It's okay, I have black friends.

The new face of racism in America, apparently.

One of my Facebook friends, who in general is a very nice lady and typically open-minded (isn't that a hell of a disclaimer?) has been posting quite a bit of stuff from sites such as The Christian Left lately.  I'm sure you've seen their work; they're the folks who will tell you Jesus would have been a liberal, and if you don't believe the government should forcibly redistribute wealth, you hate poor people and you're a bad Christian.

Usually I just roll my eyes and let it pass me by.  To the best of my knowledge, she practices what she preaches, and she really does believe that the problem is too big to be solved without government help.  (That the government has been helping, and the problem remains, apparently has escaped her notice.  "Do it again, only harder!" is not an uncommon idea from my lefty friends.)

Last week, though, she came out with a doozy--some link from a leftist website that claimed the Tea Party is racist.

Now, anyone who has been paying attention should know this is bullshit.  But I keep seeing it crop up from people who should know better, and it pisses me the hell off.  Since the long slog to the next Presidential election has begun, the old saw about Republicans being racist is being bandied about again, and I am sick of it.

The title of this post is one of those lines supposedly used by racists to make everyone think they're not racist.  Really non-racist folks, apparently, have all-white friends.  And multicultural crayons.

Also racist.

Now, I am not saying that all Democrats--or even most--are racist.  That would be stupid.  What I am saying is that if all of your friends look just like you, I'm going to question how open-minded and inclusive you really are.  Because let me tell you, it's one thing to say you think people are more than the color of their skin, but it's quite another to actually live those words.

I don't go around talking about how diverse a group of friends I have, but, well, I do.  Of the 42 Facebook friends I have whom I went to school with, four of them are white.  (I was gonna tell you how many weren't, but then realized it'd be a lot quicker the other way around.)  Add in the people I know in real life whom I didn't necessarily go to school with, excepting the ones to whom I'm related, and you add in one or two white folks.  Moreover, my friends--and these are people I know in person--are of various economic, educational, political, and religious backgrounds.  Offhand I think I have three or four gay friends (one of whom is in drag in his profile photo as of this writing, and another of whom is my best friend).  Lots of 'em are Democrats.  (Hi, David!)  A few are in interracial relationships.  A few are biracial.  Most of them are at least bilingual.  Most, but not all, are Christian.  (I even have Baptist friends.)

You guessed it...Racist!  Why, they even watch Fox News.

Hell, if you look at my family, you don't suddenly gain a whole lot of white people.  Well, except for the family I just married into.  My brother-in-law is Mexican, and that means the obvious thing for my nephews and niece.

But because I think that government spending is out of control, I am racist.

Yeah.  Sure.  Whatever helps you sleep at night.

As for me?  It will take a bit more than ad hominem attacks to make me change my mind on an issue as important as taxation.