What it all Comes Down to

What it all comes down to with regard to the birthers and the opposition to health care reform (along with other opposition to a progressive agenda) is the Republican exploitation of the racial anxieties of working class whites. It started with Nixon (actually George Wallace from whom Nixon learned his racial lessons), was perfected by Ronald Reagan, and has been continued by the Republicans to this day. Republicans are masters of race-baiting. It amazes me at the people who say they are opposed to a "government run health plan" while either ignoring Medicare (the very thing they say they oppose) or else they are ignorant of the fact that Medicare IS a government run health program that our seniors wouldn't swap for anything in the world. This tells me racial anxiety is at the heart of working class whites and, I must say, Confederates that dominate the Old South where I live. The Confederacy still lives in the Deep South, doubt it not. One part of the racial bias of working class whites where I live anyway is the deep fear of these people that somebody (people of color? you think?) might get something that they do not deserve. Heaven forbid that we should EVER err on the side of kindness and generosity. Heaven forbid that we should live what we say is our faith. No, that won't do in the land of the racial anxieties of Republican Confederate White folk. Our faith seems to stop at the color line.