**Posted by Phineas
You may have heard on the news yesterday that John Burton, Chairman of the California Democratic Party, former President Pro Tem of the State Senate, and general potty-mouthed jackass got himself in a bit of trouble for saying Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan engaged in the “Big Lie” (1) and compared him to Joseph Goebbels [1], Hitler’s top propagandist. For his sin, John was sent home from the Democratic convention suddenly remembered he had a dental appointment [2].
Okay, anyone who follows California politics knows what Burton is like and just shook their head and moved on. But then the Democratic Party had to put this Big Lie [3] on their web site:
For more than 200 years, our party has led the fight for civil rights…
And also [4]:
Democrats have a long and proud history of defending Civil Rights and expanding opportunity for all Americans.
As Jeffrey Lord put it at The American Spectator [5]:
The DNC website in both its history and issues sections is literally wiped clean of any reference that this is the party that spent platform after platform after platform building a culture of racism.
Let’s expand on this, shall we? The Democratic Party has a long and dirty history [6] when it comes to race. As I wrote before, in response to Democratic Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz’s mudslinging [7] about Republicans:
Let me give you a little history lesson about your own party, Deb:
- Q. Which party defended slavery? A. The Democratic Party.
- Q. Which party opposed slavery? A. The Republican Party.
- Q. Between 1875 and 1964, which party passed every major civil rights bill until the 1964 act? A. The Republicans.
- Q. Which party created and defended Jim Crow for over 90 years? A. The Democrats.
- Q. Which party fought every anti-lynching law introduced between the Civil War and 1964? A. The Democrats.
- Q. Which party introduced segregation into the federal government? A. The Democrats, under Wilson.
And let’s not forget that the KKK was founded during Reconstruction as the terrorist arm of the Democratic Party [8], their mission being to deny civil rights to Blacks and Republicans in the South. Nor should we forget that New Deal-era legislation, passed by overwhelmingly Democratic congresses and signed by a revered Democratic president, were a disaster for Blacks [9], including allowing labor unions to discriminate against Blacks. The 1964 Civil Rights Act passed only because a proportionally larger number of Senate Republicans voted for it than Democrats.
Oh, and need I mention that the Trail of Tears [10] was a Democrat civil rights “achievement?” That was less than 200 years ago. And how about Japanese internment [11]? Why, that’s still within living memory.
This is the Big Lie, as defined by one of its experts [12]:
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” (2)
And the claim that the party has a long and proud history of defending and expanding civil rights is a Big Lie, one they tell over and over again to avoid their shameful past and fool minority voters into believing their interests must lie with the Democrats, because “they always cared.”
Let me be clear (to quote our president): I am not saying modern-day Democrats bear any responsibility for their party’s vile past. Many of them are ignorant of it. Many would be appalled by it, if the truth hadn’t be glossed over by liberal historians. But, if they’re going to wear the mantle of “Democrat” and proudly claim a history of support for civil rights since 1964, then they have to own and acknowledge everything that went before.
And every time they lie and try to pretend that past doesn’t exist, honest, educated people have to call them on it.
Anything less is to acquiesce in the Big Lie.
Via Bryan Preston [13], who has more examples.
Footnotes:
1) Something I’ve accused the Democrats of engaging in before [14].
2) Hey, if Burton can do it… Except I would never say, in effect, “Democrats are Nazis.” But when they use the same totalitarian tactics, it’s fair to criticize them for it.
(Crossposted at Public Secrets [15])