The Real Racism in the American Political System

If you’re like me, you’re probably tired of being called a racist because you’re an evil conservative and you don’t like Barack Obama. Because obviously the only plausible reason for disliking Obama is because he’s black. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that he’s a socialist and is intent on destroying the Constitution.

And as the 2012 election draws near, this kind of rhetoric is only building. There are pictures of Obama all over Facebook attacking the Tea Party and supporting Obama, many of them specifically directed at the ‘racism’ of the GOP.

Well I’m not a racist, and neither are any of my conservative friends. There’s a certain talk show host who is always telling me to do my own homework, so that’s exactly what I did. So, for the liberals who are so quick to jump to the race card, let’s take a look at racism in the GOP and DNC throughout the history of this country.

First of all, Democrats did not end slavery. Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, and the 39th Congress ended slavery with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. The majority party in both houses of Congress was Republican. The amendment passed by a vote of 119 to 56. 86 Republicans voted for the amendment, along with 15 Democrats. 50 Democrats voted against the amendment. And let’s not forget Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves within the Confederacy.

Many Democrats will breeze right past Lincoln and the Civil War and champion President Lyndon Johnson, who signed the Voting Rights Act into law in 1964. What you won’t hear about them talk about is LBJ’s record with civil rights legislation prior to his presidency. During his time in the Senate and the House, Johnson voted against every piece of legislation dealing with civil rights that came for a vote. Johnson’s condescension towards minorities is well documented. Take for instance, this little gem of a sentence that Johnson said while discussing the passage of the Civil Rights Act: “I’ll have them n**gers voting Democratic for the next 200 years.” Sound racist to you? Yeah, me too.

And for those who say, well he’s just one president, let’s not forget Andrew Jackson or FDR. Andrew Jackson, a Democrat, enforced the Indian Removal Act, which forced many Native Americans off their land. The long walk they had to endure to reach new land where they could live killed many Cherokees. The Indian Removal Act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, but Jackson blatantly ignored their ruling and evicted the Native Americans anyway. Similarly, FDR put an entire minority race, Japanese Americans, into internment camps during World War II.
Now, remind me again, which party is racist? I’m just proud to be a member of a party that didn’t have a prominent senator who was formerly a grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan.

For more on the Thirteenth Amendment:
-https://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=625&subjectID=3
-https://13thamendment.harpweek.com/HubPages/CommentaryPage.asp?Commentary=05HousePassage

For more on LBJ:
-“The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate” by Robert A. Caro