by James Glaser
December 23, 2002

I don't think anyone in the State of Mississippi ever thought that Senator Trent Lott was anything but a "good old boy." When Senator Lott uttered his now famous remarks about the 1948 Presidential election, only the fools of this world were surprised by his remarks.

Trent Lott for better or worse is a southern white man that grew up in a South that was segregated. If you want to you can believe that his fellow Senators and the President had no idea the guy was a racist. You can also believe that he is the only racist in Washington. Heck, you can believe our government tries to treat all men equal. Sure you can, if you are totally naive.

Think about how many times you have heard a politician from the Republican Party tout how they were the party of Lincoln? Well I hate to be the one to tell them, but President Lincoln has not been in office for over 137 years and if he is the last Republican that they can hold up as a Champion of the Republican Party's legislative work for non whites, that is pretty sad indeed.

America does not have equality for the races. That can't surprise anyone and lets face it many areas of the South have not made as much head way in that direction as one would hope. It is going to take several generations to get things changed. Laws don't do it, it is what is in a mans heart and mind that matters and there are just too many Americans that have been taught by their parents that races should be separated. That is how Senator Lott grew up, with the black man and the white man separated. Also Senator Lott grew up where nothing race wise was equal.

In the Years Lott has been in office no one could ever doubt about how he felt about equality for the other races. Vote after vote, Lott was on the side of the Old South and that is honest, not right ,but honest. Senator Lott voted the way he thought his constituents wanted him to. He had to have been right on that count, because they kept right on voting him back into office.

I don't like the way Senator Lott voted, nor do I like his beliefs. I do however admire his honesty and wish more in Congress were like that. I did find all those apologies to keep his majority leader post, quite distasteful. That was a real politicians way of correcting a political mistake.

Republicans and Democrats have for years hidden behind the words of famous men in our history. Our National Government keeps way too many things secret. It is very hard to know what those in Washington are really thinking because they are on a constant campaign for reelection and they seldom tell us what they really believe.

Senator Lott stood up and said what he thought. To me that is being an American. For the rest of his party to act surprised by his words is what I have come to expect out of those in Washington. Democrats to act like they found Senators Lott's words to be abhorrent was so disgraceful because with his voting record they could have said something way before this if they thought his beliefs were so out of line