Every now and then during a leftist protest march or on a bumper sticker I would see an “End Racism” sign.  There would be a reflexive eye roll at this platitude as I knew there would always be some form of racism somewhere, because a small number of people will see skin color instead of character.

Now I have never been called a racist directly, but certainly indirectly by the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as they pursued their race extorting careers.  A mandatory University of Delaware program even required residence hall students to acknowledge that “all whites are racist”.  These types of things used to make me bristle internally.  It was something I just could not abide, these broad brush paintings.  So I decided to get the definition and here it is per the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

1) a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capabilities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of particular race;

2) racial prejudice or discrimination

As time went by I realized, of course, that those definitions weren’t adequate.  Racism or racist was the charge if you disagreed with a particular liberal policy and they were on the wrong side of the facts.  I would no longer bristle at the racism charge anymore, it actually became laughable.  “You disagree with me, you must be a racist”, they would say.  Oh, ok, good one.  So I had to come up with a new definition:

3) An attempt to cut off reasoned or philosophical debate, i.e. SHUT UP.

But even this definition soon went by the wayside.  That is because “racism” started to be thrown around at the drop of a hat.  Use your free speech rights at a tea party? Racist.  Arrest an unruly, wealthy, tenured black professor at one of the most prestigious universities in the U.S., in a city that has a black mayor, in a state that has a black governor, in a country that has a black president? It must be Racism.  Petition your government for redress of grievances? Racist.  Your polls are dropping a Governor of New York?  Racism.  Federalist? Racist.  Watch Fox News? Racist.  Disagree with the President? Racism.  Maureen Dowd hears voices in her head what she thought Rep. Wilson really wanted to say? Racist.  Forget to put the pepper on the table? Racism.  And the coup-de-grace: What Newsweek says of six-month old white babies who cannot yet speak? Yep, dirty litte racists.

All of the above and many more daily racism charges have taken all meaning from the word, it is not even laughable anymore, like a joke you’ve heard a thousand times before.  Therefore, a new definition:

4)  Nothing, meaningless

This over-used word, which once had seriousness, which once called out the bad character of discriminatory actions, has been rendered useless.  So I was wrong, the placard or bumper sticker can now read: “End Racism: Mission Accomplished”.  Racism now means nothing.

So Obama and Geitner come out and say we need to get credit to small businesses going again, so to do so we are going to create a new regulatory reporting requirement for banks to tell us how much they are lending to small businesses.  Unsaid and implicit in this new regulation is “we will punish you if you don’t do what we say”.

Well, that little event on economic recovery caused the Dow to shoot up down from a positive 170 to a negative 7.

Here’s an idea.  How bout we do nothin’.  Oops, sorry that wouldn’t fit the we have to do something liberal mantra.

Why there is nothing to worry about at all. In fact, according to the Daily News Washington Bureau we have the following:

- President Obama said Thursday the nation’s economic woes are not as dire as they seem and said his economic policies will get the country back on track.

“I don’t think things are ever as good as they say, or ever as bad as they say,” Obama told CEOs at a meeting of the Business Roundtable in Washington.

Imagine the shock and surprise to those of us who thought the country was in an historic deepening economic crisis unlike we have ever seen and we better not use rose colored glasses because our American dream is being denied. Well now, where just would we get such and idea and who is the “they” he is referring to? Hmmm…. Here is the same Barack Obama:

It has become increasingly clear in recent months that we are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions. 11/26/08

“I know these are difficult times. I don’t think anybody here is viewing the situation through rose-colored glasses.” – Dec. 2, 2008, to the National Governors Association in Philadelphia.

“We start 2009 in the midst of a crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime, a crisis that has only deepened over the last few weeks.” – Jan. 8, in a speech at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

“There are American dreams that are being deferred and that are being denied because of the current economic climate. There is a devastating economic crisis that will become more and more difficult to contain with time.” – Jan. 9, at a news conference.

Now what in the world could have made him go from historic crisis to things aren’t so bad. Maybe this quote is a hint:

We have a once in a generation chance to act boldly, to turn adversity into opportunity, and use this crisis as a chance to transform our economy for the 21st century.”
2/12/2009

Give yourself a star if you guessed correctly, it just so happens there was a stimulus bill in Congress of, yes, HISTORIC proportions, and it was the Democrats’ chance to fund this monstrosity of a slush fund.

But now, with very little of the stimulus bill being funded, things just aren’t that bad. After giving CitiBank a $45 Billion bailout, they are suddenly sitting cash flush. And what about GM, which we were recently told by their accountants couldn’t be a viable business and wouldn’t survive past March without many more billions? Curiously, they all of a sudden don’t need more money. What? Did the government fund the union pension fund and take that off of GM’s books? Bank of America and AIG are all of sudden getting better also. Like I said, curious. But no matter, all is well, and since it isn’t as bad as they say, there is no need for further funding of that pesky little stimulus bill, right, Mr. President? Er…Hello?