Issue 130 - March 17 2005


America has no shortage of sell outs and traitors. We are awash in good-for-nothing sell out colored preachers. Traitorous Democrats in Congress help corporations enslave us through an atrocious bankruptcy bill. The media sell us out every day when they choose to tell us all about the latest celebrity divorce but ignore the Bush meltdown in the international community or the death toll in Iraq.

The latest stab in the back outrage is the growing number of black ministers who make a political and financial calculation to ally themselves with this most corrupt and unrighteous administration. Their cynicism and greed are so blatantly obvious that they come off as the unscrupulous always do, like lunatics making bizarre pronouncements that have no basis in reality.

"Historically when societies have gone off kilter, there has been rampant same-sex marriage," claims Bishop Harry R. Jackson of College Park, Maryland. I don’t know what history books the good Bishop is reading, but I don’t know of any society that had same sex marriage, rampant or otherwise.

It is interesting that these same preachers claim to curry favor with Bush because of their opposition to the gay rights movement but are conspicuously silent when the White House sets up a former gay prostitute to pose as a White House reporter. The truth is awful and clear. These ministers are rank opportunists. They are pigs feeding at the faith based initiative trough and they are every bit as bad as the gang they have decided to do business with.

These ministers claim to be concerned about high rates of out of wedlock birth and low rates of marriage in the black community. Yet they refuse to touch the issues that cause these trends to take place. Do they talk about the high rates of unemployment and incarceration that are destroying black family life? They do not. If they did they would actually have to do some heavy lifting, spiritually and politically.

These Bush loving preachers are useless to black people. They don’t serve a spiritual need and their actions are in direct opposition to the political will of the vast majority of black Americans. The way to deal with them is simple. Their congregations must leave their churches en masse and tell them why as they run out the door and down the church steps.

Traitorous politicians are harder to deal with. Rumors abound that Democrats, perhaps even former vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman, will find a compromise that allows Mr. Bush to succeed in privatizing part of Social Security. Senator Lieberman was Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 presidential election, a role that should make him an honored elder statesman. Sadly however, Lieberman is the Democratic point man in the effort to do away with Social Security. Even Clintonite, DLC triangulators like Paul Begala have felt emboldened to call Joe out on the street to settle things mano a mano. “Look,” said Begala, “any Democrat who rescues Mr. Bush's assault on Social Security ought to be defeated in a primary and allowed to begin their own retirement early."

As satisfying as it may be to imagine Lieberman being run out of town on a rail, it is too early for celebration. Democratic movers and shakers have decided that the only good Senate candidate is an anti-abortion candidate. Black Democrats aren’t the only part of the base who now get the cold shoulder.

Republicans have the majority and can get away with whatever they like. They don’t need Democratic help but manage to get it anyway. Eighteen Democrats voted in support of the bankruptcy bill that will make it nearly impossible for working people to get debt forgiveness but make it easier for the rich to keep their assets and successfully have their debts erased.

The Begalas of the Democratic party should not be given any credit for their belated righteousness. He and his mentor Bill Clinton made a decision to fight for school uniforms and welfare so-called reform but did little to keep the right wing at bay.

The right wing are master propagandists. Despite public opposition they may yet prevail in the destruction of Social Security. While they hone their skill at deception and fear mongering, Democratic Senators like Lieberman make their jobs easier.

If Democrats don’t make good on their threats to unload Lieberman and his ilk there won’t be a party worth saving. The defeats of 2000, 2002 and 2004 should have been enough reason to galvanize anyone. If the continued defeats didn’t energize them, then the Bush efforts to end Social Security, or take away our rights to sue ought to move them to action.

Black preachers and others are scratching at the Republican door in large part because they are the only political game in town. The Democrats are out and show no sign of getting back in any time soon. The politically crafty and opportunistic won’t give them the time of day.

There is an old song called “What does it take?” The song is about love but the question is valid politically. What will it take to get the Democrats to act? Will we all have to work at Wal-Mart, before our jobs are out sourced, to pay the medical bills caused by an injury brought about by product liability that is now more difficult to be compensated for because tort reform makes a lawsuit impossible? It may not be hyperbole and we may still be asking the same question. What does it take?

Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in . Ms. Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City. She can be reached via e-Mail at margaret.kimberley-AT-blackcommentator.com. You can read more of Ms. Kimberley's writings at freedomrider.blogspot.com/