Another Day, Another Racist Plot...

Over at TPM Cafe we have yet another example of honeys and crackers trampling on the rights of persons of color. From the overeducated mind of Nathan Newman, who works as the Policy Director for the Progressive Legislative Action Network when he isn't ferreting out racism in all its forms:

The Tyranny of the Tiny White States

So here's what Senate structures and the filibuster has reduced us too-- a bipartisan group of Senators from six of the smallest and whitest states in the country are holding health care hostage on the Senate finance committee. As the New York Times reports today, three Dems and three GOPers are negotiating to gut Obama and the House's health care bills. And who are the six?

• Max Baucus of Montana (pop 935,670- 89.2% white)
• Kent Conrad of North Dakota (pop 636,677- 90.1% white)
• Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico (pop 1,928,384- 42.8% white)
• Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming (pop 509,294- 88.8% white)
• Charles E. Grassley of Iowa (pop 2,966,334- 91.5% white)
• Olympia Snowe of Maine (pop 1,321,505 - 96% white).

Altogether, this rump group of negotiators represent just 8.3 million Americans or less than 3% of the population and only 1.6 million non-whites. Subtract Bingaman and that last number drops to just 521,000 non-whites represented by this group of Senate negotiators deciding the fate of health care for a diverse population of almost 300 million Americans.

Structurally, this is what bipartisanship means. The tyranny of tiny states and the exclusion of non-white concerns.

This is the structural racism built into a Constitution two hundred years ago to exclude the voting power of slaves and to this day privileges the power of a handful of small, mostly white states to undermine the will of the majority in our nation.

Goddamn racist constitution. Goddamn, goddamn racist white constitution.

Health care is a purely a racial issue? So opposition to Obama's health care reform bill is racist? Who knew?

Between this sort of talk and President Obama being all shrewd (as Mark would say) about race relations (and law enforcement), is it any wonder Obama, Pelosi and the Democratically controlled Congress are dropping like stones in the polls?

Note: Nathan has a Ph.D. in Sociology from Berkeley and a law degree from Yale. That about says it all for me.

Note the Second: Having 42.8% of the population classified as "white" qualifies New Mexico as one of the "whitest states" in the U.S.A.?

Comments

[markg8]

Newman may be an idiot for painting this in racial terms, I don't have time to read his post and it's not like you aren't known to cherrypick to make a point Dennis.

But keep in mind these guys know they're just staking out positions at this point. Funding mechanisms, co-ops or public plans, cost cutting measures, regs, threshholds, they're all gathering up their chips and getting ready to do some horse trading.

Rural state guys like Baucus, Grassley and Conrad have more in commmon with each other than they do with Schumer, Kennedy or Durban. OTH rural hospitals are just as underfunded, understaffed and lacking in new tech as poorer inner city ones.

The good news is the kind of changes we need to make across the board in how we pay providers will benefit all of their constituents. On that they can agree, whether they will or not who knows?

For all we know these rural guys are angling for higher crop subsidies or something totally unrelated to health reform. Stay tuned.

[Dennis the Peasant]

I was just pointing to another instance of the mask slipping, that's all.

[DonnieDarko]

markg8-

"Thanks for chiming in a week late Donnie."

You are welcome. And possibly an asshole.

[markg8]

Jesus Donnie you still have doubts? I don't come here to make lovey dovey.

What would that mask be Dennis?

[Tim Worstall]

Erm, I have a feeling that Our Nathan ("Our" first name being what we use around where I'm from to indicate the family idiot) has slightly missd the point.

The Constitution was deliberately written that way, with States representd in one chanber, population in the other, so as to reduce the ability of the majority to trample on the (perceived perhaps) rights of the minority.

I agree it didn't work out great with slavery but here the system is working just as designed.

[markg8]

to reduce the ability of the majority to trample on the (perceived perhaps) rights of the minority. I agree it didn't work out great with slavery but here the system is working just as designed.

It is working out just as designed if you mean the founding fathers wanted to let powerful interests bribe small population rural state senators into holding back legislation that would benefit most of the country.

[Dennis the Peasant]

Tim-

As you can see from Nathan's post, and Mark's comment, the Constitution is only to be respect when it protects and/or promotes the interests of progressive public policy. When it does not, it is to be reviled.

[ThomasD]

Thanks to Newman New Mexico now has a new State slogan.

New Mexico: We may not be the whitest but we're one of the smallest!

[ThomasD]

Oh, and taken to it's ultimate logical conclusion Newman effectively argues for the abolition of the Senate (or, at a minimum, apportionment a la the House of Reps.)

Yale law indeed.