Racist... The New Communist?

or... Hating the People Who Disagree with You...

I do not hate people who disagree with me politically. Hating is always ugly, and often involves affixing labels to them like homophobe, xenophobe, communist, radical, racist... etc. The truth is, sometimes people honestly disagree on political and social issues.

When I was younger, people would often call left-leaning individuals a "communist." They would place McGovern, Mao, Humphrey, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, and politicians like Obama in the same category. Unfair? Absolutely!

But through the years the American citizen heard so many charges of "communist," that eventually the charge became a kind of joke.

I believe that today the charge of racism... calling someone a racist, has taken on a similar frivolous air.

The once influential NAACP has charged the constitution-respecting "tea partiers" with racism because they disagree politically with an African-American president. But there is no evidence of racism in the tea party movement. The Left cries "Wolf" when honest and good people grow weary of left-wing failure, and peacefully protest against the perpetrators.

Bigots and haters of all political stripes wield a critical sword, but eventually time and experience expose them... And the charge of "racist" has fallen into the same silly category as the once dreaded, and once effective, charge of "communist."

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