There is a liberal "-ism," a mindset, if you will, that dates back to the earliest days of "The Great Society" and Nixon's launch of Affirmative Action as official government policy. This most basic dogma of Liberalism is something I like to call "Get-even-with-'em-ism." The operative concept is that whenever something bad happens to someone who DOESN'T feed at the trough of public assistance, that's a good thing -- even if there is no corresponding benefit to the "less fortunate."
The conceit is that anyone who has anything (a member of the "haves," as defined by the Federal government and tax code), got whatever they have through illegitimate means... like getting an education and working hard, or (horrors!) being born into a family where the parents got an education and worked very hard to enhance the lives of their children.

The Ying to this Yang of screwy social philosophy holds that regardless of the self-evident falsehood and indefensible disingenuity of the affirmative arguments, anything that takes from the "haves" by government fiat and regulation is somehow automatically beneficial to the "have-nots," all empirical evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.

Any legislation that advances this concept in a practical way (tax increases, increased spending on social programs, growth of government regulation and control of civilian economic activity, etc.) is considered to be inherently good, compassionate, noble, and VERY politically correct... as if tearing down and appropriating the fruits of the "have's" labor and risk-taking is fair, while NOT expecting the non-tax-paying, non-productive "have-nots" among us to take responsibility for their poor life choices (dropping out of school, joining gangs, parenting out of wedlock, engaging in criminal activities, etc.) makes perfect sociological sense!! After all, weren't those poor life choices all the fault of some slave-owner from 200 years ago, whose descendants MAY have done well in the interim. OBVIOUSLY, those descendants owe the 'have-not's' a debt of inheritance, an "evening up" of "life's lottery," as Richard Gephardt liked to call it. Equally obvious -- at least to the Liberal world view -- is the necessity of employing the tax system to exact this tribute to the religion of "Get-even-with-'em-ism" from that ever-shrinking segment of the American population that actually foots the tax bill.

When no one "wins" but the "rich guy" loses, you are seeing "Get-even-with-'em-ism" at its finest. The actual economic effects are bad for literally everyone, but among that constituency that votes for a living and the Liberal politicians who pander to them, this is, indeed, a fine thing.
So whatever happened to MLK's 'content of character vs. color of skin' concept? It was soon lost in the tsunami of 1960's social legislation that sought not so much to level the playing field for future generations, but to punish an entire current generation of "have's" and those to come for the 'sins' of their forefathers. "And to this punishment there shall be no end..." if Liberals get their way and continue to succeed in institutionalizing "Get-even-with-'em-ism" as the de facto state religion of the United states.

Can I please, please just click my heels and go home to economic reality? Can I please go back to a United States that seeks to protect Constitutional Rights rather than awarding amorphous, politically imposed "rights" to politically privileged, politically defined 'minorities.' Can we please at least begin repealing those statutory and regulatory (as opposed to God-given) 'rights' that purport to guarantee favorable (albeit still inadequate) economic outcomes (NOT opportunities)for "have-nots," despite their detrimental life choices and personal behaviors? Can we please begin to turn the tide of dependency on government programs that has now imprisoned at least three generations of "have-not's" behind the bars of lowered expectations, of indoctrinated beliefs that ONLY government set-asides and transfer payments can sustain them.

This entire Duke fiasco is a direct and extreme outgrowth of this long-standing sociological movement to turn the socio-economic world on its logical ear. According to the doctrines of "Get-even-with-'em-ism," these "rich, smart-ass, white boys" (apologies to former Ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young) at Duke deserved to suffer whatever arbitrary injustice befell them, simply because their parents could afford the exorbitant costs of Duke University... which just happens to be located in an area of local political transition such that the University's 'neighbors' are overwhelmingly members of, and believers in, the Church of Get-even-with-'em-ism. This was Nifong's target political constituency as he sought re-election. Sadly, in a manner typical among today's Liberal institutions of higher learning and ever-higher tuition costs, the Duke powers-that-be chose to scrape and bow at the altar of "Get-even-with-'em-ism" and eat their young.

Then the 'ca-ca' hit the proverbial artificial wind source. The egg on faces has been widespread and especially gooey -- from Jesse and Al, to the elitists running Duke, to the mainstream media mavens like Terry Moran who sensationalized this case from the outset, to the North Carolina Bar Association which has had to severely repudiate one of their own. On the other hand, apart from the Attorney General and the N.C. Bar Association, has their been any acknowledgment of culpability by any of the other players in this fiasco? Have we heard either of the "Reverends" apologizing? Has anyone in the mainstream media examined their own role in encouraging this miscarriage of justice, or will they remain forever mired in their navel-contemplations, resulting in moronic stories and opinion pieces admonishing us NOT to have any sympathy for the true victims. These young men became the targets and sacrificial lambs of an inexorable process by which only the sensationalism of the accusations -- NOT the trail of evidence -- dictated official prosecutorial actions, mainstream media coverage, and the shaping of public attitudes.
For one of the few times in the last 40 years, in this instance, justice actually prevailed. The Big Lie of "Get-even-with-'em-ism" was exposed, exploded, discredited, and reflected back with a blinding glare onto those whose rush to prosecute, persecute, accuse, try, and sentence these young men -- in the total absence of ANY corroboration of the accuser's ever-changing testimony -- is the REAL story of this incident. It's the story that Terry Moran will never report. It's the story that will go right over the heads of Chris Matthews and Tavis Smiley. But make no mistake, the American People of every color and socio-economic position -- even those normally ignorant of political matters -- noticed what happened here. No one could fail to see the enormity of the injustice or the complicity of the principals and their willing accomplices. I would submit that this incident's over-arching social and political significance has yet to be fully recognized or reported.

The Duke fiasco may actually turn out to have been a tipping point signaling the beginning of the end of the 'Second Reconstruction Era' in America. If the political repercussions of this blatant institutional injustice are loud enough, broad enough, and long-lasting enough, we may yet see the beginnings of REAL equality in America. What a concept!!!