That Tattered Teddy Bear

Many children have a special toy or stuffed animal they will cling to when scary things threaten them. Things like the first night in bed without a nightlight or leaving the closet door partially open and being too afraid to get out of bed to close least the monster get you. But eventually such terrors fade and that special toy becomes something on your shelf, a bit tattered and dusty but a reminder of your childhood good times and scary times. Some people however never seem to outgrow their need and keep clinging to their childhood crutch even as adults.

Unfortunately in the world of politics and ideology, some people are more wedded to their political theories and emotional crutches than accepting the real world around them. One just has to look at the people in Russia who miss Stalin as a perfect example. It seems we can add yet another person or two who cling tightly to their ideological version of a teddy bear even as the landscape around them has changed.

I am referring first to AG Eric Holder who accused Americans of being cowards since on our private off-time we do not mingle with other races. Never mind there is such data that intermingling has risen over 20% in the past 30 years. Lets not forget all the inter-racial couples who are married that is still stirring arguments in the liberal camps because they want to label the children of such unions as of only one race. So you see the landscape has moved on while Holder still clings to a concept that is woefully out of date.

Then there is US Rep. James Clyburn[D-SC] who is up in arms because some governors might refuse the money allocated to their states via the 1,100 page stimulus package. The governors arguments basically boil down to how many strings are attached to the money, ie stripping the individual states of more of their Constitutional sovereignty, and if its good for the people of the states. Gov. Sanford of South Carolina has said he does not like the stimulus package but he will review it. Instead of arguing how the money would help people and local governments, Clyburn threw out the race card and accused these governors of keeping the black man down - "a slap in the face of African-Americans." One of the governors Clyburn is lambasting is Gov. Bobby Jindal[R] of Louisiana and the son of Indian immigrants. But how can it be a slap to African-Americans when the new President is African-American and so is the US Attorney General? Again the real landscape has moved, but Clyburn's ideology, that seems to center on victimology, has not.