Seriously though, there’s a reason why these ridiculous statements are always coming from the older baby boomer crowd. We are becoming more and more post-racial as a society. People I meet of my age group (X/Yish) have radically different views on race relations than my parents and older friends. Younger people tend to put less stock in something out of the Southern Poverty Law Center because they believe racism MUST be institutional, so it only goes one way. That’s why, IMHO, people can call into Amos and talk about Jews running our state legislature without being called into question, use separatist language a la “ask for somebody who looks like us,” etc. I even hear Uncle Tom used pervasively and yet NOBODY has the nerve to call him or his audience to the carpet. THAT is much more ‘institutionally’ racist because it’s ACCEPTED. We tend to look at the NOI, the KKK, etc. equally.

My experience is that the older generation is much more divisive and PC on these race issues, and in their mind you’re either a racist bigot if you don’t believe in quota and race-based affirmative action, or you’re one of “those people” if you do. The Rodney King incident is a perfect example of that.

My generation is significantly more likely to have seen the entire unredacted, unedited video. We are also much more likely to understand that the riots coincided much more directly with Soon Ja Du than Rodney King. We also understand the PC train wreck that followed. A lot of that has to do with the left using the “R” word too much, anybody who’s ethnocentric, or decidedly NOT xenocentric, is a racist. I’m not trying to sound pro-youth but knowledge is power, and whether the older generation wants to face the music or not, their beliefs are fading into the woodwork.

Schlafly and others are still hung up on two facts they just cannot deal with: He’s STILL black (bi-racial, actually) and he’s STILL the President of the United States.

Just get ready for the junk to fly. They’ve had four years to stock up. Now, they’re ready to unload and it won’t be nice.

Thanks for all you do, Sheila. You’re entitled to a day off!

You never, ever will get pure examination of an issue at hand, evaluating a candidate based on record of success or prospective affinity for resolving an issue. Somebody will say any objections are really, truly (“I mean c’mon now…”) because of race, party, gender, religion….

That’s what’s so discouraging to me about the election of President Obama. It’s not the accomplishment you thought it would be to elect someone different from all who proceeded him in office. What was gained if he can’t also be held accountable for his failures- like his predecessors?

It’s like old Star Trek episodes of different planets or civilizations that have feuded: forever.

I know you’re a David Brooks fan and he occassionally writes some winners. He’s mining the big picture of your quote as it applies to the economic decline of the West versus medical quackery in today’s column.

As Brooks says in the summation, and (I believe) inherent in the book and your review, we have to be consious of our inherent weaknesses and drift toward depravity. While looking for an “easy way out” isn’t limited to our species, I think we’re also not supposed to build economic and governmental systems based on the most rosey of behavioral and fiscal scenarios.

I don’t think the problem is as much capitalism versus socialism as responsibility versus consequences for being irresponsible- whether medical, political, personal, or whatever.