Posted on 01/17/2012 7:19:10 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In the Republican presidential candidates’ debate on January 7, Rep. Ron Paul said: “I’m the only one up here . . . that understands [that the] true racism in this country is in the judicial system.”
He said this racism has to do with “enforcing the drug laws,” and then added: “They [blacks] get the death penalty way disproportionately.”
Two groups immediately defended Paul — his supporters, and commentators on the left. The former support anything Paul says; and the Left supports anything that Paul says that portrays America as ugly (see, for example, the defense of Paul by the left-wing USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham, whose columns are regularly devoted to how much blacks suffer from American racism).
Just last month, Paul was asked by a representative of an organization (We Are Change) that holds the U.S. government responsible for 9/11, “Why won’t you come out about the truth about 9/11?”
Paul’s response: “Because I can’t handle the controversy: I have the IMF, the Federal Reserve to deal with, the IRS to deal with. Because I just have more — too many things on my plate. Because I just have too much to do.” It is readily available on YouTube.
Whatever the implications of his cryptic response, when Paul is confronted by the mainstream media he denies that he believes the American government was involved in the 9/11 attacks. But what is undeniable is that Paul, like much of the Left, holds America largely responsible for 9/11 because of its foreign policy: its “occupying” countries all over the world; the sanctions on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, which Paul and the Left claim killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis; the injustices against Palestinians that America has supported (through its support of Israel); etc.
He mocks the idea that the primary reason for 9/11 was that people of great evil attacked a very good country — because this is the kind of thing the evil do, just as they did on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese regime attacked Pearl Harbor.
It does seem that the Texas congressman’s description of the American justice system as racist is part of his generally dark view of America.
The claim that America disproportionately executes blacks is a falsehood, disseminated on virtually every left-wing website, from the ACLU’s to all the anti-death-penalty sites. The only way it can be regarded as true is if the disproportion is in relation to the entire population of the country: Blacks make up about 12 percent of the population, and since 1976 about 35 percent of those executed for murder have been black. But this is a statistic that tells no truth because it is meaningless in terms of determining alleged racial bias.
This is very easy to prove. Males make up about 50 percent of the American population but about 99 percent of those executed. Is the American justice system wildly anti-male?
Of course not. The statistic that matters in assessing bias in executions is the proportion of murderers of a given group that is executed, not the group’s proportion of the entire population.
And, here, it is clear that blacks are actually underrepresented in executions.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death-penalty organization, between 1976 and January 2012, 441 blacks (35 percent of the total of convicted murderers) and 717 whites (55 percent of the total) were executed. Given that blacks committed more than half the murders during that time (52 percent vs. 46 percent by whites), if we are to assess racial bias based on proportionality of murderers executed, the system is biased against whites, not blacks.
Because this fact is both obvious and irrefutable, virtually none of the anti-death-penalty sites note it. Instead they focus on the race of murder victims and even the race of prosecutors — in other words, the race of just about everyone except those convicted of murder.
It was bad enough for America and for moral clarity when the views on American imperialism and systemic racism expressed by Ron Paul were confined to the Left. That about 20 percent of Republicans believe such things about America makes one anxious about the future of this country, not to mention about the eternal battle against evil.
— Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio-talk-show host and columnist.
He’s left wing on much of his platform.
This sentence alone disqualifies you from the presidency.
It is pure leftism, in that it implies that criminal justice is "distributed" in the same way that "wealth" is and can be "redistributed."
His remark about the U.S. needing to practice the golden rule when it comes to terrorists is about as whacky as one can get.
Contrast what Paul did on race with what Newt did on race. Newt, baited by Juan Williams - did not give in, did not capitulate. No, he turned the whole thing around on Juan and buried him to a thunderous applause.
With Obama as the opponent, the ability to win the race card argument is so very important. We all know only one man can do this. Admit it.
Good read.
I strongly disagree with Paul on this but the National Review is using a specious argument. Anybody who seeks reform must necessarily portray the portion of American targeted for reform as "ugly."
After last night’s debate performance you can stick a fork in Ron Paul. When foreign policy comes up he turns into the cuckoo bird.
Ron Paul is a libertarian who runs for office as a Republican. To support a libertarian, you have to take the sensible (less regulation, fewer taxes, lower government spending, etc.) with the nonsensical (open borders, isolationist foreign policy, gays in the military, etc.) And if you want to watch a libertarian twist into a verbal knot, listen to one discuss abortion.
RE: After last night’s debate performance you can stick a fork in Ron Paul.
Not sure about that... there were as many applause as there were boos.
Dr. Paul is sensible and pragmatic
never voted for
a tax increase
a unbalanced budget
a congressional pay raise
Ron Paul’s budget would cut $1 TTTrillion from the Federal Budget in year ONE.
“....The claim that America disproportionately executes blacks is a falsehood, disseminated on virtually every left-wing website, from the ACLU’s to all the anti-death-penalty sites. The only way it can be regarded as true is if the disproportion is in relation to the entire population of the country: Blacks make up about 12 percent of the population, and since 1976 about 35 percent of those executed for murder have been black. But this is a statistic that tells no truth because it is meaningless in terms of determining alleged racial bias.
This is very easy to prove. Males make up about 50 percent of the American population but about 99 percent of those executed. Is the American justice system wildly anti-male?
Of course not. The statistic that matters in assessing bias in executions is the proportion of murderers of a given group that is executed, not the group’s proportion of the entire population.
And, here, it is clear that blacks are actually underrepresented in executions.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death-penalty organization, between 1976 and January 2012, 441 blacks (35 percent of the total of convicted murderers) and 717 whites (55 percent of the total) were executed. Given that blacks committed more than half the murders during that time (52 percent vs. 46 percent by whites), if we are to assess racial bias based on proportionality of murderers executed, the system is biased against whites, not blacks.
Because this fact is both obvious and irrefutable, virtually none of the anti-death-penalty sites note it. Instead they focus on the race of murder victims and even the race of prosecutors — in other words, the race of just about everyone except those convicted of murder.
It was bad enough for America and for moral clarity when the views on American imperialism and systemic racism expressed by Ron Paul were confined to the Left. That about 20 percent of Republicans believe such things about America makes one anxious about the future of this country, not to mention about the eternal battle against evil.”
CLARITY = Dennis Prager! bttt
I think Ron Paul is spot on when he talks about the Fed and economics but he doesn’t really have a foreign policy except bring all the troops home. I think he needs to flesh that out a little. Or a lot.
Here’s what I gather from him (based on what he said yesterday):
1) he’s not opposed to a strong defense. He believes however, that we can SIGNIFICANTLY reduce defense spending and still militarily be the strongest nation on earth ( reduce by how much is something he has not fleshed out ).
2) He wants to bring MOST of our troops home ( he did say some will be necessary overseas, but does nto say where ).
3) He is not opposed to going to war, PROVIDED we do it constitutionally -— IF CONGRESS DECLARES WAR.
4) He has this fear that something like the PATRIOT ACT will eventually morph into government doing surveillance on almost every aspect of our daily lives.
“4. He has this fear that something like the PATRIOT ACT will eventually morph into government doing surveillance on almost every aspect of our daily lives.”
He has definitely got that one right. The Patriot Act was one of the most dangerous things to come out of the legislature. That and the DHS, an agency we never should have created.
Thanks for your Post, I like Paul but the judicial system is racist argument did not seem correct to me. One could argue that the system favors wealthy people over poor people. But that is an entirely different argument and probably without a solution. thanks again.
Code pink endorsed him last week.
Show me where “proportionality” is in the document, Mr. Constitution.
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