Existing In the Real World, Or Not

THE REPUBLICANS NOTICED that there was no mention of radical Islamic terrorism at the Democratic national convention, as if it hasn't been mentioned enough already, with little if anything resulting from mere words. Terrorism is combated with deeds, not words. The American military is ferociously bombing the Islamic state, Obama is killing anyone suspected of terrorism with drones in Pakistan, and American intelligence is monitoring and disrupting terrorist activity all over the world - what could speech making on television contribute to that? Equally noticeable was what was never mentioned at the Republican national convention: pervasive poverty in America, and pervasive, institutional racism, to name just a couple. But why mention it? The standard republican line is that poverty is the result of lack of ambition and laziness, in other words, its their own damned fault. And racism? Well, racism no longer exists, until it magically comes into existence only when some trouble making bleeding heart liberal brings it up. Fifty years ago, conservatives for the most part were actively, unashamedly racist. Today, they are either too ashamed to show their racism, or too insensitive to acknowledge its existence. Lunch at my local senior center is pleasant. I have learned to be quiet and listen while I eat. It reduces the risk of choking, and keeps me out of trouble. I notice that nearly everyone at the table is a conservative Christian, that strange marriage of ostensibly incompatible ideologies. They talk about the Bible, but they never mention racism in modern America. Why bother? All that stuff happened a long time ago. For a short time during this presidential campaign many of them were enthusiastic supporter of presidential candidate Ben Carson. At long last, a conservative African-american! Now we can show 'em - we're not racist at all! Fifty years ago these people called Martin Luther King a trouble making you know what, a complainer who was ungrateful for his opportunity to live in peace and segregated poverty on his side of the railroad tracks. But progressive American culture pounded into them, decade after decade, the urgent need to create a society based on equality, and grudgingly, they acquiesced. Problem solved. Don't we have an African-american president? At least, half of an African-american president? Isn't that enough? Doesn't that prove that the problem is fixed, and that its time to shut up about it? Now, the very mention of racism in America is seen by my senior center friends as "divisive". It went away, stop talking about it. Add racism today, in the present, to the long list of things, along with evolution and global warming, that exist in the real world, but not in the world of senior citizen conservatism.