Race To The Right

I have a fair number of friends with whom I disagree on social issues and matters of policy. My parents are post-9/11 Republicans, which has essentially removed any healthy discourse from the holidays. (None of us want Thanksgiving dinner marred by a shouting match and I love my parents). No one on either side of the aisle has cornered the market on truth and the public discourse has been ratcheted to a fever pitch by fringe elements that are heavy on heart, but light on head. Fittingly, the elephant in the room is still race, which plays a much bigger role in the proceedings than most people are comfortable admitting.

-You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
-You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.
-You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
-You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
-You didn't get mad when we circumvented Congressional approval to invade a country that had not threatened us.
-You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said war.
-You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.
-You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
-You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
-You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
-You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
-You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
-You didn't get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich.
-You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.
-You didn't get mad when the housing industry collapsed because Wall Street fought even the slightest oversight whatsoever.

You finally got mad when the government decided that Americans deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.