THREADS Online #10
If you think that our democracy is diminished because of a two party system, what if I were to tell you that we are only really operating under a one party system? That one party system is a system of white supremacy. The one party system exists because both the Republican Party and The Democratic Party work together in furthering the agenda of white supremacy. One works from the left and the other just works from the right. Before we dive into how both of these parties support and promote the ideas of white supremacy, lets take a look at how racism actually works.
Remember the first blog where we discussed that there were some some irrefutable facts that one had to concede before they could engage in any meaningful discussion regarding racism. Well this is where that comes into play. We talked about whether or not your family were slave owners, as Whites you have benefited from a system that has greatly enhanced your chances of success by greatly diminishing the chance of success of other ethnic groups. We also spoke about how racism was not about flag waving and name calling but rather it was a very complex system whereas one group controls the systems necessary for the oppressed group to make any substantive advancement within that system. Since your reading this far it's fair to say you have accepted that point.
This system that I speak of is the necessary building blocks for racism to exist. Racism cannot exist without control of these systems. Don't get me wrong racial discrimination, racial bias, profiling and many other destructive and hurtful race oriented discriminatory practices are prevalent and very destructive but alone they cannot come close to causing the widespread destruction created by systemic racism. The control of the systems and the oppressed need for the oppressor to relinquish controls of the system in order to make any meaningful gains is what makes the institution of racism so destructive and makes the White Supremacy Political Party so much more powerful then the Republican or Democratic party.
The first system controlled by the White Supremacy Party is our government. Our government is made up of three separate but equal branches. The Legislative branch made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate is responsible for Presidential oversight and making laws. The Judicial branch is the Supreme Court and their primary function is to interpret the law. Then there is the Executive Branch consisting of the Office of the President with the responsibility of enforcing the law. This very basic understanding of our government enables us to begin to understand how the White Supremacy Political Party is at work as grand puppeteer within our most prized system.
The legislative branch of our government is made up of our House of Representatives and The United States Senate. While one could argue that the 12 percent of black congress represents a fair share of the 13 percent of the black population, it should be noted that almost 70 percent of the senate is white and knowingly or unknowingly that majority is hard at work promoting the ideas of white supremacy. Any idea that threatens the system of white supremacy has to walk the gauntlet of the halls of the House of Representatives and likely will never make it out of our most diverse branch of government and even if it does will almost surely be stricken down at the Senate level. To illustrate this lets take a look at probably the most effective way to keep a system of white supremacy flourishing.
Voter Suppression is probably the most important tool in keeping a system of white supremacy both simultaneously hidden and robust. Anyone that knows anything about racism will undoubtedly rank this in their top 3. Our elected officials surely know this also. However, to combat this issue it takes a united effort from congress. Remember White Supremacy Party. Well this is how it works in our government.
A bill would have to be introduced at the House of Representatives level. This house would have to be a Democratic controlled house by the way. Due to the fact that any anti voter suppression legislation would never receive widespread Republican support due to the fact that voter suppression impacts minority voters more then any other group and Republicans historically receive a dismal percentage of minority votes. So low voter turnout will favor Republican candidates. For this legislation to receive any bipartisan support it would require Republican candidates to vote for whats best for our democracy rather than whats best for their re-election. Even with a democratic control the bill most likely will have to pass democratic representatives that represent and have to navigate a thin democratic majority in their district. So any legislation that targets anti voter suppression will have to originate with a major democratic majority in the house.
Since the same rules that exist in the house would have to be co-signed by the Senate this creates a second obstacle, except in the Senate the margins are even likely to be even more razor thin. More deals and amendments would have to get made and likely losing members of the progressive wing of the democratic party. Even if it were to survive this gauntlet it still requires a Democrat to occupy the oval office (Executive Branch) to have any chance of survival. Because a veto override is almost impossible.
Unfortunately, even if a bill should be successful in navigating the difficult gauntlet of the legislative and executive branch, the journey is unlikely to end there. The final hurdle a law like this would likely encounter would probably come in the form of a state challenging the constitutionality of it. The challenge would likely come in the form of states having the right to set up and run their own elections. A point well taken unless it somehow tramples on others civil rights.
The White Supremacy Party is alive and thriving in politics today. Rooting it out and suppressing it will be impossible as long as we fail to see it and when we do, paint it with the deep red paint brush that it deserves. As a country we have given the party the perfect cover. We allow it to hide in plain site. We have allowed the label of racist to become so demonized that most well meaning people will never confront their own racist beliefs thus making it impossible to ever confront a system of institutions constructed for the sole purpose of preserving White Supremacy.