restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations
John Edwards: King of Political Correctness
Regarding Sen. John Edwards latest public comments, like me youre probably wondering what in the world is going on in the mans head. His disparaging remarks about the things that matter a great deal to many of his fellow Tarheelshunting, fishing, and especially farmingprove beyond doubt that he will do anything to win the favor of the political in-crowd in D.C. and the liberal anti-gun lobby. They also reveal the extent to which political correctness is enthusiastically embraced by the liberal media and politicians.
Political correctness (PC) is the communal tyranny that erupted on the American scene in the 1980s. It declared that particular ideas, beliefs, and expressions, which were then legal, should be forbidden by law, and people who practiced them punished. It has grown so much in popularity that now it is the written and unwritten law in our society. Those who refuse to be politically correct have become the object of mob persecution, if not state prosecution.
As far as I am able to discern, the primary rational for this doctrine is to prevent people from being offended. It compels everyone to avoid using words or engaging in behaviors that might upset homosexuals, women, non-whites, the fat, the ugly, etc. Its origins lie in a society whose citizens have become incurably self-centered, and under this influence it slowly but inexorably dismantles all the restraints upon self-indulgence established by customs, tradition, and law. As Kurt Andersen once observed in The New Yorker, we are not teaching children to grow up. We are refusing to teach them to deal with the burden, consequences, and rewards of discernment, judgment, and competition. As Andersen writes, What do we tell nice children about their ugly scribbles and cockamamie ideas and pointless stories? That theyre all just great, no better or worse than any other childswhich carried full-strength into the adult world, becomes an undiscriminating hyperempathy .
And make no mistake about itfailing to bow the knee to PC can cost you. When George Orwell, the author of Animal Farm, wrote about the pleasures of a rose garden in an essay written in 1946, he was criticized for being bourgeois. Today, the results of being bourgeois (i.e., sexist, racist, homophobic, etc.) are losing your job, your reputation, or even your physical security. Once free expression gets placed in a straight-jacket of acceptable truth, then the madness that occurs in a totalitarian state is the result.
What I find particularly disquieting is the manner in which repressive PC policies seem to flourish in times of national crisis. World War I, for example, unleashed a storm of repression and demands for conformity. At Columbia University, President Nicholas Butler told the 1917 graduating class there would be no room for any among us who are not with whole heart and mind and strength committed to fight with us to make the world safe for democracy. Butler then proceeded to fire two dissenters. Support for the war was also mandated by other means. At the wars beginning a meeting of college and university representatives adopted a resolution whose preamble stated: In the supreme crisis that confronts the Nation the colleges and universities of America have the single-minded thought and desire to summon to the countrys service every resource at their command, to offer to the Nation their full strength without reservation…. College work was reorganized to serve the interests of government at war.
The problem is that the purveyors of PC like Sen. Edwards try to have it both waysindeed, they try to have it every way. When it comes to their political interests, they assert their ability to know what is correct and what is not. And apparently the latest craze is for Southern politicians to distance themselves from red-necks as quickly as possible. The reality is that, while Edwards claims to be a moderate and a good old Southern boy, that claim is contradicted by a four-year voting record that consistently puts ultra-liberal special interests ahead of the people he represents.
· His voting record matches that of Sen. Hillary Clinton.
· From 1999-02 he voted with Ted Kennedy 90- of the time.
· In 2001 Edwards received a 0- rating from the Small Business Survival Committee for his voting record.
· In June of 2000 he voted against tabling an amendment that would have repealed the ban on privately funded abortions at overseas military facilities.
· More than 4 out of every 5 dollars raised by Edwards for his hard money PAC, New American Optimists, have come from personal injury trial lawyers.
· The liberal activist group Human Rights Campaign, which ranks members of Congress with a score representing the strength of their support for the radical gay agenda, gave Edwards a perfect 100- rating for the first session of the current Congress.
And now Edwards claims he no longer listens to country music, pays no attention to NASCAR races, and no longer owns a gun. The truth is that John Edwards is no Southern moderate. In fact, he is not a Southerner at all. He is a Northeastern liberal with a capital L. If anyone merits the title King of Political Correctness, he does.
June 8, 2003
David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.