The Hatred Spewed by Grayson

The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!

H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, 1926

The problem of racial bigotry stems primarily from voluntary ignorance and intentional stupidity. It is the coward who seizes on our differences as a people to divide us for their own sick needs and political purposes.

It is one thing when an imbecile like Kanye West makes statements that the reason New Orleans suffered as it did post-Katrina was because President George W. Bush hated black folks.

That sort of asinine comment can be easily dismissed for the lack of intellectual heft it shows.

It is another situation, one that should concern the electorate, when a sitting member of the United States House of Representatives chooses to spew hatred and ignorance and many take him seriously.

The media derision that has been pointed in the Congressman’s’ direction was muted, but what was commented upon opted out of presenting the facts.

Truth is always a proper response to hatred and stupidity.

Before presenting a compendium of media stories on the subject at hand, a refresher course in some specific facts of United States history.

The President who fought and won the Civil War, the president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation was Abraham Lincoln.

He was a Republican.

The rise of the Ku Klux Klan during the post Civil War era of Reconstruction was engineered by southerners who did not want equality in any manner for the former slaves.

The Klan was a creation of Southern Democrats.

The West Virginia Senator who served for 51 years and was lauded as a giant in Senate history was Robert Byrd.

He was a Democrat.

He was a member of the Klan.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation that attempted to resolve many of the issues related to segregation. A recap of the voting on that law might be in order:

The bill was voted on by 420 members -- 290 in favor, 130 opposed. Republicans voted in favor 138-34, and Democrats voted 152-96 in support. Democrats from northern states voted in favor 141- 4 and southern-state Democrats opposed the bill 92-11.

The point here is that Republicans have a strong history supporting equal rights, and it is the Democrats who have the questionable past of race hatred.

Why is this information of consequence?

Consider the following collection of news stories about a current member of the House and his ignorance and his race hatred.

It is a lesson that the American people should well note.

To wit:

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) used an image of a burning cross in an email slamming the tea party, comparing groups involved in the movement to the Ku Klux Klan.

Grayson first made the comparison between the tea party and the KKK in an interview with MSNBC's Al Sharpton on Oct. 17.

"They want their money back and they want the tea party out of their lives," Grayson said. "At this point, the tea party is no more popular than the Klan."

Grayson is standing by his comparison.

"[T]here is overwhelming evidence that the Tea Party is the home of bigotry and discrimination in America today, just as the KKK was for an earlier generation," he said in a statement provided to HuffPost. "If the hood fits, wear it."

Grayson's comparison is not novel. Professors Matt Barretto and Christopher Parker  make a similar case. "The authors argue that this isn't the first time a segment of American society has perceived the American way of life as under siege," the book's blurb reads. "In fact, movements of this kind often appear when some individuals believe that 'American' values are under threat by rapid social changes. Drawing connections between the Tea Party and right-wing reactionary movements of the past, including the Ku Klux Klan, Parker and Barreto develop a framework that transcends the Tea Party to shed light on its current and future consequences.

.Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) continued to stand by his recent comparison of the tea party to the Ku Klux Klan on Friday, during an MSNBC interview that ended with him accusing host Martin Bashir of "collaborating" with the conservative movement and its alleged racism.

Grayson began by defending a fundraising email that included an image of a burning cross that formed the "t" in "tea party." When Bashir pushed back, suggesting that Grayson may have taken his analogy too far, especially considering that the tea party hasn't actually lynched anybody, the outspoken Florida Democrat turned on the host.

“Do you think that racism is the same as calling out racism? Do you think that my effort to end racism in America is somehow analogous to racism itself? That’s ridiculous,” Grayson shot back at Bashir, who has himself made a habit of attacking the tea party for racially motivated attacks on President Barack Obama.

Grayson then suggested that Bashir was complicit in the tea party's supposed racism, in part because he'd questioned the appropriateness of the congressman's campaign email.

“The point I’m making is that if you don’t speak out against it, then in effect, you’re collaborating with it,” he said. “And, in fact, if you give someone like me a hard time for speaking out against it, then maybe you’re collaborating with it.”

Representative Alan Grayson should consider another line of work.