Politics of Hate category archive

Twits in blue.

The Daily Banter rounds up Republican defenses of torture.

Unliked with extreme prejudice.

Lyndon B. Johnson was correct:

If you can convince the lowest white man that he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll even empty his pockets for you.

Via Job’s Anger.

Peter Schuck and Rogers Smith point out that the idea of “citizenship” is relatively new and not nearly so straightforward or settled a concept as some would want to believe. That murkiness, indeed, manifests itself in the thinking of those whose willingness to offer a path to citizenship tends to vary depending on the complexion of those who would desire to walk that path.

Here’s a bit; follow the link for the rest.

This legal arrangement – ascribing one’s membership in a group at birth and by location – known as jus soli, or the law of territory, has the virtue of certainty; knowing where someone was born (with a few narrow exceptions like diplomats’ and enemy soldiers’ children), fixes the person’s membership perpetually. It is a birthright – and a birth duty.

Even before our Declaration of Independence, philosophers of democracy rejected this rule. Democracies consisted of citizens, not subjects, so their membership should be grounded in rules derived from their elected .officials and their own choices about their loyalties.

Notably, John Locke and the “public law” theorists advanced liberal, consensualist ideas about national membership: Parents could transmit their own consensually derived membership to their children no matter where the child was born – known as jus sanguinis, or the law of blood. In certain situations, states could de-nationalize disloyal citizens, and citizens could renounce their ascribed membership.

China Hand considers the politics of racial hatred. A snippet:

My personal suspicion is that the US political and social system has a vested interest in black alienation.

Maybe it is good politics to abuse African Americans, goad and provoke them, escalate the fear and anger on both sides, force an angry reaction and respond with a fear-laden counterreaction, so an economically disadvantaged community has its hands full staying out of jail and not getting shot, and isn’t thinking about forming common cause with other disadvantaged or less-advantaged groups to stick it to the rich guy in the next election.

In other words, it’s not Fear of a Black Voting Bloc; it’s Fear of a Unified Lower & Middle Class Voting Bloc.

Do read the rest. It provokes thought, and a snippet cannot do it justice.

Via Balloon Juice.

Signe:

Erwin Chemerinsky and Samuel Kleiner, both distinguished legal scholars, consider Republican outrage of President Obama’s daring to act as he were President, for Pete’s sake.

There is an adage every young lawyer learns: If you have the law, pound the law; if you have the facts, pound the facts. But if you have neither, pound the table.

The heated Republican rhetoric in response to President Obama’s immigration announcement is unquestionably table-pounding. His opponents have neither the law nor the facts on their side, so they have resorted to name calling and threats.

Remember, Republicans are outraged because hate sells and their base is buying.

“Share” your hate on Facebook. Get noticed.

Colbert:

Folks, my great grandfather did not come here from Ireland to see this country overrun by immigrants.

Video below the fold in case it autoplays.

Read more »

By their own acts they show their true colors.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Afterthought:

Hate makes persons do stupid stuff. The stupid stuff is transient, but the hate goes on . . . .

You can’t make this stuff up.

Via Kos.

Wayne Beach thinks that, if predictions are accurate, the electorate may have gone stir-crazy.

In light of national polls suggesting that voters might allow Republicans to keep the House and possibly give them the Senate, I can only think of Stockholm syndrome.

I refer, of course, to the phenomenon of a captive developing an irrational sympathy for his or her kidnapper. Having made good on an early announced intention to block the president at every possible turn, the Republican-controlled House has effectively held the country hostage for the past four years. In the process of trying to exact its ransoms, it has shut down the government, threatened default on our debts, given a lasting stain to our international reputation, blocked proposals for infrastructure improvement that could have created new jobs and demonstrated a sweeping refusal to deal with climate change.

Follow the link for the complete diagnosis.