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Herb Klinker (FL and Umbria)'s avatar

Well said, Roland! Power is hard to come by, but even harder to relinquish. For over 400 years, the white minority has used hate and fear to suppress the 'mudsills' of society that outnumber them. We were naive to think that the election of Barack Obama was the beginning of a post-racial America. At best it was an acknowledgement of the impact of the civil rights movement of the mid Twentieth Century. But that's the short game, and the long game is on their side.

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Ally House (Oregon)'s avatar

President Obama's election was not the beginning of a post-racial America, but was rather the rebirth of Jim Crow. My friends on the "right" are saying that Obama's presidency "recreated" racism. I say it ripped the scab off of a badly infected wound and we got left with all the nastiness from such a wound.

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JennSH from NC's avatar

What Obama’s presidency exposed was the failure to deal with America’s GREAT Big Lie: that white people are superior to people of color. We did not address that lie after the Civil War, and it came roaring back in 1877. We have continued to be negatively impacted by that GREAT Big Lie to the extent that one political party doesn’t even want our government to be successful and perfect the union for everyone.

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TPJ (MA)'s avatar

Before the 21C, Andrew Johnson was definitely the Worst President Ever. He almost singlehandedly killed Reconstruction by requiring only abolition from seceded states to rejoin the Union, while enabling their worst practices. The resulting Black Codes were slavery in all but name. This despite a Congress and admin that clearly supported Freedpeople's rights. For several years the Grant admin tried heroically to defend them, but the so-called Redeemers ultimately re-entrenched white supremacy.

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Roland (CA->WA)'s avatar

Always appreciate your historical perspective TPJ 🙏

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Roland (CA->WA)'s avatar

Thank you Jennifer, really nicely stated 🙏

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David’sinSC's avatar

Fresh air might help heal the pustulant wound. We are short sighted creatures. We want it all now and this is a very long game. As the Italians say, piano piano piano.

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Jay Jordet's avatar

Conservatives have been playing the long game since Ross Perot received almost 19% of the vote but not one Elector in 1992. That was when the conservatves decided to take over the Republican Party. The Progressives did not start the long game until the year 2000 when Gore and Bush refused to allow Nader to even attend the presidential debates.

Independent votes represent hundreds of thousands of voters.

Http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-election-day/third-party-candidates-having-outsized-impact-election-n680921

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