ALPERN AT LARGE - Events ranging from the political brouhaha at the Democratic National Convention to Los Angeles City/County Redistricting to the Expo Line Board all reveal what any thinking person already knows—despite the increasing acceptance of ordinary Americans to individuals of different races, creeds, religions and sexual preferences, those in power still employ racism (some subtle, some overt) and intolerance to further their goals through pure and repugnant “smash-mouth politics”.
While it’s very easy to point out how limiting the Republican Party platform is for many Americans, the emphasis of trying to be inclusive (whether it’s believed to be genuine or feigned) was clearly on display at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Ditto for the Charlotte DNC, although the tone was demonstrably more negative and sneering towards their opposition than what would have been ideal for on-the-fence Independents seeking to find the right November choice.
Both political conventions probably were more successful in galvanizing their bases than swaying Independents. So when both the Republican and Democratic parties had their “oopsie” moments, some exploration and analysis are in order. Missouri Senator contender Todd Akin says something ridiculous about women being able to prevent conception following a rape, and everyone gasped—and within hours, everyone in the GOP leadership wanted (and still do want, despite his humbling apology on state TV) Akin OUT.
That sentiment hasn’t changed, and although GOP strategist Karl Rove even made a poorly-worded joke about doing harm to Akin (for which he apologized), the fury against Akin throughout the GOP leadership and political base is legitimate and ongoing. But now the other question facing voters (of all parties) is what to do against that larger group of individuals at the Charlotte DNC who made it awfully clear they either have a problem with God, or they have a problem with Israel, or both.
DNC Chairman Antonio Villaraigosa probably handled the now-infamous DNC vote very well—just as the RNC and GOP leadership has more than a few right-wing whackadoodles, it’s now clear that the DNC and Democratic Party leadership have their fair share of left-wing whackadoodles … except they’re a lot more vocal and numerous than one idiotic GOP senatorial candidate from Missouri.
President Obama himself wanted to reverse the dropping of mentioning God in the Democratic Party platform, as well as the dropping of prioritizing our ally Israel in the Middle East and recognizing Jerusalem as its capitol, so Mayor Villaraigosa did the right thing (despite the unpleasant situation into which he was thrown) by ramming right through those who clearly forgot that religious Christians and Jews are necessary to winning any national elections in November.
Still, the division within the Democratic Party should also strike fear and confusion in the hearts of anyone who wishes to end bigotry, racism or intolerance of any sort—particularly to Jews and Christians of liberal backgrounds. It’s no secret that some on the far left have shown its bigoted hand towards people who still overtly believe in God, and is trying to make Israel out to be some modern-day apartheid nation that is the victimizer, and not the victim, of Middle East violence and conflict.
Yet can it be said that those who vigorously opposed the reinstatement of the 2008 Democratic Platform towards God and Israel were merely far left-wing nut jobs? What DID they oppose—the “God” issue, the “Israel is our ally” issue, the “Jerusalem” issue, or any combination of the three? Has there been a sufficient attempt to find out what the division is all about…or perhaps that attempt that will wait until after November?
Despite the greater initial bounce towards Obama than Romney after the two national conventions, the God/Jerusalem moment won’t go away any time soon, because:
1) History books accurately describe the Founding Fathers’ belief that the Bill of Rights and the freedoms described in our Constitution are justified because they come directly from God, and even in 2012 individuals throughout the political spectrum either believe in God or respect the rights of others to believe in God without coercion or derision from those who don’t.
2) The whole Zionism/”Never Again” thing goes like this: when Jews become a minority, they almost always sooner or later become a target for persecution and even genocide…hence the need for the majority Jewish state that is Israel. With persecution of Christians on the rise throughout the Middle East, American Christians increasingly relate to that.
So it’s evident that with the rise of Asian and black and Latino politicians who are Republican, and despite the traditional narrative of the GOP being a closed-minded group of backwards-thinking old white men, it’s also evident that minorities (and those who sympathize with them, and who just hate racism and bigotry of all sorts) must now keep BOTH parties’ political pitches at arm’s length.
This will be particularly true for Westside and Valley Jews of all political stripes, who in the past forged alliances with African-American mayor Tom Bradley and with Latino mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Speaking as one of those Jews, we tend to be both open-minded and very hard on ourselves to do better and be better … and to demand that others do the same.
So … why were Asians so poorly-treated, and what was with all the mistreatment of Bernard Parks’ and Jan Perry’s districts during City Redistricting, and why should anyone trust new Council President Herb Wesson after he made it clear that he was part of the geographic and racial clique system that infected Redistricting and other City politics?
So … what on earth was former Council President and mayoral wannabe Eric Garcetti doing when he backed the formation of a second Latino county district, and despite his own Westside roots has he now made it clear he’s all about ethnicity in a region that’s sick of racial divisions?
So … while the endless praise continues for “liberal” religious figures such as comedian Stephen Colbert is it ignorance or bigotry to ignore the fact that conservatives donate more to charity than liberals?
So … what the heck were City Council President Herb Wesson and County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas doing by insisting that the local hires data reporting for Expo Line jobs/hiring include race/ethnicity, when the original labor agreement included only zip code and income data? And now that the rest of the Expo Line Authority Board got pushed into approving this race/ethnicity reporting, is it even legal?
An honest introspection can easily show that we’re all hypocrites and closed-minded, each of us in our own way, but as the intolerance and obsession with race now appears to come as vigorously from the left (which claims to be open-minded and inclusive) as it once did from the right (which now claims to be open-minded and inclusive), only one thing can be concluded by any fair-minded person: racism, bigotry or intolerance (of any sort!) is just plain wrong.
Time for those on their high horse to step down and admit they’re no better than their opponents.
(Ken Alpern is a former Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and is co-chair of the non-profit Friends of the Green Line (www.fogl.us). He can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 73
Pub: Sept 11, 2012