Ben Carson: a Whimpering Apology for Republican Racism

by Dan Sullivan

The sorry souls whose autos sport bumper stickers and who man the tables for Ben Carson are confessing. They sense the terrible sin of the right these past seven years. Instead of debating issues on merit, their strategists encouraged dog whistle attacks against President Obama to leverage their base’s bigotry.

At the Ben Carson canopy during this year’s Shad Planking and the booth at the Virginia State Fair, fair-skinned apologists sat righteously demonstrating their support for an African American other than Obama. They are secretly ashamed of their complicity and Ben Carson is a useful astringent to cleanse that shame. “Supporters” fancy they enjoy a shield against charges of racism when they “blame Obama” through the safe, symbolic support of another fellow who never had a snowball’s chance in hell of garnering the Republican nomination. He might have been the racial version of the gender balance tokenism attempted by shoving Sara Palin onto a ticket. But trust me, the Republican Party will never stand for a Cuban and an African-American paired together, so the chances grow slimmer by the day. Imagine the rest of us sweating in prayer for four years, concerned about the Secret Service keeping Ted Cruz safe.

There is more than that that makes Carson palatable to these moral cowards. His uninformed and childlike world view fits like a cheap suit; simple mantras dismiss complex, perplexing problems.

“I’m not a Democrat, I’m not a Republican, I’m an independent. If there was a party called the logic party I would be a member of that.” – Ben Carson

This is from a fellow who, much like Virginia’s own George Allen, apparently prefers “writing books” to reading them. Plus there’s something that will appeal to evangelicals who are threatened by scientific rigor:

Asked what books or philosophers outside the Bible have influenced his worldview, he said, “I don’t know that I would give a lot of credence, honestly, to anything outside of the Bible because I find myself in disagreement with just about everything at one level or another.” – The Daily Caller

Where logic would be an overwhelming obstruction, we have the convenience of discarding it for a higher source; one's own preference. Allowing oneself to pick and choose one’s facts based upon predisposition makes justifying positions so much easier. That way there is no argument against beliefs that, say, the pyramids were used to store grain or that men roamed the earth with dinosaurs. And this bolsters the arguments of hopeful apologists who use the very same decision-making process, confusing making preferential choices with employing logic.

Carson’s articles of political faith align with theirs too:

• Maintains the free market will create more jobs.
• Would cut every government agency by 10 percent.
• Contends Obamacare is the worst thing since slavery.
• Promotes school choice and education reform.
• Disapproves of same-sex marriage.
• Opposes legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
• Believes religious upbringing will steer youth away from promiscuous sex and drugs.
• Supports a non-interventionist foreign policy.
• Would achieve oil independence by drilling offshore.
• Is “pro-life.”

Carson is absolutely tailor made. Supporters can have their cake and eat it too. They can distance themselves from those who have worn their racism on their sleeves for seven years by openly embracing an African American who is just as wrong about almost everything as they are. They can proudly proclaim their egalitarianism without saying a word that might reveal their true nature. They get to keep both their racist miens and their uninformed political positions while never realizing their very support of Carson is revealing.

Plus, they can still vote for Ted Cruz in the primary without any fear that their shame and hypocrisy will ever be exposed. Unless, of course, no one else in their precinct votes for Carson. But then they will blame the voting machines. Nothing is ever their fault.

So go ahead and display those Carson stickers on your vans and hand out campaign materials throughout his primary beat down. A lot of us want to know who you are and this is the best way to inform us. Unfortunately your brethren in the Tea Party aren’t always as transparent. Thank goodness for those Tea Party and Sons of Confederate Veterans license plates.