Should South Carolina Senator Tim Scott become a Democrat?
For anyone who saw Scott’s Republican reply to President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress two weeks ago, the idea that he’d suddenly renounce everything he’d just said and head in the other political direction is ludicrous. Still there are those who think that identity politics and “woke” pressure should overwhelm the strong gravitational pull of common sense the senator has always exhibited in his representative career.
Simply put, black Democrats argue that Scott is a disgrace to his race if he remains in the GOP column. Fox News commentator Juan Williams didn’t say those exact words, but the gist was certainly there. Williams wrote at The Hill:
“By staying with the Republicans, Scott is in danger of becoming the fall guy, the Black Republican who looked the other way as the party continued its poor record on Black voter suppression and police brutality.
“Scott has power inside the Senate GOP caucus as its only Black member. He is ‘better positioned than a white Republican to push back on progressive race narratives,’ in the words of William McGurn, a conservative writing in The Wall Street Journal.
“But that role carries the risk of going down in the history books as the Black man designated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to distract the public while 49 other Republicans, nearly all white, post a failing record on dealing with racial tensions following the police murder of George Floyd.”
Yes, most Republican senators are white, and even some of the ones who aren’t are considered “Caucasian” in attitude. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are Hispanic (of Cuban descent) but they’re not “real” minorities in the haters’ estimation because they don’t automatically favor climate change and socialistic redistribution of wealth. And abortion… that, too.
And a failing GOP record on dealing with racial tensions following George Floyd’s public death last year? As always, I’ll concede that Williams is paid to spout this nonsense, but to suggest that Scott is betraying other African-Americans or people with tinted skin in general is absurd. It’s like saying that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) represents the views of every black person in America. The late Rush Limbaugh used to call it the NAA-L-CP, with the extra “l” standing for “liberal”, because there was no way that the organization stood for black conservatives like the late Walter Williams or distinguished commentator Thomas Sowell.
Or Tim Scott either.
Instead of dissing him, shouldn’t Juan Williams and his (ideological) kind be proud that Tim Scott is providing a black man’s “diversity” of thought and opinion to the Republican Party? If Scott truly represents African-Americans as Juan seems to insist (since liberals swear that all black people think the same), then wouldn’t having a senator from an old south state in the Party of Lincoln be considered a beneficial thing? If Scott did switch parties in a spontaneous burst of emotion, he’d most likely be recalled and voted out of Congress.
There’d be one less black voice in the senate then. Lord knows, there aren’t that many minorities in the upper chamber on the Democrat side either, unless you count Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren as a Native American.
Williams’ identity politics “blacks should be Democrats only” argument doesn’t hold water. Turn it on its head and here’s thinking that liberals wouldn’t like what it entails. For example, Juan writes that 90 percent of Republicans are white, so if Tim Scott should switch factions because of skin color, shouldn’t Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and “Chucky” Schumer do the same and march into the GOP camp because they’re all pale as ghosts? Don’t all white people believe the same things too?
Oh yes, only white Republicans are racists. Liberal Democrat whites are liberators.
As long as we’re only acknowledging race, here, shouldn’t it follow that white Democrats are letting down their skin-toned brethren by failing to get behind election integrity measures like Voter ID and various other ballot security provisions? Democrats insist that requiring valid identification disproportionately discriminates against minorities, so it logically dictates that to them, white people are more adept at getting a driver’s license or other state issued card.
And if there is “systemic racism” as Democrats swear is rampant everywhere, wouldn’t white Democrat leaders in blue states and cities be responsible for allowing it to sustain and grow? Here in Virginia, everyone knows that our liberal governor, Ralph Northam, was photographed in black face -- or anonymously wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood -- so he should be a Republican in Williams’s twisted-up, backwards world. So, what’s with all of Northam’s big government policies and ridiculous mask mandates, Juan?
Judging by the reactions of Williams and other liberals (white or otherwise), Democrats intend to make so-called police “reform” one of their top issues in the coming months and years as part of their “racial justice” agenda. By doing so, they’re all but guaranteeing that policing densely populated urban centers will continue its downward slide. Sooner or later, anarchy will reign.
Last summer it was the radicals’ repeated calls to “defund” police departments and transfer the money to social programs. Now it seems they’ve got a more sinister objective in mind, namely to make individual police officers liable for abuse or excessive force accusations. Anyone with a brain recognizes this will result in disastrous effects for citizens of crime riddled areas.
Police officers are already quitting or retiring in droves as it is. What service-minded individual would risk being held legally liable for on-the-job infractions? Not only would this policy foster a new and lucrative practice area for greedy attorneys, it would clog an already overburdened court case docket with waves of fresh and mostly frivolous claims from criminals and perpetrators who felt as though they were roughly handled or that a policeman spoke inappropriately to them and caused emotional distress. Why not add punitive damages to the mix, too?
Ambitious lawyers would forum shop to increase the likelihood of impaneling an anti-police jury as well as for judges who have track records of ruling in favor of the plaintiff’s bar. “Expert” witnesses would come from nowhere and claim to be able to tell the difference between standard procedure and civilly actionable excessive force. It wouldn’t be that hard to find someone willing to testify that police abuse is rampant, and rogue cops are the rule, not the exception. It would tear away the incentives to serve as a policeman.
On the other hand, Senator Tim Scott’s police reform bill -- which was killed by a Democrat filibuster because they couldn’t risk having the issue solved by a black Republican, could they? -- would’ve allowed claimants to sue police departments and municipalities in extreme cases, but protect the officers from being targeted personally.
If Democrats were to get their way on this, the logic extends indefinitely in the wrong direction, opening up a Pandora’s Box of possibilities for liberals to target others for trumped up charges in addition. How far? Could personal injury attorneys file suit against a gun manufacturer’s workforce if the crime weapon could be traced to a certain person? How about an auto worker who was deemed responsible for a defective car? Or a fast-food joint employee who made sandwiches that ended up making people sick?
It's obvious that Williams and other Democrats who don’t understand why Tim Scott is a Republican didn’t listen to Scott’s speech. Scott explained how he came to understand hard work and free enterprise by being given a chance by a small business owner to learn discipline and self-respect -- and earn his own way instead of being dependent on government. If Scott were to cross over to the proverbial “dark side” and switch parties now, it would be the equivalent of a successful bullying campaign bent on compelling political suicide.
Liberals called Scott “Uncle Tim” and other vile names because he dared disagree with the “If you even think of voting for Donald Trump, you ain’t black” mentality of Joe Biden and his party thought-shamers. Becoming a Democrat would go against just about everything the senator purports to believe in, and place race at the center of his existence.
Under those circumstances, he’d be nuts to switch. Take that, Juan.
Sen. Tim Scott
Democrats
Tim Scott speech
Twitter
Facebook
Free Speech
Systemic Racism
Enterprise Zones