Why I Hate The 'All Politicians Are The Same' Meme

I posted a comment to my Facebook page yesterday that stated 'the bigots I was most concerned about are ones who have the power to write legislation.' 

One of the peeps who responded to that comment said something that irritates the hell out of me when I hear it along the lines of the 'All politicians are the same' meme.

It has other derivatives, such as 'all politicians are corrupt', 'there's no difference between the two parties', 'they work for the same corporate masters', et cetera.  

And all of those memes are incorrect.

I hear that meme far too frequently from predominately white people, because as any non-white American can tell you, there's a Grand Canyon sized chasm of difference between Democrats and Republicans, and anyone parroting the above memes will get the side eye from me and any other non-white person.  . 

I hate those memes for multiple reasons.   Not only are they inaccurate, they are one of the things wrong with American politics that feeds into the cynicism that breeds low voter turnout and people not participating.

And that makes the corporate interests and the conservative movement very happy, because they can only win elections when the turnout is under 50% of the electorate.

And far from being beholden to corporate interests as the lie goes, as I have seen with my own eyes on lobby trips to Washington DC, Austin, Frankfort, et cetera, politicians at all levels pay far more attention to their constituents than corporate interests. 

Can't tell you how many times I've observed in my 16 years of activism and lobbying the various lvels of government that a city councilmember, representative, congressmember or senator has kept a corporate lobbyist waiting outside his office as I and other constituents are given extra time to discuss our concerns and problems. 

I have been admitted into an office without an appointment or allowed in before our scheduled appointment started and the only thing I've done is voted for them.   I have had situations in which I have talked with legislators as they were hustling to get to the chambers to vote, or had a one on one chat with me after their council meeting or school board meeting concluded. 
  
Broad brush disparaging all politicians instead of the handful of people guilty of the criminal and nekulturny behavior that tarnishes their offices can have the effect of discouraging quality candidates who have a genuine desire to serve their fellow citizens from running.  

Pushing the 'all politicians are the same meme' can also poison the dreams of our liberal-progressive youth who are contemplating running for office someday.

The facts are that all politicians are not the same.   Just as in society, they come in all shapes, sizes, ethnic backgrounds and political beliefs.   Would be nice if we could add some trans politicians to the mix at all levels of government, but that's coming sooner rather than later. 

We also are quite aware of the fact we have far too many conservafools chomping at the bit to run for offices they clearly aren't qualified for so they can unleash their 'proven conservative leadership' on the rest of us who don't want it.

  
That pushing of the 'all politicians are the same' lie has opened the door to the Louie Gohmerts and others of his ilk who seem to think saying the most stupid, bigoted and outrageous stuff to their base voters combined with passing racist and punitive legislation aimed at the most marginalized people in our society is the way to go. 

So check yourself the next time you get ready to part your lips and say 'all politicians are the same'.  Put your lips in neutral and think about it before spouting that comment. 

The overwhelming evidence is that they aren't.       

Tired of The 'Africans Sold Your Ancestors Into Slavery' Meme

One of the memes I'm really sick of hearing is the one making the rounds from conservative whites trying to deflect their well documented involvement in the massive human rights crime known as the Atlantic Slave Trade is this meme that 'Africans sold your ancestors into slavery'.

By using that meme, they are trying to absolve themselves of the moral taint of the Atlantic Slave Trade or Maafa, shift some of that burden onto continental Africans as well, try to paint them as equally culpable and obfuscate the fact that they owe the descendant of African slaves reparations for 246 years of unpaid labor..

Um no.  Dr. Kwabena Akurang-Perry, author of the book Ending the Slavery Blame, you have the electronic floor..

"The viewpoint that “Africans” enslaved “Africans” is not only problematic, if not troubling. The deployment of “African” in African history tends to coalesce into obscurantist constructions of identities that allow scholars, for instance, to subtly call into question the humanity of “all” Africans. Whenever Asante rulers sold non-Asantes into slavery, they did not construct it in terms of Africans selling fellow Africans.

They saw the victims for what they were, for instance, as Akuapems, without categorizing them as fellow Africans. Equally, when Christian Scandinavians and Russians sold war captives to the Islamic people of the Abbasid Empire, they didn’t think that they were placing fellow Europeans into slavery. This lazy categorizing homogenizes Africans and has become a part of the methodology of African history; not surprisingly, the Western media’s cottage industry on Africa has tapped into it to frame Africans in inchoate generalities allowing the media to describe local crisis in one African state as “African” problem

Dr. Akurang-Parry is right.. It is lazy categorizing and flies in the face of the facts.    Africans did not set up banks in England such as Barclay's and the Bank of Scotland that made their money off the Atlantic Slave Trade.  Lloyd's of London made profits off insuring slave voyages.  The American shipbuilding industry centered in New England got its start by building slave ships    And it damned sure wasn't Africans operating and sailing those ships across the Atlantic during the brutal Middle Passage.

The doctrine of racism arose to justify the slave trade and it still has deleterious effects on my people. .  As Professor Maulana Karenga stated about it in the Ethics of Reparations :

The morally monstrous destruction of human possibility involved redefining African humanity to the world, poisoning past, present and future relations with others who only know us through this stereotyping and thus damaging the truly human relations among peoples.

So yeah, as you conservafools like to say, it's time for y'all to take personal ownership and responsibility for what your ancestors did that you still reap the benefits from in present day society.did.