Consider motives of conservatives

Malcolm Petrie, Las Vegas

Friday, Sept. 13, 2013 | 2:02 a.m.

A funny thing happened on the road to Damascus. President Barack Obama found the well of “Let’s project American power” to be dry.

I am generally against foreign entanglements, and I find the argument to let fly Tomahawk missiles to send a message to the Syrian regime less than persuasive. However, the parties that are against doing so come at it from different angles.

Conservatives who have argued against punishing Bashar Assad have not been consistent in their philosophical position over the years. Progressives, on the other hand, have consistently been for peace even when they were called “communists” and “peaceniks.” My question is why the sudden change of heart on the right?

Could the reason be that the political right suddenly had a stroke of consciousness and doesn’t want to affect innocent women and children? Is it that the compassionate conservatives want to fund Head Start and Meals on Wheels here in America instead of spending more money on our bloated military?

Where do the false accusations that the president is a socialist, a Kenyan interloper and a Muslim come from? Those accusations come from the right. Why? My contention is that there are folks in this country unwilling and unable to accept the fact that we have a black president.

We have been indoctrinated for so long to fear the “other” through the Cold War and the war on terrorism that we are now looking for the “other” within our own ranks.

A quick look back in our own history will show us that black folks have always been considered the “other” by some. Ted Cruz is not an American. I can tell just by looking at him.