Just Asking

Is racism a worse character flaw than others?

I'm asking not to excuse it, but our country has taken extraordinary measures to stamp "racism" out. From the denial of freedom of association on private property, to forced busing, to race quotas.

Now, I don't understand "racism" in terms of fear or aversion to other races and colors. I lived most of my adult life in a highly integrated immigrant neighborhood. I've known of several mixed-race marriages, including in my own extended family, and am open to that possibility for myself.

But with regard to those who do have such fears, who do not want their daughters to marry men of other races, why would their racism raise my ire? As long as they don't want to use the State to force racial segregation, what business of it of mine who they want to associate with?

Are such people as bad as those who want to go to war to advance their utopian dreams? Or who want to ban smoking in all "public" places - when those "public" places are really privately-owned establishments? Or who want to sue McDonald's for the nation's obesity "epidemic?"

The problems in American society stem from the character flaws of those who refuse to just mind their own business. Statism, not racism, is the biggest moral problem in America today.