Lamar Soutter Newsletter

“That’s some nappy-headed hos there”
Don Imus, Radio Host and Shock Jock

“Nothing a white man with a penny hates more than a n***** with a nickel.”
Chris Rock, Comedian

“The Black is a better athlete to begin with, because he’s been bred to be that way”
Jimmy Snyder, Sports Commentator

“White people… I wish that you had my freedom of speech… You think you do?
Please, go into your work and tell my jokes on Monday.”
Carlos Mencia
Latin comedian specializing in racial jokes and satire.

“As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways”
“White folks were in caves while we were building empires. . . . We taught philosophy, astrology, and mathematics before Socrates and those Greek homos”
Rev. Al Sharpton

Perhaps Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s greatest contribution to the civil rights movement was an unwavering sense of respect, for blacks and whites alike. He had a true sense of equality and treated members of both races, not by the color of their skin but by their character. It was infectious, demanding respect and equality from a system that thought he deserved neither. Today there is a want of these virtues. Anger and bitterness have engendered self-righteousness and resentment in both blacks and whites to the point where dialogue on the subject is all but impossible, and true progress against racism is stalled, if not slowly regressing. It has even become all but impossible to know anymore what truly constitutes racism.

Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines racism as a doctrine or teaching, without scientific support, that claims to find racial differences in character, intelligence, etc., that asserts the superiority of one race over another. Snyder’s comments had scientific support, but were none the less considered racist (likely for the derogatory choice of the word “bred”). Imus’s comment doesn’t strictly fit the definition but was widely considered racist also. Rock’s comment, while not strictly fitting the definition either, was closer than Imus’s and was not considered racist. How can we as a society hold people to a set of standards which appears fluid enough that, at a minimum, even Webster’s can’t accurately define it? Read more

I am a liberal Republican.

In our zeal to spread democracy around the world, people often forget that we ourselves do not live in a democracy. We live in republic.

A republic emphasizes the rule of law.

A democracy emphasizes rule of the majority.

After the Civil War, “Radical” Republicans like Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, gained control of congress and began passing legislation like the Civil Rights act (which, among other things, gave blacks the right to purchase property) and the 14th Amendment (which grants due process and equal protection to all citizens of the United States).

President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, believed that this impeded on the freedom of a state to treat its citizens as it chose (in essence, the freedom of the white majority to enact laws against the black minority). He vetoed the Civil Rights Act. One hundred and twenty six republicans overrode his veto, and the act became law.

Interestingly, partisan rancor was alive and well then too. In retaliation of the President’s handling of reconstruction, house republicans passed a law (the Tenure of Office Act) which only applied to Andrew Johnson and which he could not reasonably follow. When he broke it, he was immediately impeached, ultimately holding on to the presidency by a single vote.

As the pendulum swung, “Radical” republicans gave up their liberal thinking and began down a path of restricting freedom in the name of morality (and, more recently, safety) and democrats assumed the title of liberal.

This country was founded on republican principals. The senate structure ensures that the minority – smaller states like Rhode Island, have the same governing power as larger states like Texas. The Electoral College (which seems to defy the laws of democratic mathematics), ensures that the smaller states are well represented.

If you still doubt we are, and were intended to be, a republic, I suggest you recite the pledge of allegiance.

The two greatest threats to a republic are money and religion. Foreseeing the problem of religion (where the violation of religious beliefs becomes a crime against the state), the founding fathers created a strict separation of church and government. While money (in the form of bribes through PAC’s) is the greater threat, religion far more fascinating.

A recent example of where democrats have picked up the republican torch is the issue of gay marriage. Where once Republicans argued that the encouraging of slavery by the bible (Leviticus 25:44-45, among others) didn’t make slavery right, they now argue that the condemnation of homosexuality in the bible makes homosexuality wrong.

The church has every right to make those types of determinations. But it can impose those standards only on the followers of that religion.

Legally recognized marriage in this country is a purely secular institution. One does not need a religious ceremony to get married. When there is a ceremony, ceremonies of all faiths are recognized equally. The legal responsibilities of the marriage, including child custody, income and debt, privileged communication, healthcare, and taxes are all secular.

In a republic, the fact that 80% of the people want to prohibit gay marriage is not sufficient reason to do it. John Stewart Mill proposed that something should be prohibited only if it harms others. Today “Harm” has been watered down to include anything we see or hear which offends the sensibilities.

The compromise of Civil Unions, with all the privileges of marriage under a different name, relegates people (even if in title only) to second class status. It is the principle of “Separate but Equal”, a concept which does not work.

World history is rife with powerful groups using their status as a majority to strip the minorities of rights and privileges enjoyed by others. A democracy is no guarantee of freedom. Hitler was democratically elected. What makes our system the best is that it is a republic.

The fact that we were founded as a republic was no accident. In a world filled with racism, nuanced international policies, nuclear proliferation, and global economics, 80% of the country’s population isn’t expected to make informed decisions. Rather than having the public vote on policy, we elect officials to do it for us, officials whose job it is to protect all Americans, not just the ones who voted for them.