Conservatives and Race

I and my fellow conservatives have experience at being labeled "racists, bigots, homophobes, etc..." However, I would like to present an argument that if you want to have a post-racial discussion of the issues, then find a True Conservative. Because we are the ones that see only issues and ideas, consider only effort and passion, not gender, pigment in the skin, cultural heritage, or religion. True Conservatives focus on the issues, not the speaker. We will listen to all constructive ideas.

During my almost 25 years in the auto industry I have worked for and with people from all races, genders, and a large percentage of industrial cultures of the world. One day while walking down the main corridor at our engineering center, I encountered people speaking no fewer than five different languages. During my three years while on assignment in Mexico, I learned a lot about seeing America through the eyes of another culture. In addition to my work, my wife and I adopted our children from her father's homeland of Russia. Spending only ten days in country taught me so much about the passion that people have towards children and the dangers of a socialist state. I have first hand knowledge that there are indeed, good people everywhere you go.

True Conservatives, when working on a solution to an issue do not care where the ideas and contributions come from. We care only about completing the mission at hand. We will work with anyone that demonstrates passion, integrity, and energy to solve a problem.

We do not engage in identity politics, we don't talk in a local drawl when we go down south, we don't pander to a particular group. We don't think that it is un-American to enforce our immigration laws. We only want to move the solution set forward to completion and help all Americans have a better chance at the American Dream.

True Conservatives do not appreciate the labels of "Afro-American, Hispanic-American, and the like. We prefer the terms of "Americans of (insert cultural name here) descent. We must recognize that we are in this great experiment together, and that we sink or swim together.

We don't care that not every sports team or career classification has the "politically correct" proportion of each ethnic group. We care only about passion, integrity, and contribution. If your child was sick or injured, would you care about the diversity of the medical team? Hopefully you would only care about their competence and experience.

At the same time, we recognize that there have been injustices in the past. Slavery, segregation, and the Jim Crow laws that were part of the culture of America until the 1960s were dark stains on our nation's history. But in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, we have accepted the challenge to look into a person's heart and soul when we make judgments, not merely at their pigment level, which rest room they use, or how they pray. We do this to honor those that paid the price of the struggle many decades ago and we teach our children the same. True Conservatives, and others, believe that we have come a long way over the last 50+/- years.

Therefore, if you want to discuss the issues in a post-racial environment, find a true Conservative.