This is America. Let it unfurl.

[Joe Allonby]

On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 2:48 PM, Lawrence Bryan <lebryan at speakeasy.net> wrote:
>
> Notice how Republicans, time and time again, claim they speak for all Americans. The implication being if you don't agree with me, you are not a real American. Do Democrats do that as often or is it that I only bristle when it's a claim for "Americans don't want..." or "Americans believe.." that I, as an American, disagree with?
>

This is a common tactic for appealing to "values voters". Colin Powell
and a few others have taken their fellow Republicans to task for
implying, or outright stating, that people from urban areas and the
coasts do not have American values, as if only small town and
Midwestern values were genuine. This tactic essentially identifies the
majority of the population as not really "True Americans". They are
the "Others":.

The Know Nothing wing of the Republican Party is playing on the fears
of a white Protestant constituency that sees itself as losing cultural
and political dominance. They fear being marginalized. They think that
their way of life is dying. A mixed race President is a sign of their
impending loss of power. They are right about this. So what? Evolve or
join the dinosaurs that they think Adam and Eve rode before the flood.