Op-ed: Senator Mike Braun should have stuck to the dog whistle
On Tuesday U.S. Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) made a political gaffe during a media call. According to journalist Michael Kinsley, “A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth—some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.”
When asked about the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court case, Braun revealed the truth of what was going on inside his brain.
That is, Braun said that the 1967 decision, which legalized interracial marriage, was wrongly decided, that it should have been left to the states. He said this despite the fact that the 14th amendment guarantees equal protection under the law. The back and forth in the media call also touched on Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion in 1973. Likewise, in this landmark decision, Braun believes the Supreme Court should have given deference to the states.
"When it comes to issues, you can't have it both ways," Braun said. "When you want that diversity to shine within our federal system, there are going to be rules and proceedings, they're going to be out of sync with maybe what other states would do. It's the beauty of the system, and that's where the differences among points of view in our 50 states ought to express themselves."
When a reporter asked a follow-up question, Braun doubled down, calling the Supreme Court’s weighing in on such issues “hypocritical.”
By Tuesday evening, Braun released the inevitable retraction.
“Earlier during a virtual press conference I misunderstood a line of questioning that ended up being about interracial marriage," Braun said. "Let me be clear on that issue — there is no question the Constitution prohibits discrimination of any kind based on race, that is not something that is even up for debate, and I condemn racism in any form, at all levels and by any states, entities, or individuals.”
Braun has discovered that there is a line that you cannot step over. That is, you can talk all day about the evils of Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a way to signal to your constituency that you too have closed your eyes and ears to racial injustice. You can attempt to snuff out honest discussions about American history in the K-12 classroom like former IPS administrator Tony Kinnett, but you still need to stick to the Republican talking points.
Per that script, Critical Race Theory has become the Republican dog whistle.
If you’re a podcast junkie, you’ve likely run into discussion about CRT in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police officers. Typically, podcasters such as Brett Weinstein, Sam Harris, and Jordan Peterson frame their discussions with a takedown of “woke” culture. Per these podcasters, wokeness has corrupted a generation of young Americans to think in divisive terms about race and infiltrated the K-12 classroom. (Weinstein, on a recent podcast, seems to blame the Russo-Ukrainian War on wokeness so you can do a lot with such terms.)
Instead of presenting themselves as racists, they have unveiled a new credo of anti anti-racism.
Braun should have followed their example and stuck to the dog whistle.
Instead, he whistled Dixie.
