Recently there have been many people spouting their views on what they believe the small government crowd is saying. I say small government because a lot of these people aren’t conservatives in all senses. Many are blue dog democrats, many are socially liberal and fiscally conservative, and yes there are plenty of them who are fiscally and socially liberal. Why do I have to explain these differences? It is the same reason some people are blaming the small government crowd’s views on racism. Not because of the logic behind the statement but the agenda that makes the statement.

Former President Carter sounded off with a terrible charge that basically builds the case that you’re racist if you’re vocally against the policies of our current President Obama. Don’t get all uppity on me yet Republicans. Do you remember how the attacks of 9.11 and the flag were used for marketing of the war in Iraq? Does anyone remember how you were anti-American if you were against the Iraq war? Well this is the other side of the coin we are seeing here. You must be a racist if you don’t agree with Obama. First off, that’s incredibly insulting to say that it is your skin color or heritage that decides your political views. Isn’t he also implying that a black man can’t be a fiscal conservative or disagree with Obama? Wow President Carter I don’t believe that’s true or even productive.

Now the another side of his statements. Is there truth that there is racism in the country? Unfortunately, yes there is racism in the United States. And just for argument’s sake, is it not to be assumed that a white person who is racist is going to be against a President who is of mixed races? Well duh. So is there a point to bringing it up especially on center stage in the media? Not in a traditionally logical sense. But I would propose that the goals of saying that those who are against Obama are racists, are an attempt to discredit them and create a social stigma on questionining the President or the current administrations agenda. The small government crowd is already being advertised as “working-class, largely rural and elderly white people” by Joe Klein of CNN. He isn’t alone in his ignorant assessment either. Many others have been proposing that big insurance companies are paying for the health care reform protesters implying that their outrage was fake and it was just greedy big businesses trying to keep their profits high and the poor folks poor.

But what does the publishing of all these ideas really tell society? Anyone against health care reform must be a big idiot because the health care reform is going to help everyone and get rid of those ridiculous high profits of insurance companies. Don’t you understand that health care reform is going to give you money that the insurance companies used to get to keep as profits? Now we can make the rich people pay for everyone’s health care! Well hmm… noble in effort I guess. Not constitutional or ethical in thinking that you have the right to take other peoples money to fix your problem. Yet it is noble in a shallow thinking Robin Hood sort of way. I’m still trying to figure out why those “Harry and Louise” advertisements that were against health care reform in the mid-nineties are all of a sudden for the new health care reform. I have to keep in mind these are advertisements paid for by the Health Insurance Association of America (health insurance companies). I’m sure all of these insurance companies are lining up to sacrifice their profits to help pay for the health care of all Americans (legal and illegal). It makes me warm and fuzzy on the inside to know that all of a sudden, insurance companies are more worried about giving their money away forcefully than having the highest profits.

So you have some major players speaking out attempting to paint the anti-big government crowd as racists. Then there are people in the media making “teabagger” jokes about people who are so furious with the direction the country is headed that they actually go to protests such as the 9.12 rally in Washington D.C. You know, the rally where anywhere between 70,000 and 1.5 million people showed up. Strange how those numbers are all over the place. I’ll believe the pictures and video but it truly is irrelevant. Hilarity ensues when the liberal blogs and media instantly make it out to be a tiny crowd while the tea party goers themselves fall right into the trap and start arguing about the numbers with them. What the protesters fail to realize is as long as the real, true issues are out of the picture, the group in power gets to keep moving along doing whatever it is they want to do. Their protest is neutered just as soon as we get into “gotcha” journalism or debates about crowd numbers or racism or any other sort of joke.

The sad part is, when this happens, the people suffer and their voices are muted again and their message is watered down again, and their frustrations build again. The people who want their voice heard and want a real debate to be had and don’t want to get into name calling and don’t want to be called a racist or call others racists, those people get their voices silenced. All the while, the agenda proposed gets moved along and the media argues between Beck and Olbermann about what the real number of people were at the 9.12 rally.

Yet whether it is health care reform bill or the war in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan/Somalia or whatever project that is the current crisis (so says the White House and their media brigade), it all keeps moving along the conveyer belt. Frustrations elevate and people start to act irrationally (e.g. “You LIE!” -J. Wilson). People get called racists and know they’re not racists but immediately defend themselves not thinking about the true reason behind their statements. They’re controlling the conversation. If you want to see truth spread and brought into politics, you must have honesty and true debate. No name calling from either side. No “gotcha!” journalism. No invalid arguments about irrelevant issues. True and honest debate is the only tool to educate the masses and remove the negativity from politics.

The next time you’re watching your favorite media outlet, or listening to your favorite talk show host, or watching a politician speak who is pushing an issue, ask yourself this…
Is what he or she saying relevant to the issue at hand? Do the research.
Is what he or she saying true? Do the research.
Is what he or she saying trying to group people together while turning those groups against each other? Do the research.

So no, it’s not racism and I don’t appreciate you changing the subject. No, it’s not racism and I don’t appreciate you trying to control the topic of  public debate. No, it’s not racism and  I don’t appreciate the false debates and false choices and bending of the truth. No, it’s not racism and I don’t appreciate legalese that tricks people into thinking what you’re saying is the whole truth.

This post was written in response to this terrible piece of writing.