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What you should notice is that conservatives support equal rights, for all people, and are not using skin color as a crutch.
Those on the left tend to start with the assumption that all whites are bigots and racists, and work from there, when creating laws and regulations which assume those same assumptions. Conservatives do not do that, we see all people as equals, and all people are innocent until proven otherwise.
Of course, all people, of all races, are capable of racism, bigotry and or prejudice, but I'm not going to assume and entire group of people are racists and bigots, based on nothing more then their skin color.
So if a leftist assumes all whites are racists, and I do not, that does not mean I'm against civil rights, nor does it mean I'm a racist. We do still need the 14th amendment, and civil rights laws, because they are people who would infringe on my, or my children's rights and freedoms, based on nothing more then skin color.
For example, the voting laws which were just change by the supreme court. It's been 50 years now, and it seems that the assumption that certain states will always be bigots is supposed to continue for all time.
Most "ambivalence" stems from disagreement over the government's ability to engineer human behavior and it's role in doing so, not about minorities. Most conservatives would argue for one set of laws and to have everyone be treated the same by the various systems and various bureaucracies. Wasn't that the point after all? While there is of course still discrimination in all directions, people would disagree along a continuum of how much government intervention is necessary. However, the argument also exists that at a certain point, the government intervention has run it's course and trying to force more becomes more divisive. I think the truth is someplace in the middle. I don't think many people today would argue against the voting rights act. They may argue that some provisions are outdated. They would probably also argue that the government can only accomplish so much and that part of the "healing" has to be a natural process which is beyond government ability to accomplish. Calling them racists for different views of government's role and ability, is divisive and unproductive at best.
Conservatives are about personal responsibility. Affirmative action, reparations, and hand-out programs fly in the face of those beliefs. The left pays them out as bribes to keep their voting based pacified and obedient.
This is something I've noticed and wondered about for a while now. People who tend to be the most supportive of civil rights--regardless of the group--tend to be those on the left. While conservatives tend to be, at best, ambivalent about things like voting rights or issues facing minority communities. Many naively seem to think that there are no racial problems anymore in the United States, and that things like Civil Rights laws are no longer necessary--something which baffles me.
Any thoughts?
How do you know this is what Conservatives think about civil rights? I don't think they are ambivalent at all. They actively disagree with the status quo and do not believe current programs, laws, etc. improve the civil rights of people.
Many conservatives believe that the positions taken by many on the left effectively entrench poverty, exacerbate differences between races, and generally divide people instead of unite them.
Affirmative action makes race an unavoidable issue when considering a person for a job or college. A minority, instead of asking "am I qualified for this college?" instead will say "can I use my race as an advantage gaining admission?"
Conservatives are about personal responsibility. Affirmative action, reparations, and hand-out programs fly in the face of those beliefs. The left pays them out as bribes to keep their voting based pacified and obedient.
When are whites going to accept their responsibility for oppressing minorities for the past few centuries then???? Centuries of free labor, oppression, and Jim Crow, now we are supposed to pretend all is well.
The last time I checked whites are the main recipients of welfare.
When are whites going to accept their responsibility for oppressing minorities for the past few centuries then???? Centuries of free labor, oppression, and Jim Crow, now we are supposed to pretend all is well.
The last time I checked whites are the main recipients of welfare.
Those people are all dead now. All whites alive today are responsible for the sins of the past? Really? No actually whites are not the main recipients of welfare in proportion to their population percentage.
How do you know this is what Conservatives think about civil rights? I don't think they are ambivalent at all. They actively disagree with the status quo and do not believe current programs, laws, etc. improve the civil rights of people.
Many conservatives believe that the positions taken by many on the left effectively entrench poverty, exacerbate differences between races, and generally divide people instead of unite them.
Affirmative action makes race an unavoidable issue when considering a person for a job or college. A minority, instead of asking "am I qualified for this college?" instead will say "can I use my race as an advantage gaining admission?"
My problem is whites had their own Affirmative Action for CENTURIES. Now we we try to equalize things to introduce more minorities into places that were traditionally 100% white, it's a problem. Blacks couldn't go to colleges or get the same jobs that whites could in the past that's a fact.
I have a big problem with my taxes going to public institutions that have had to be forced to admit minorities.
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Centuries of free labor, oppression, and Jim Crow, now we are supposed to pretend all is well.