A Gentleman’s view.

A respected man of the South is calling it like he sees it; folks have issues with the black man.

The President puts it bluntly, some people voted for him because he is a black man and some voted against him for the same reason that just is life in America as a black man. Former President James Earl Carter made some very valid points stating the obvious, that some White Americans are having major issues with the fact that a black man is in the White House as the ‘Man running the show’. We are speaking of people who saw us and still see us as much less than human in standing, intellect and value, therefore lacking in areas of skills and decorum obviously, and as such, have no right to certain positions of authority, privilege  and status of which the Presidency is the highest in the land. The point the former President misses is this is more than the hard right mindset seen in D.C. crying to get their country back from the ignorant black man who have issues, there is also the open-minded progressive white males facing a possible back-firing strategy taken by electing the Black Man into this office along with those who believed in Barack Obama. I am hearing the angry white male, but he is upset for a totally different reason he never anticipated.

Back in the early eighties, I was working for a well known brokerage firm; E. F. Hutton, I had a second level supervisor bragging after Bakke won his reverse discrimination suit in the Unites States Supreme Court Decision against the University of California, that it was just the beginning for white males and they were going to get everything back they lost through Affirmative Action programs in place across America. My reaction was that I would have to get any promotions thru this man, and that might not be likely given the tone of conversation. I assumed it would be in my best interest to move on and did so , I joined the Army, my point in connecting this to today and the former President’s remarks about the way people in this country feel about a black man as President. The mindset that is crying for the lost, is crying for the loss of 5 percent. Affirmative Action; let’s be clear about what ‘Affirmative Action’ was and the impact on white males across this great nation of ours and the impact of taking that five percent away from them. Prior to Affirmative Action laws being put into place, business and all government enterprises where hiring pretty much who they wanted to work and most of the time it was white males filling those positions. The change in the laws that govern the workplace affected only government institutions and businesses that received both subsidies and or contracts from the United States government. That means don’t do business or get subsidized by Uncle Sam, and you didn’t have to abide by those laws. That five percent. That five percent had to be divided between White Women, Black Men, Black Women, Latino Men, Latina Women, Chinese Men and on and ….

Since that time, I have heard white males complaining about many different themes over time such as; affirmative action, set-asides, quotas, resisting any attempts to address the wrongs of slavery other than a token apology, staunchly against any suggestion of reparations, not one mention of an constitutional amendment of recognizing us as being fully human vs. 3/5 human. Finally arriving today to the place of being tired and fed up with the issue of race and its problems in our society. This last election was their way of addressing it and it has not turned out to the liking of all those progressive individuals who pulled the lever with the notion of finally, once and for all; lets prove that the black man is incapable of handling the position of the Presidency and put this notion to bed forever. They felt that this position’s level of responsibility and the pressures that the office entails would be so far over the head of any black man that they would not ever have to worry about another running for the position again. They would always be able to point to the last time {being our President today: Barack Obama}, and say; ‘Now you remember what happened the last time one of you ran for that position, why don’t you just try to go for Senator or something reasonable like that’. This just is not turning out the way they had hoped with the Black Man with the Harvard Skill Set.

As impressive as he has been and I feel he has danced at will around most of his opponents, I still feel he has let this health insurance reform issue get out of hand and taken the wrong tact. What folks are concerned about is that which they already have and what is the government going to do that? NOTHING! PERIOD! Tell the people that, this debate is about holding an industry which has had its way with the country in how it does business, who it will do business with and why it will do business without no one to say; ‘ Hey that is not a fair way to operate a business in this country’. THAT IS WHAT THIS DEBATE IS AND SHOULD BE ABOUT. This is what is meant by ‘PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS SUCH AS:  PRENANCY, CANCER, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, ARTHRITIS, AIDS/HIV, DIABETES, SICKLE CELL ANEMEIA, HEART CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, ALCOHOLISM, DRUG ABUSE, OBESITY. The Public Option would squash that. Yes, I was yelling at you guys reading this because I was trying to make a point, there listed above you will find missing are conditions like; Republican, Democrat, Black, White, Hispanic, Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Polish, Irish, Puerto Rican, and on…. This debate should be about the legacy cost of General Motors, Cheverolet, Chrysler, Ford and Boeing and any other good American company competing internationally and dealing with operating costs rising every year and every new budget directly related to this industry’s wanton greed and high expectation of profit with low rate of service to the individual and the overall national security of this great country. Yes, that is what I am saying, unregulated industries in this country have almost ruined us financially with the sudden collapse of the financial markets, and the health insurance industry is doing the same and is a detriment to our national security. That is the approach I would take and I would hammer home the Republican Party of American voting against this reform in the same manner, a vote against this reform is a vote against our national security interest. Play them the way they have been playing us for years.

P.S. All the hype about Taxing the middle class (Penalty for not having coverage), it is in place already; get caught driving without car insurance and you will see what I mean.

© 2009, agentleman.