I've been talking with a lot of old timers lately about the state of our country. I've been asking everyone the same questions about the differences between now and other trying times that they've lived through before I was born. No one remembers a time when America was so divided. The Civil Rights Movement was probably the most comparable moment, but racism was an accepted part of our society at that time. Learning to not pronounce certain racist slurs in public was about as much change as many white Americans had to put up with at first. The real change was long and drawn out. I remember when I was a kid and black folks were not viewed by many as being equally human. I'm a product of Post-Civil Rights Era and people from my generation were taught that discrimination was wrong, using the N-word was wrong, and that God created everyone equal, but it didn't change those already infected with ignorance who spread an opposite message. After 4-5 decades all these themes hold true, but the racism hasn't changed. How can it? Palestinians and Israelis will always hate each other, Greeks & Turks, Germans & the rest of Europe, Japanese and the rest of the Pacific, etc. Old hate can be mindlessly perpetuated for centuries if not millennia.

Why do people blindly hate others? More importantly, how do "good" Christians and other religious groups blindly hate entire groups of other people after all the golden rule stuff? You know the golden rule has been taught by every religion and philosopher from Plato to Confucius. It's the one common idea we've all claimed to share, but not practice. It's always in reverse when practiced, treat others the way they treat you. After all, racism is simply an outward expression of insecurity. When humans feel threatened we tend to "preemptively" strike out at those who we feel threaten our egos, our power position, our "perceived" way of life.

I watched a bunch of videos of the Obama-McCain campaign and it was a disturbing reminder of how insecure and threatened most white Americans are of a black President. You can't un-record those videos of rural white folks saying they could never vote for a black man. Some said the country would revolt. Some said they'd leave the country. Some used every racist slur known to man to express their hatred of a black man running the country. Some of these videos captured hundreds of people in one scene making racist remarks about Obama. To act like this blatant racist activity doesn't happen is shear stupidity and probably says something about the deniers. What do you suppose the mantra, "We're gonna take back OUR country" is supposed to mean? Do you really think after all the decades of Democrats being in office that these people are just now this bent out of shape about them taking the WH from Republicans? Clinton was there not that long ago and I didn't hear any of this noise. In fact Clinton took us from the economic disaster of Bush I only to give Bush II a clean slate and a fiscal head start and look at what Bush II left us.

The irrational, contradictory rage seen in many Americans today is simply the racism not containing itself. They try as hard as possible to refrain from the N-word, so their brain short circuits and starts spouting illogical BS. How can a rational person think we're going to lower the national debt AND lower taxes? What kind of rational person complains to the government about it not creating enough jobs, yet complains when the government creates jobs? What kind of rational person wants to solve a problem using the methods that created the problem? What sort of Walmart fashion statement wearing idiot does it take to keep championing the wealthy people who took all their money?

Rural America really related to Bush. They all thought he'd be a good guy to drink a Bud with. When he turned out to be an utter failure and the person most responsible for destroying all of our livelihoods, it just wouldn't compute. Their hero was a failure and now a black man who speaks proper English with complete sentences and big words too is now cleaning up the mess Bush left behind. They feel humiliated and threatened by a black man being more intelligent than them and the only way to save face is to do anything, and I mean anything to ensure Obama is more of a failure than the Hill Billy. Even if it means we all live in poverty for decades to come. Racism overrides common sense, human decency, personal survival, rational thought, and will fill someone with enough blind rage to kill themselves or others with their stupidity. This will never end, but our only hope is to see it continue to be watered down. Today we may have a black president and a bunch of bent out of shape racists who are too chicken to tell us what's really on their minds, but at least this isn't the 60s anymore when racism was acceptable by most, even though it was technically illegal. At least a black person can get elected president, can work at a high paid corporate job, and can dominate all of sports including golf. What's next? Currling? Baby steps America, baby steps.