It appears that our political discourse of late has come down to playground name calling. Politics has always been about trying to paint an opponent in a poor light. Richard Nixon painted former actress, Helen Gahagan Douglas, as the “Pink Lady” in the 1950 California Senate race for her liberal views and Hollywood connections. In the era of McCarthyism, the moniker stuck and Nixon went to Washington. 

This was the beginning of the Cold War, the atomic bomb and “the Red Scare.” There was a deep seated fear of an international communist take over. Former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill has already given his “Iron Curtain” speech at Westminster College in 1946. He said that an iron curtain was being built across Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic Sea.

In Asia in 1949 Mao Zedong finishes his “Long March” and finally chases the Chinese Nationalist off the mainland establishing a communist regime in China. A year later Kim Jong un’s granddaddy charges past the 38th parallel into South Korea. It was time of paranoia. People were finding top secrets stuffed into pumpkins and were looking under their beds for “Reds”. But we have to remember they also were looking to the sky and seeing flying saucers, too. There was no talk about Green Cards for these possible illegal aliens invaders. 

Today, invading Earthbound alien caravans are crawling to our borders.  Inside the border government officials are rounding up illegals.  The increased political chatter is setting social media off like a game of laser tag as opponents paint each other as  racists, Nazi, white supremacists homophobes or some sort of misogynist. Spotting a racist, for instance may have taken more physical observation and at times more difficult. A white robe and a hood could easily hide their identity even when marching in plain site. But nobody questioned their hooded beliefs as being un-American. 

Sometimes one way to tell a  “fellas” beliefs is the stories they tell.  Who among us has not snickered at an ethnic joke at one time or another. The classic joke: “Three men walk into a bar one…” When I was a kid I remember a book in novelty store in the mall called “Race Riots.” It seemed no ethnic or nationality was spared from the one-and-two line jokes. Just admitting that I once looked at such a book (never mind laughing at the jokes) could set me up as a racists today. My Mediterranean heritage, however, would keep me out of the “white supremacist” group, though. Once in the ’80s exiled Iranians took me for one of them. They were calling out to me in what I assume was Persian as I was leaving National Airport in Washington DC. They kept following me with pamphlets about the Shah. I called back to them that “I am an American!”

So what is an American. How about the quintessential American guys who wrote the Constitution. I have not made a study of the 55 delegates from 12 states that attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. Yes, only 12. Rhode Island chose to sit this out. But I would venture to say that if you asked the delegates to fill out a Survey Monkey describing themselves they may not have considered themselves Americans. They would have more likely called themselves Pennsylvanians or Virginians. If you look at the federated document they produced at that conventions it is laced with “states’ rights.” They guarded their individual state’s interest like a junkyard dog snarling through a chainlink fence. Rhode Island was so adamant about not participating, they were the last to ratifying the Constitution. When they got around to it, it was already a done deal.

So who were these 55 delegates. In the first Census they would have fallen into the category: Free White males over 16. There were no National Socialist at the time and there was no gender gap. In fact, the Constitution did not address citizenship except to say it was up to Congress to determine and not the President. Citizenship back then was based on good old English Common law. Basically, who’s your daddy was and, yes, where did you come from. Which brings us to the modern day chant of “send them back.” If that were the case, most of us would be booking flights back to the old country. But with the grounding of the 737 Max this might take more than an Executive order.  In reality it took the 14th Amendment to define who a citizen was.

Today we have made it a “federal case” on the questions dealing with citizenship–who is an American–being proposed on the upcoming 2020 Census. According to the United States Census Bureau the first Census in 1790 asked six simple questions:

• The number of free White males aged:
  • under 16 years
  • of 16 years and upward
• Number of free White females
• Number of other free persons
• Number of slaves

It is interesting to note that government was not interested in the age breakdown of free White females, slaves or the ambiguous group of “others.” Were the White males who put the 1790 Census together racists? By 18th Century beliefs no, but by 21st Century standards, probably. Things change.  

The same might be said of the people who put together the 1990 Census where there were 32 questions. Gone are the “other free persons” questions. They were replaced with more specific questions like if somebody was Hispanic or of Spanish origin . They also wanted to know if somebody was lame, lazy or just crazy. Although it was not put in those terms. Question 17 asked if this person has “a physical, mental, or other health condition that has lasted for six or more months and which limits the kind or amount of work this person can do at a job?” Talk about tagging somebody. If the argument can be made that Robert E. Lee was a racist, it could be argued by today’s standards that the 1990 Census Bureau raced passed several “don’t ask don’t tell” questions. If you answered yes to that question today you might have just sunk your future chance to avail yourself of your Second Amendment rights. Forget about that assault rifle you want.  You might not even qualify for one of those rubber suction-tipped bow and arrow sets with the fake feathered headbands.

It just seems like we have come light years from the simple six question from 230 years ago to now. For instance, in 1790 it was black or white, free of slave–and the occasional “other.”  Today questions go deeper dealing with race and native origins. I think Census Bureau computer  might short circuit if it got a response saying a person was a Black Jamaican with  German origins. There might not even a box to check on that one. 

But people want to know more than just the obvious.  I went to a  Miami Dolphin Monday Night Football game once.  The Fins were playing the Bills back in the Jim Kelly and Dan Moreno era.  The Bills owned the Dolphins back then.  My brother and I had to hustle to get to the bus taking us to the stadium after work. We showed up at Joe Robbie Stadium in business casual.  The gal decked out in Dolphin colors that I was sitting next to gave me the evil eye as I made my way to my seat. No small talk. She  bruskly asked, “who are you rooting for.”  She wanted to know who I was.  Because sitting next to a possible Bill fan that night was not something she paid a ticket for.  The Dolphins lost 26-20. It is easy to tell who we are are at a football game.

It is not so easy other times. The way are tagging and slapping coats of paint on each other today we could be many things.  And as one of national motto states:  E pluribus unum  or Out of many one.  Granted, there are some seriously dangerous people lurking around there that need to be called out. One thing we should be called is American.  It will always be easier to label someone as the “pink lady” or a “Red.”  But it seems like we are falling into some sort of national:  I know you are but what am I!