Have you bought the Snake Oil?

Diversity, sensitivity, cultural awareness, and gender identity and much more are thrust in our faces daily.  Nary a day passes that we don’t hear, read, or watch a story relating to such.  We now have states considering the contributions of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender individuals to our history be placed in public school textbooks, what does sexual orientation have to do with accomplishments; The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is touting the difference in unemployment rates as evidence of racial inequities; and a president using the term “millionaires and billionaires” more frequent than Noah Webster used the word dictionary.  Is this reflective of a caring and inclusive society or perhaps an ideology?

Americans exhibit more generosity and caring, as a whole, than any other nation.  We have the most inclusive society and government as well.  So why, then, do we have political correctness?  Why does every characteristic that makes us unique need to become an identity label?  I can’t ever remember standing in front of my representative’s office with a sign declaring “I Am Heterosexual, and Proud of It” or marching in a “Heterosexual Pride Parade.”  We have groups for every ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and more.  Politicians speak to identity groups stating they understand their desire for “rights” and “fair treatment.  Does this mean they care more for one group or another?  Do I have to have a label for my elected official to like me?  Sounds like sibling rivalry to me.  Did Obama’s statement at a Latino conference “We need to punish our enemies and reward our friends” bring people together or pit one group of Americans against another?

Franklin Roosevelt recognized early that campaigning was costly and arduous.  He divided the category of Americans into smaller, more manageable, constituency groups—labor, senior citizens, farmers, and union workers (Shlaes, 2007).  This practice of group politics has become the fabric of the democrat party as this enables the use of emotion rather than facts.  President Obama was to be the end of the black versus white issue, but his term has only perpetuated the issue; quite blatantly I might add.  I find it ironic that the Democrat Party established the KKK in 1868 to rid blacks from elected positions and today touts racial discrimination (U.S. Senate/House, 1872). 

If our elected officials divide us into groups, they can control us more efficiently.  It also gives them opportunity to pit us against one another, black versus white, old versus young, heterosexual versus homosexual, and on and on.  The politicians use these labels to pander for votes.  Let’s not exchange our identity as Americans first for a more personal feeling label, flattery never misses it’s mark, as this only divides us so that we may be led as smaller groups to our demise.

So, have you bought the snake oil?

Shlaes, Amity (2007). The Forgotten Man (Kindle Locations 243-251). HarperCollins e-books. Kindle Edition.

U.S. Senate/House, (1872). The condition of affairs in the late insurrectionary states Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=WIl4AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcov...