Conservative Refocus

In yet another week filled with sarcasm-inducing drama, the American People were once again treated to "The Big Show" from Washington.  We were also finally rewarded the affirmation that not only are many if not most  "Axis Press" Journalists smugly Liberal, but they also have a collusive agenda in actually plotting ways to journalistically protect certain "elected officials" via nothing less than "damage control" propaganda.  Most of us already knew of this fact, but still it is oddly comforting, if not validating, to have those things that we have been both thinking and writing about finally confirmed as fact--in addition to actually knowing of the ways in which this was accomplished.  The "Journolist" online chat-zone was where many of these "repeaters" met and continually plotted the various ways in which they could skew public opinion into their warped and often stunted way of Liberal rumination.

Reportedly, the Journolist online chatroom has since been shut down; however, we can rest assured that, if that's true, the chatroom has simply been moved to another, more secure venue.  Conservative Refocus was launched nearly one year ago and actually built upon the premise that the Mainstream Media has largely failed in its innate and integral component as being the historical "Fourth Estate," a tremendously important cog  within the necessary informational functions of a Free Republic.  When that cog malfunctions, the entire governmental assembly becomes of itself, awkward, off-balanced and ultimately vulnerable to the negative forces that continually lie in wait for an opportunity to induce hegemony within a given society.

We can see this dreadful fact at play when we take note of the lack of Mainstream Media reports concerning President Obama's well documented past, which speaks to where we are, somewhat pitifully, today as a country.  Despite the President's "now" more widely known redistributionist beliefs, and within our Constitutional Republic, it seems necessary to point out that everyone--up to and including the President, his staff, the Senators and Representatives--each has a complete Constitutional right to hold any and all beliefs and ideologies as they see fit whether "unfortunate" or not.

The Essence Of Liberty

Constitutionally speaking, and regarding a Democratic Republic and its Governance, it is ironic that even while we must often fight against an Individual or Group's antithetical ideas which may threaten our Liberties, we must at the same time fight for their right to espouse those same ideas.  This despite the fact that such ideas may well fly in the face of our own beliefs.  But, here again, the consequential reverse also holds true that the members of our Governance are even more constrained by these same Constitutional Rights, as it concerns "The People,"  which Government members have formally sworn to uphold.

In both cases, however, when such beliefs or ideas become unconstitutional actions, an entire society can and often will become unsettled and imbalances will begin to occur--which seems to be where we are currently as a Nation.  The one thing that Conservatives, and otherwise, need always remember is that one cannot selectively pick and choose where and when the US Constitution will be applied regardless of how unseemly the results may appear to be at times.

The Axis Press Breeds New Polar Beast

Speaking to Obama's checkered past and the Media's responsibility, it was the Republican's nominee for Vice-President who was essentially vetted to within one inch of her life by our "Axis Press" rather than the falsely moderated personae of the future President, which seemed to be off limits.  Had the Mainstream Media run the same series of stories for "We the People" as the Conservative Media, we would most likely now have someone entirely different in the "Leader of the Free World" position and our unemployment rate would be much lower than its current artificially high anti-capitalistic level.

In this new age of the politics of Obama/Media opportunism, when we bring up the fact that the President is certainly not the individual that "We the People" thought that he was, we are often labeled as racist, especially when the President's decisions set off a chain reaction of negative consequences, which then requires an offense of vilification towards the Regime's critics.  While Many in the Conservative Media claim "this is the worst thing that an individual can be called" we now must adamantly disagree.

The word "racist," we have often stated, has over the past 18 months lost much of its societal taboo simply because it has now become a part of the politicized lexicon of Liberalism which is a beast best fed by polarization.  The reaction of individual thought that has been historically induced by the word has now become a split in the road of the mind where one now wonders if the accusation is rooted simply in ideological sophistry or if, indeed, it is the genuine specimen of racially superficial disdain.

Hooked On The Classics: Race And Its Faithful Shadow, Racism

To illustrate, in a rapid-fire series of significant events, this 18 month saga of polarization has continued. Despite the steamy temperatures that would normally drive the cold-blooded to their dank burrows in Washington and elsewhere, we have seen race and its faithful shadow, racism, come to the forefront of the political conversation yet again.  When the website, Big Government.com, released excerpted footage of USDA Official Shirley Sherrod's admission of withholding the full force of her aid because a farmer was White, we were all taken aback.  The fact that a large number of her audience laughed at this statement before an NAACP audience made the comment sting even worse.

Granted, many Blacks have suffered poor treatment and worse from "certain members" of the populace--so one could understand their laughter at seeing the "shoe on the other foot" at first glance.  But when one stops and considers the implications of a Black person who may have decided to mitigate her efforts with regard to a person who just happens to be White and in need of her help as a civic volunteer, a certain patina of anger in most cannot be avoided.  But this was only part of the story.

In fact, when one looks at the entire footage, one sees a woman of color who was explaining her journey out of being racially biased and into the fact that it's not so much about Black versus White but, in her words, rather "it's about those have versus those who don't."  While that statement deserves a withering conservative commentary on its misguidedness, the woman has equal right to hold both beliefs and misbeliefs within her somewhat biased mind.

After hearing the full speech and reading her full transcript, one can only come away with the conclusion that this woman was not a racist--she was wrongfully accused, excoriated and she ultimately lost her job, as initially demanded by the White House no less, for stating the opposite.  Granted once again, any Conservative  could find much to disagree with in her speech and in her politics when she indicates that it's about those who have versus those who don't, calling criticism of healthcare a form of racism, and ridiculously implying that Blacks kept quiet during the Bush years.  But the vilification of Shirley Sherrod--even by "one of her own," as she puts it--was a revealing glimpse into the knee-jerk reactionism of us all when it comes to race. The NAACP derided her, the USDA vilified her, the White House went so far as to require her to pull her car over and tender her resignation via cell phone right then and there.

Mainstream Media Angry, Holds Sole Patent On Excerpting Soundbites

The Conservative Media meanwhile,  still stinging from the Tea Party accusations, the revelations of bias in the Department of Justice and the incessant barrage of racism accusations against "those who disagree," reacted in an understandably corrosive burst of righteous indignation.  Most individuals, when shown the video excerpt, would see what appeared to be a case of bureaucratic racism in a standing government official, no less.  This would have been the very evil practice that many activists of all stripes have been fighting against their entire lives--not just racism against Blacks or Hispanics, Asians or otherwise but against racism in general.

The Attorney General had, much earlier, accused Americans of  "being cowards when it comes to race."  Yet, here again, when a candid Black woman gave a speech in which she talks at length about racism and bias she was quickly fired from her job by the Attorney General's boss, no less.  So wherein does the cowardice lie, one might inquire?  The current Administration, as pointed out so many times before, shows a hair-trigger reactionism to events that becomes ever more apparent and ever more worrisome as a daunting display of inexperience in all things continually surfaces--much as a bloated corpse of precognitive ills.

Both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were predicated on the principle of  "All men being created equal."  At the time of its writing, many of the signers were slaveholders and many were either inwardly or outwardly ashamed of the fact that they held slaves while signing a document that clearly contrasted their words with their actions--and yet, is it not strange, that those words would ring louder and further than any other passage in all history?

The Good Fight

At the time of the Declaration's signing, the practice of slavery was slowly being recognized as a barbaric practice which was immoral at best.  Although it took over 80 years to finally vanquish the practice, a very large and very intense population of both Whites and Blacks and others finally eradicated the practice from the land.  Fascinatingly, it would take another 40 years before women in the US were afforded essentially the same rights as men and another 60 years before Blacks were given the same equality as Whites.  To continually vindicate Whites for essentially correcting a disparity that existed, truthfully, denigrates the cause of their actions in the first place when such actions are then turned back against them in continued vilification.

Many of us of all races  now stand and look back upon our history in wonder at how far we have come, how hard we have worked, and note how many lives have been lost in the service of those greats words "All men are created equal."  There are still those who do not see things in such terms, just as there are those who seem to wish retribution for an injustice that was never visited upon them.  There are those few who would wish to take up the mantle of their ancestors and visit upon their racial opposites the oppression that was visited upon their forebears--just as there are probably those unenlightened few who would gladly revisit and redominate the miscarriage of oppressive slavery.

But the one thing that some simply do not understand, are the common origins of existence and blood that courses and intermingles in our veins through a common ancestry of all races. The ignominious Hitler, in World War II, referred to Americans as a race of "Mongrels" before we soundly kicked his rump together.  During the Revolutionary War, The Civil War, the Korean and Vietnam wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, American members of all races have always fought together in keeping the light of Liberty aflame.

Being a former member of the Military, were I given the option to select from any socio-political grouping, individuals with whom I would be able to trust and depend upon while in a foxhole, one of my first selections would be those of the most courageous, ethical and enlightened individuals of character who walk the face of this earth--that being a group known as the Black Conservatives.

I'm Sorry--Was That "Post-Racial" or "Most-Racial" Presidency?

There are, in fact, many Whites who unknowingly instill the blood of the unfairly oppressed just as there are many Blacks whose blood is common of their former oppressors.  The simple fact that a child can be brought into existence between a conjoining of both races should easily answer the penultimate question for anyone who may yet hold insidious doubt.

But the politicization of race as a dividing factor within a nation, by members of either party or either mean ideology is a thing no less than despicable to those who hold dear the history of a struggle that has cost so many lives and so much sorrow over our common history.  We will never totally eradicate bias within or without of any racial identity--it's simply a part of human nature to exercise caution when faced with apparent difference.  But to foment racial division for political gain only illustrates an extreme lack of understanding and a historical disdain for this Nation and its ideals.

Almost as a sign from above, at a time of unmystifyingly growing political and racial unrest, we have news of the birth of a white Baby born to a black couple. Scientists have confirmed that the baby is, indeed, a confirmed product of its parents.  The child is not albino.  The baby is a blond-headed, seeming Caucasian in every feature, born to black Nigerian parents.

Would White Supremacists consider her as inferior and ostracize her for her parentage?  Or would Black Militants simply wish to kill this infant child due to her skin color?

The polarizing politics of Racism no longer has a place within a reasoned American Society, and yet here it is bedeviling us yet again, ironically due to both the Media and what was once touted as "The Post Racial Presidency."

"It is as useless to argue with those who have renounced the use and authority of reason as to administer medication to the dead."

~Thomas Jefferson

Barry Secrest

Authors Note: A new book titled, "A Perfect Liberal Storm" has just been released that I have written which details the major events that have occurred during the first year of the Obama Administration. The book provides an ongoing Commentary regarding the US Constitution,  in conjunction with Conservatism, and delves into an understanding of the issues and arguments surrounding how we have gotten to this point within our history.  The book pulls from both new content and original articles from Conservative Refocus.  We hope you will take a look and consider supporting this website by buying the book and, as always, Thanks "so much" for your visit.