understand the difference). Immigrants don't "take" jobs away from anyone, they only add to the necessary business to support a society, which boosts the economy and increases GDP. That's basic economics. Why do you think China is worried about a shrinking population? Because it shrinks the economy, giving it less leverage in world trade.

So when you strip all of that away, because none of the justification for "policy" is rooted in fact, the only thing that you're left with is hate for people who look different. If this were really about the rule of law, the people backing this nonsense wouldn't be supporting a convicted felon.

And with that, let me touch on the "undecided" voter. Various news agencies keep talking to these folks, and it seems like they fall into a few cohorts. The first is just sadly uninformed and doesn't understand civic engagement. The second is the people who make moral equivalence arguments, a throwback to, "All politicians are the same," which used to be more of a thing, but not these days. You may not agree with universal healthcare, and that's fine, but you can't pretend that the folks that want it are the same as people who seek to ban books, limit healthcare and discourage people from voting. And the third I think are people who have finally decided to confront the cognitive dissonance they've engaged in for years, realizing how terrible these hate and fear mongering people are. All three apparently fail to see that anything important is at stake, or at least, don't want to. I'll never understand how anyone can see a person who wants to ditch the Constitution and be a dictator is viable.

Let's stop pretending this is about policy. It's just thinly veiled racism.