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The quote you post is saying that Lew thinks totalitarianism is defined by federal government interferences and not by local laws which he implicitly says he finds fault with meaning he does not agree with them. The remarks say that in his opinion the Jim Crow laws were begein compared to the intrusive laws of today that negate property rights and freedom of association.

So one could argue over the definition of totalitarianism but one can not honestly say that Lew Rockwell supports descrimination or Jim Crow laws. There is no room for that interpretation of his statement. Therefore it is not a racist remark.

I do not know the context from which this quote was lifted from but it does not seem like the most diplomatic way of stating his position. For the record I have a broader definition of totalitarianism than LR seems to have as I see Thomas'claim against the State and Rockwell's both as valid examples.

Lew Rockwell has become Noam Chomsky "lite". So have the Losertarians.

This foray into history is a slick way of getting people to distrust the Feds (nothing wrong with that per se), without having those same people put the blame for where the system is today where it belongs: ON THEMSELVES.

So one could argue over the definition of totalitarianism but one can not honestly say that Lew Rockwell supports descrimination or Jim Crow laws. There is no room for that interpretation of his statement. Therefore it is not a racist remark.

I think this is open for debate. If one were black, one would not see the Jim Crow years as relatively decent and humane; before the Civil Rights movement and LBJ's Great Society, there was nothing benign about legal racism in this country. To argue that our dabbling with socialism and the problems that has brought with it are far worse is to ignore a good deal of human suffering before the 1960s.

As Aunt Enna and my dear old father have both said, it is our tolerance for inequality before the law that is the source of most injustice in this country then and today. Americans will forever regret the 3/5ths compromise and the legalization of slavery at our nation's birth. The Affirmative Action legislation and socialism in the name of fighting poverty has has been a clumsy and arguably failed way to surmount what is altogether a much greater problem. But we must not rest until we've solved it. The Great Society that Lew decries is imperfect, but compared to poll taxes and literacy tests, separate drinking fountains, and codified stratification of the races, it's a step forward. Now we just need to remove the positive racism and bone-headed socialism from it.

I am not singling out the south here, either. This was a country-wide problem before the 1960s. Now we have new problems, but I have confidence in Americans of all races to figure out how to move ahead.

I'm also going to say that we don't know what has caused all of the problems that have continued to plague our poor. We have to keep thinking about this together.

I'm going to stand with RDB3 saying Lew made a racist gaffe. I don't know if Lew meant to be racist, but that's how I see it.