It's Not The Color, Stupid!

A thoughtful piece by David Brooks on what is dividing America today.

Hint: It isn't race.

UPDATE: Jim Sleeper also offers his views on this subject.

I have one bone to pick with Sleeper. He writes:

It's the absence of honest answers, more than racism, that's turned out people brandishing signs that liken Obama to Hitler and demanding, with stupefying illogic, that government keep its hands off their Medicare.

But there is nothing illogical about this "demand" at all. The left has been berating seniors for criticizing Obama's attempts to "socialize" medicine. What the seniors well understand is that Obamacare would significantly eat into spending on Medicare and reduce their choices when it comes to their health care.

When seniors protest, they tell politicians "Don't mess with my Medicare" they mean, "This is OUR program, it works for me and if you cut spending on it in order to include 47 milllion other people, I'll get less. I don't want less. Leave it alone."

This may be selfish. But it is not illogical.