Now It Is the Turn of the Hindus

November 17, 2011 by Ramesh Rao

Continued from Page 1

The "Willie Horton" ad is now used in classrooms across the country as a "classic" example of how a presidential campaign could use an issue to create hate, fear, and divisiveness. George H. W. Bush won, despite this lowbrow ad campaign, in which he claimed that because of a Massachusetts prison furlough program supported by Governor Dukakis, Willie Horton had been let loose "to terrorize innocent people." Lee Atwater, one of the "attack dogs" of the Republican Party, responsible for the ad campaign, was made Republican Party Chairman after Bush won. But in some instances, life has a strange way of teaching lessons: Atwater died at age 40 because of brain cancer, and recanted on his death bed the lack of ethics and morality in politics: "My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The '80s were about acquiring—acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn't I trade for a little more time with my family?"

Alas, for many Republicans, Atwater's deathbed realization was an aberration.

They are still at the despicable game of pandering to the narrow-minded, the ignorant, and the religious supremacists. And what better way for Mr. Williams to try and unseat the successful Kentucky governor than by trying to scare voters that somehow, by being respectful toward the Hindu industrialists who were bringing jobs to Kentucky, Governor Beshear had turned "heathen"?

"May God bless the United States of America," every politician signs off at the end of a speech. Truly, and may God save it from the ignorant ones!

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11/17/2011 5:00:00 AM

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About Ramesh Rao

Ramesh Rao, Professor and Chair, DN3 Program, Columbus State University, Columbus, GA, is the author of two books on Indian politics and society and has written numerous op-eds for newspapers and magazines in India, the U.S., and the U.K. Ramesh served as Human Rights Coordinator and Executive Council member at the Hindu American Foundation between 2004-2013. He spent the first twenty-eight years of his life in India where he worked as a bank officer, a school teacher, and a copy editor. He received his MS in Mass Communication from the University of Southern Mississippi, and his PhD in Communication from Michigan State University. He taught at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, and Longwood University in Farmville, VA, before he joined Columbus State University. He lives with wife Sujaya, and son Sudhanva in Columbus, GA.

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