The Steve King Mess

The Steve King mess reveals how far Republicans have to go to distance themselves from racism.

When I became a Republican in November in 2010, it was to pursue lower taxes, smaller government and a pronounced reduction to non-sponsored immigration.  I had no idea  what white supremacy, the KKK, and other hate groups, have to do with that. 

And yet it should not have been so difficult for me to trace.  The 1787 text of the Constitution itself permitted the trade of enslaved human beings across the ocean until 1818.  People who were enslaved were reduced to three fifths of the apportionment for representation in Congress.  The fact that, to this day, the three-fifths clause is still bandied about as "less racist" than full apportionment for the enslaved, is ridiculous.  The simple fact that the Northern founders allowed such a thing to enter the foundational document of our government has caused problems to this day.

And yet it does no good to rage at the Founders.  We need a new Constitution - one on which all citizens of the United States start on an equal footing.

And yet even racism may not be our biggest problem.  The Federal budget deficit is set to consume the entire economy.  Had we held to what was good in the Constitution - the written, clear-language limits on the scope of the Federal government - we would not be in this budget mess.

And if we looked at our fellow human beings and saw a fellow human being and not someone to dictate supremacy over, we wouldn't be in this Steve King mess.