A Delightfully Authoritarian Blog from the Huffington Post
Before I begin, let me just start by saying that I am a self-described liberal. So when I see something like http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/shelley-garland/could-it-be-time-to-deny-white-men-the-franchise_a_22036640/ posted by a supposedly liberal new site, it merits a response.
I don’t think it’s a stretch by any means to say that this is not a liberal position. Instead, this is the very antithesis of liberalism. I don’t typically join those who bemoan political correctness, simply because I think there is something to be said for being sensitive to the grievances of others. With that said, whenever a grave disillusionment with the world leads to an argument for less civil liberties, such a position must be refuted and zealously fought.
Shelley Garland claims to want to strengthen the progressive cause, but her means cannot justify that end. Moreover, the argument that the descendants of those who committed a crime are somehow accountable for said crime is absurd. The white men of today had no hand in slavery or colonialism. This sort of thinking is toxic and is not wholly dissimilar from a similar line of reasoning used by the Nazis, where Germans blamed Jews for the economic woes of Germany after World War I.
Despite her alarming proposal, I feel Ms. Garland has good intentions. The problem is that this type of rhetoric does not promote a progressive agenda. It blocks such an agenda by tainting it with authoriarian propositions.