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The pretext for this entire nationwide riot is that America
is a racist country. That is not true. America is not a racist country.
America is a country that has strived, imperfectly but passionately, to
live up to its founding promise that all men are created equal. There is
not—and will never be—a greater barrier to racism, or to tyranny in any
form, than this American idea.
The reckless charge that American law enforcement is
“systemically racist” is also not true. As with any large organization of
men wielding power, some will abuse that power. But police do not
systematically target innocents—either by race or any other criteria. Any
fair-minded review of the available data demonstrates that.
Why is it that so many of our citizens believe that America
is racist to its core? Because this lie has been preached by our
universities and media like the Gospel for a generation. From there it has
traveled throughout society, particularly among the elite. Even most
leaders on the Right are unwilling to refute this destructive untruth. In
failing to do so, they promote the falsehood, the riots that it has
engendered, and ultimately America’s destruction. This is to say, the riots
are the handiwork of the elite. A country that has been taught it is ignoble
will not defend itself against its enemies, domestic or foreign.
As we see written in flames in these riots and hear in all
the commentary on them, the great divide in America is between those who
believe that America is evil and needs to be destroyed, and those who
believe that America is good and needs to be preserved. A version of that
question is what the 2016 elections were about, and what the elections in
2020 will be about. The nation has a party devoted to transforming the
American way of life; it needs a party devoted to preserving the American
way of life.
America must have a full accounting of how the riots
happened, who made them happen, and who let them happen. Those in power
must be held to account. Most fundamentally, the lies that have been the
core curriculum of American education must be replaced with the truth. The
only way America can survive is as a united country dedicated to living out
the true meaning of its creed. The elite want to rob us of that future. The
rest of us should pledge our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to stopping
them. (My italics.)
Thomas D. Klingenstein
Chairman
Ryan P. Williams
President The Claremont Institute
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1 comment:
The Claremont Institute's statement that America is not a racist country has no meaning. Countries can't be racist, but people in a country can. No one could deny that many Americans are racist, and there is no established measure by which we can say how many people must be racist before we are justified in metaphorically calling the country racist.
Likewise, the Claremont Institute's statement that American law enforcement is not systemically racist lacks meaning. No one could deny that police in American cities engage in brutality against black people more than they do against white people. The Claremont Institute accounts for this with old "a few bad apples" explanation. Yet, now that incidents of police brutality can be videotaped, it seems that there are more than a few. But there is no established measure by which we can say how many such incidents must occur before we can apply the word "systemic."
As a liberal, I am pleased that the Claremont Institute, as a conservative organization, advocates voting Democratic in 2020, because it recognizes that the Republican Party advocates "transforming" the American way of life into one in which the government is above the law, whereas the Democratic Party wishes to preserve the status quo before Trump in which the government is expected to obey the law.
I am also pleased that the Claremont Institute demands a full accounting of the police riots taking place in response to the largely law-abiding protests of the George Floyd murder by the police, and a full accounting of the decision by the president and attorney general to order the military to assault peaceful protesters in front of the White House with tear gas and other dangerous weapons. As the Claremont Institute writes, "Those in power must be held to account."
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