If i only had a heart...

Rightwing radio and TV never tire of talking about the American "heartland." Through the sheer force of repetition, the term is now being served up as standard fare in the mainstream media. In the popular imagination, the term conjures up warm images of the "real" America in its pristine state, away from the kalifornication and moral grayness of the fringe coastal states. Has anyone noticed how the American heartland, by some strange coincidence, seems to coincide with predominantly white areas of the U.S. Evidently, the black jazz musician playing his music (one of the only true American art-forms) at a bar in D.C. has no "heart." Nor does the ethnic Vietnamese person living in L.A. Such psuedo-Americans live on the heartless fringe of society.

This being the case, the Democratic Party, we are led to believe, must get back to its roots in the American heartland and stop listening to all these heartless fringe-people. Only then will it be able to channel the American spirit--and manifest America's higher purpose and destiny.

Actually, this heartland rhetoric is nothing new. It's simply racism with a refurbished, shiny exterior. And like those self-replicating demonic robots in science-fiction lore, racism will keep reinventing itself with each succeeding generation. It is up to us to continually discredit it.

For a related post, check out Democrats Aren't Serious on the PBA site.