Some Republicans and conservatives are celebrating the resignation of Van Jones. They misunderstand the significance of what just happened.
By marginalizing a 9/11 truther, mainstream Democrats took a step towards restoring civility and rationality to our national discourse. In her column today, progressive African-American Atlanta Journal Constitution writer Cynthia Tucker agrees.
Responsible conservatives and Republicans now need to do the same to the conspiracy theorists and other extremists in their own camp: the birthers, deathers, tenthers, and those who openly carry firearms at political rallies or make other suggestions of violence.
Two recent actions provide tiny rays of hope.
Mainstream Idaho Republicans quickly condemned fringe Republican gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell for joking about buying a license to hunt President Obama.
In an act of courage and integrity, former educator and former First Lady Laura Bush condemned the attacks on President Obama’s back to school pep talk and decried the increasing polarization of the nation.
What is unfortunate is that neither her husband or father-in-law, the two living former Republican presidents, joined her.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
What are Birthers, Deathers, and Tenthers?
In my previous post, I referred to birthers, deathers, and tenthers. Someone asked for definitions.
Birther: Someone who despite all the overwhelming evidence, questions if President Obama was born in U.S. and therefore questions if he meets the Constitutional requirements to be president. The anger and persistence of some implies a racist agenda, questioning how an African-American could have been elected.
Deather: Someone who claims that President Obama's health care reforms include hastening the death of the elderly and people with disabilities through rationing or denial of health care or euthanasia. This is conscious misinformation by opponents of not only reform but of almost everything President Obama does, which again suggests some racist motivations.
Among the proposed reforms is a guarantee of Medicare reimbursement to a physician for regular end of life discussions with their patients. The discussions would be voluntary and would include options such as hospice and palliative care, and the preparation of advanced directives.
President Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel’s brother, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, has written articles discussing questions such as the appropriateness of aggressive chemotherapy for a very elderly person with terminal cancer. This has been distorted to imply he is advocating withholding care or euthanizing the elderly.
Among the “Deathers” is former Alaska governor Sarah Palin who while governor actively encouraged Alaskans to prepare advance directives.
Tenthers: Someone who claims the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the Federal government from doing anything regarding health care.
The Tenth Amendment states:
The Tenth Amendment has been inappropriately cited over the year to oppose such Federal actions as enforcement of civil rights which adds to the suspicion of racist motivations.
The tenthers ignore years of Supreme Court decisions that have settled this issue.
Birther: Someone who despite all the overwhelming evidence, questions if President Obama was born in U.S. and therefore questions if he meets the Constitutional requirements to be president. The anger and persistence of some implies a racist agenda, questioning how an African-American could have been elected.
Deather: Someone who claims that President Obama's health care reforms include hastening the death of the elderly and people with disabilities through rationing or denial of health care or euthanasia. This is conscious misinformation by opponents of not only reform but of almost everything President Obama does, which again suggests some racist motivations.
Among the proposed reforms is a guarantee of Medicare reimbursement to a physician for regular end of life discussions with their patients. The discussions would be voluntary and would include options such as hospice and palliative care, and the preparation of advanced directives.
President Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel’s brother, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, has written articles discussing questions such as the appropriateness of aggressive chemotherapy for a very elderly person with terminal cancer. This has been distorted to imply he is advocating withholding care or euthanizing the elderly.
Among the “Deathers” is former Alaska governor Sarah Palin who while governor actively encouraged Alaskans to prepare advance directives.
Tenthers: Someone who claims the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the Federal government from doing anything regarding health care.
The Tenth Amendment states:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.The tenthers ignore that a significant portion of health care is already provided by the Federal government through Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, care for active duty military personnel and their dependents, and the provision of private insurance for Federal employees.
The Tenth Amendment has been inappropriately cited over the year to oppose such Federal actions as enforcement of civil rights which adds to the suspicion of racist motivations.
The tenthers ignore years of Supreme Court decisions that have settled this issue.
Should the Green Jobs Czar have resigned?
Former Obama administration green jobs czar Van Jones showed incredibly poor judgement by becoming a “celebrity” signer of a 9/11 Truth petition. Either he sympathized with it, which suggests a disqualifying lack of discernment, or he didn’t read it, which displayed a disqualifying lack of attention to detail.
There are many legitimate critiques of 9/11 that someone can express without disqualifying themselves from positions of public responsibility. 9/11 conspiracy theories are not among them. They are best viewed in the same way as are Holocaust denial, intelligent design, alien abductions, birthers, deathers, and tenthers.
Seemingly legitimate petitions may not be worthy of our signatures. Some petitions are authored by ideologues and extremists whose agendas are not immediately obvious such as petitions that appear to be calling for peace in the Middle East at the same time as they call Israelis Nazis.
I declined to sign a petition to impeach George Bush. I had grown weary of my progressive colleagues viciously criticizing Democratic members of Congress for failing to do something that was utterly impossible.
I treasure our Constitutional right to petition government. However, signing every petition that is put before us devalues one’s signature and as Van Jones discovered risks serious consequences.
There are many legitimate critiques of 9/11 that someone can express without disqualifying themselves from positions of public responsibility. 9/11 conspiracy theories are not among them. They are best viewed in the same way as are Holocaust denial, intelligent design, alien abductions, birthers, deathers, and tenthers.
Seemingly legitimate petitions may not be worthy of our signatures. Some petitions are authored by ideologues and extremists whose agendas are not immediately obvious such as petitions that appear to be calling for peace in the Middle East at the same time as they call Israelis Nazis.
I declined to sign a petition to impeach George Bush. I had grown weary of my progressive colleagues viciously criticizing Democratic members of Congress for failing to do something that was utterly impossible.
I treasure our Constitutional right to petition government. However, signing every petition that is put before us devalues one’s signature and as Van Jones discovered risks serious consequences.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
