ABSOLUTELY!

not when it's personal and affecting my book sales

If you're implying that those who identify more with republicans than democrats must also have kkk leanings then you're out of your mind, Maph. (and is it just me, or does this guy's speech sound like something a black leader might have said during the civil rights movement, only replacing the word "white" with "black". ...."non violent resolution" "solidarity".... ?) I'm so sick of the race debate (and race baiting) I could puke. It's a total waste of time. We're beyond it....but too many want to dig up the past and relive it every chance they get. Counter productive and crazy...and it does nothing to further the discussions that NEED to be had..... (which of course is the whole reason behind dredging it up constantly).

More like default. There is nothing truer than history is written by the victors.

I caught it and she was given a point-I should have mentioned it. I was fixated on trolls

Lol. The problem with the Wiki entry for the entire section on Byrd and his involvement with the KKK, (and his later disassociation with the group), is all the information for the entry was gathered from the book Byrd wrote himself in the late 90’s. Check the cites. There were a couple other articles cited but the dates of those articles were from 2002. Not exactly historically extracted or from an unbiased source.

Thanks for the clarification. I had taken the first part of your email to be directed to me, and the last part (which explicitly named Maph) to be a reply to him.

We be good.

Jan, verbally passing as darker than she is

Hi Jan, no issues from me friend. It seems that I was writing a response to one of Maph's many misguided posts, but lined it up with your post - sorry about that. We be good as a friend would say (he being able to lay claim to black heritage, because he was, well, black). :D

Stargeezer - I expressed myself poorly, apparently. When there is some high-profile atrocity committed, the next thing you expect is for an extremest group to 'take credit' for the death and destruction. My point is that an exterior agency is 'labeling' a particular incident as 'conservative', without corroboration of either the perpetrator or the party. Perhaps I missed it in the news, but I have not noticed the Republican party crowing about "Republican gunman takes out 7 kindergarteners". And many of the people who commit these crimes do not themselves claim association with the 'Conservative' party. (Quite the opposite, per the article and other comments on this list.)

So, what I think needs attention is the process by which the labeling (both conservative and liberal) takes place. IF an organization claims affiliation with a deed AND the perpetrators of that deed claim association with that organization THEN one can label the deed as being sorted into the pile of things that were 'done by that organization'. The only such labels that I am aware of have been by Islamic extremists. All of the other deeds should be sorted into a slot that I will call "Trash" (because that is the best term I can come up with).

Therefore my Venn diagram is pleasantly simplified because the deeds done are not co-labeled by any of the groups to which I feel I relate.

Jan

It should also be duly noted that up until the early 1900's, there were no corporate or personal income taxes - tax revenues were generated based on international trade via tariffs, so there was no fear of political debate anywhere prior to that. I look back at the laws that allowed taxes on income as a huge step forward in the ability of the government to bypass the First Amendment through legal coercion for that reason.

Think about it: if churches suddenly become taxable entities, how many of them would cease to exist overnight? I'd wager nearly all of them, which is what makes the IRS targeting scandal one of the most pernicious and threatening gestures the Federal Government could possibly make. Where else are basic community policy decisions regarding personal rights and liberties taught than in Sunday School? Public education - which is already controlled by government interests. What you are doing is legislating against a competitor for the very ideas and reasoning of your populace!

What an utterly chilling thought.

I agree that the test - especially if administered by the Feds - would be a bad idea. The suggestion was a tongue-in-cheek jab at the vast majority of Americans who have no idea the privileges they enjoy here and are therefore ignorant of the threats to those privileges.

A group can CLAIM any linage it desires, but that does not make the chosen ancestors theirs. I can CLAIM to be a heir to Howard Hughes, but I've never received one penny of that vast inheritance. I live in Illinois and perhaps by virtue of location I may share a genetic inheritance with Abraham Lincoln, but like the Hughes wealth I don't share in the political wealth of our parties great founding leader. My great grand parents from all sides found their way to our great country AFTER the death of Lincoln. In fact, my claim to being a member of the Republican Party is the one thing I can truly lay claim to. I am a registered Republican recognized by our local election office.

So what can the KKK truly claim to be? A Racist controlled enforcement arm of the democratic party. The thugs with the torches and clubs who burnt and beat black people by the orders of men like Byrd and him fellows. He and men who thought like him curly abused a entire class of people who shared one characteristic - they were black.

Maph - for some reason you seem to have succumbed to the leftist propaganda that claims that Dems were not ever a part of the KKK. You have been fooled.

I agree. I know this "solution" is worse than the problem, but I often think there should be a test to vote.

Point for "...lost in the weeds sprouted by your opponents."

Well, that's kind of what our enemies fully expect of us. Who was it said that the cost of freedom is eternal vigilance? Either face and accept your personal responsibilities, or give up any pretense of believing in freedom and a life of the mind.

It's really a simple matter of determining your first principles and applying those principles to any situation you find yourself in or aware of. If you don't put the work into understanding fully, your basic principles, then you often become lost in the weeds sprouted by your opponents.

Then it's unreasonable for YOU to expect to retain freedom. I don't think the founding fathers figured only SOME people should be diligent and carry the rest who are just too busy....or lazy....or stupid.