Justin Raimondo

May 17, 2008

When I wrote that Barack Obama “refutes” the notion that blacks are less intelligent, I realized fully—of course—that there is a big difference between individual cases and averages. I meant “refute” in a different sense, entirely: what I should have said is that Obama’s candidacy is a real slap in the face to those who have invested an awful lot in the Bell Curve thesis of black genetic disability (when it comes to measuring intelligence). And, I might add, it is well-deserved.

Mascus Epstein thinks he’s a “scientist”—but I’m not impressed by his charts and graphs. They don’t measure the human spirit, and they sure don’t measure wisdom, as one of the commenters put it. And, no, I don’t think the science of genetics is just another paradigm that will pass: what I am saying, however, is that genetics is just one dimension of the mystery of human existence, and, I suspect, one not nearly as central to human behavior as the American Renaissance types would have us believe. We are not machines: that, I think, is a statement that all conservatives can rally ‘round. I distrust anyone who raises the banner of “science” when it comes to making public policy: I can’t help but think of “scientific” socialism and the “science” of Marxism-Leninism—and I want to reach for my revolver, to coin a phrase.

What it comes down to is this: we have a black guy who could avert an economic and geopoltiical catastrophe—a disaster created by our policy of imperialism—and a white guy who most certainly will accelerate it. A very simple choice.

And, by the way, I don’t think that an idea that could put one’s career at risk is necessarily the measure of its worth. I do think, however, that any movement that makes a big deal about race is going to pretty much confine itself to members of one race—and that’s not a good thing, as far as the freedom movement is concerned.

I have a special antipathy for the “white nationalists” because they deliberately made an awful lot of trouble for the Ron Paul campaign, loudly proclaiming their support for Ron and then going to The New Republic and giving the Bad Guys plenty of ammunition for their smear campaign. I can’t prove complicity, but where there’s that much smoke there has to be some fire.

Obama is taking on John McCain and the neocons, and that is good enough for me. I hope the GOP implodes and takes National Review, David Frum, and the whole rotten lot of them down with it. In that spirit, I say: Hail the Great Transcender!