Skin Color Identifications and the Washington Redskins

A federal judge has ruled that the Washington Redskins cannot be allowed trademark protections for the name Redskins because that name is offensive to some native Americans of ancient stock and apparently to many Socialist Elitists.  This ruling was not impeded by the fact that one of the states of the union, Oklahoma, has a name meaning Home of the Red People, which was given to it by native Americans.

It is somewhat offensive by means of the omission of far more essential and important characteristics whenever anyone is identified by the color of their skin.  Despite this, federal government forms, forms for government contractors, many forms for sub-contractors of government contractors, and many forms of local governments all require that individuals be identified as black, Hispanic, white, Asian, or some other descriptors of groups indicating ethnic ancestry.  The black and the white descriptors are clearly both based on some crude approximation of skin color, just as redskins is.  On these federal forms, Reds are allowed to check a box with the somewhat more dignified identifier of Native American.  Asians are not forced to check a box that says Slanty-Eyed or Yellows.

It is not any of the government's business what my skin color is.  No law and no government action should ever be conditioned on the color of anyone's skin or on their ancestry.  There should be a complete separation of state and skin color.

What is more, I am not white.  I am too healthy to be white and I am not a ghost.  So stop offending me by calling me white.  If you cannot think of any way to describe me but as white, then have the common decency to say nothing at all about me.  That would be a proper admission that you were either not interested in me or you knew nothing about me.  It is your right to know nothing about me and it is your right to be uninterested in me.  I am fine with that.  But do not call me names implying I am an insubstantial ghost.

Now, back to the Washington Redskins.  I am fine with this judge's ruling provided it is based on a general principle that government will not identify any individual by their skin color or some general approximation to it.  Unfortunately, our governments and the Socialist Elitists who mostly control them do not recognize moral and political principles in most cases.  They do not feel compelled to act consistently upon a rational and coherent moral and political code of principles.  This case on the trademark protections of the Washington Redskins name is a case in point.  Until and unless the government treats this issue as a general moral and political matter of principle, I will continue calling the Washington Redskins, the Washington Redskins and Oklahoma, Oklahoma.

Wall Street Journal Says Below Average White Rural Areas Are Becoming More Republican

The Friday Wall Street Journal had a front page story in which it said that the "GOP Tightens Its Grip on White Working Class."  It says that it tracks the House seats held by each party in House districts dominated by white, working-class voters.  In 1993, the Democrats held 36 such districts and the Republicans held 35.  By 2013, this division of such districts had changed drastically, with the Republicans holding 59 white, working-class districts and the Democrats holding only 11.

The article has the usual large number of stories about individuals and what they think and how their voting may have changed or not.  Among the stories it tells are those of people from Aitkin, Minnesota in the 8th Congressional District of Minnesota.  Aitkin is the county seat of rural Aitkin County, with a population of 2,597 people.  It is about 50 miles west southwest of Duluth, Minnesota.  The 8th Congressional District is almost 93% white.  We are told by the Wall Street Journal that the median household income is $49,860, compared to the national median of $53,000.  We are told that only a bit more than 22% of the people in the district have a Bachelor's degree or higher, compared to a national median of 28.5%.  So, we are supposed to conclude that these people are not quite as well-educated as they ought to be and not quite as successful as the average American.  So, maybe this is why they are becoming Republicans in larger numbers.

Let us consider the measure of their economic success given as their income.  Democrats obsess about materialistic measures such as comparative incomes.  But in fact, the people of Aitkin, Minnesota are a bit too sly for the median American.  There is a pretty good reason to believe the Wall Street Journal is underestimating them, both their income and their ability to recognize a perfectly fine way of living.

The median household income of $53,000 mentioned is that earned by households with a mean cost of living index of 100.  The good people of Aitkin, Minnesota have a local cost of living of 92.  Do the math,

$49,860 / 0.92 = $54,196 > $53,000.

So, it may not be the case that everyone in Aitkin, Minnesota is above average, but it is the case that their median income allows them to live a bit better than the median income in America allows the average American household.

So, being such sly folks, they are coming to realize that the Republican Party is better than the Democrat Party.  The story is that Millennials and Hispanics are beginning to learn the same lesson.  Mostly, those who are coming awake are coming to an increasing understanding that being productive is critical and that far too many people are making welfare a way of life.  The people called the white working class are learning this in larger numbers, but young people now a few years separated from the Progressive Elitist indoctrination of years of Progressive Elitist education and unable to find jobs at all or jobs anything like what they thought they would have are beginning to learn this as well.  Some are actually seeing that government actions have prevented any reasonable economic recovery.  More and more Hispanic Americans are at the least disgusted with the failed promises of the Democrats and in some cases are coming to resent others living off of their hard work also.

While some signs of understanding are beginning to show up, there is a long way to go.  A Wall Street Journal/ NBC News poll in June found out that 53% of white people said that the government was doing too much to meet the needs of people and more should be left to businesses and individuals.  Only 44% of Hispanics said the same.  Still fewer Black Americans agreed with this.  They were stuck at a mere 32%.  We still live in a largely entitlement society.