CALLING A SPADE A SPADE

I have read a candid (as always) blog of my friend, grumpy-olddog.blogspot.com, which I highly recommend, called "Who Took America?" Grumpy is commenting on the plethora of bumper stickers bewailing the loss of freedom in America and blaming Obama for our current problems. I looked up these "Take Back America" bumper stickers and was amazed by the variety and hatred expressed.

Grumpy points out---and I totally agree---that many of these stickers are racially motivated and a coded attack, in our age of political correctness on a black man as president. I have been deeply concerned about this racist trend for some time. Let's call a spade a spade---though maybe I should not use this term "spade", as it frequently is a perjorative name for a black person---: a lot of people simply do not want a black as president or in any key governmental position. I even have relatives who to other members of the family have expressed disbelief that I voted for a black man for President of the United States.

I know there are many out there who truly object to the principles of government for which Barack Obama stands and are not racists. I do not always agree with them, but I respect their positions as Republicans who seek a minimum of governmental intervention and prefer local control wherever possible. I frequently do agree with them that much can be done on the local level and that layers of federal bureaucratic authority can be galling and inefficient. But I also accept the fact (to me) that certain area of government have to be on a federal level, on a national basis, such as educational standards and health care, to name a couple, because they are important to all of us as a nation.

Honest debate and disagreement on politcal philosophies are right and proper. The degree of vitriolic hate and violence expressed are not right. And I know that the motive for this hate and violence has a racist base, which needs to be expunged from our national debate.

Come on, right-wing extremists, join the modern world. Judge a person by character, not by color; by brains, not color; by actions, not color. Disagreement I can take and even respect; blind prejudice I cannot abide.