Sunday, February 28, 2016

The Southern Strategy isn't just for the GOP anymore, just ask Hilary

Naked Capitalism pointed me to the essence of the Clinton campaigns in an obscured pattern of racism and pandering. They point to an article from New Economic Perspectives, "A Clinton Presidency Has Been/Would Be a Disaster for Black and Brown Communities. Here’s Why.", that shows a clear pattern of deceit and misdirection about Clinton politics. After reading that article, I have begun to reference The Southern Strategy in my mind whenever I see Hilary talk about being "pragmatic" on the campaign trail.

In a nutshell, when Hilary talks about "pragmatism", what she really means is "take what you can get from the Republicans". And that is exactly what Bill Clinton did in the 1990s. Sure, we had a booming economy then, but that was based on the bubble economy grandfathered in from the Reagan presidency. Clinton made no lasting structural changes that would ensure the economy would sustain itself without a bubble every now and again. Just think stock and housing bubbles to get my drift. That's all they could get from the Republicans. Blacks still faced with very high rates of unemployment can thank the Clintons for all that help.

The Southern Strategy was invented by the GOP as a way to gather the white majority vote in the southern states to the exclusion of the minorities around them. For the GOP, this meant embracing southern racism. For Hilary, this means working with that racism rather than defeating it. If pragmatism means taking what you can get, I hate to think what will happen to minorities if she can't even get that from the White House.

The Southern Strategy works well if you have a white majority. But as far as I can tell, in no more than two generations, whites will become a minority in the United States. Political diminution for whites is almost certain at that point.

In the South Carolina primary election last weekend, Clinton's victory was "overwhelming" and widely supported by the black voters of that state that did bother to vote. Had many of them had a chance to read a more detailed history of the Clinton years and how they work in public policy, they might have formed a different opinion and voted differently. As usual, some in the press are declaring game over, as if to say that we should just shut up and support Hilary Clinton. But that is the mainstream press.

Few in the mainstream press have been brave enough to ask Hilary about her "super-predator" comment so many years ago. Yet one brave young woman had the audacity to get into a $500 a plate fundraiser and declare that she is not a super-predator to Hilary on video. That video has gone viral, but apparently not in time for the South Carolina vote. Take note of how she was quietly escorted out and never really got an answer from Hilary.

Don't worry, you won't see much of anything in the mainstream press about that video, but if you follow places like Reddit, Pinterest and even YouTube, you'll see more of it. In the past, such connections could be easily obscured by the mainstream press. But in the internet age, information routes around damage. Information wants to be free.

I had no idea how subtle racism could be in public policy. I lived through the Clinton presidency as a young adult and never once did I think of them as racist. I guess you could say that I've changed my mind about the Clintons. The mounting evidence will eventually take a toll on the Clinton campaign, for they can't hide it anymore. They can only make excuses and change their behavior.

Fortunately, this election we have an alternative and we are free to exercise that alternative. His name is Bernie Sanders.

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