THE TEN THINGS YOU CAN’T SAY IN AMERICA

By Larry Elder 

Review by Mark Webster 

The title of this book is really a misnomer.  The ten points Larry Elder discusses in his book are often said by Americans in private.  Perhaps a more precise, but more wordy and less attractive, title would have been: The Ten Things You Can’t Say in the Presence of Self-Anointed Guardians of Society Who Help Selected Mascots Evade Responsibility for Bad Ideas.  Nevertheless, here are the ten things Larry Elder, a lawyer and media personality, says you can’t say:  

1. Blacks are more racist than whites. 

2. White condescension is as bad as black racism.

3. The media have a liberal bias. 

4. There is no glass ceiling holding women back in the corporate world. 

5. America’s greatest social problem is illegitimacy. 

6. There is no health care “crisis.”

7. Governmental welfare is neither necessary nor constitutional.  

8. There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats.                                       

9. We are losing the war against drugs. 

10.The ultimate goal of gun control is confiscation. 

The book is a quick read, as if Mr. Elder dictated the ten points and then left the fabrication of the text to his researchers. There are interesting charts in the appendix, which would have been more effective had they been placed in the main text.

Many of the arguments Mr. Elder makes are particularly striking because he is black.  He is part of the brave vanguard of black lawyers and writers who refuse to let racial celebrities speak for them.  When he makes statements such as, “The real danger lies with the  NAACP, not the KKK,” I have to think hard to catch his point but then admire his bravery and envy his ability to make an argument that would be called racist if it came from a white person.  He admits racism still exists, but argues it is no longer a bar to black advancement in society. He gives several examples of black demagogues who blame everything on others.  He calls such people “victicrats” and shows how they thrive on rhetoric, rumor, and a refusal to learn the principles of free market economics. 

The best part of the book concerns the thirty-two principles he sets forth as a pledge for individuals to get ahead and stay ahead.  I photocopied the pledge and have posted it above my desk as a reminder that I can do better.

Mr. Elder describes white condescension as an irrational guilt for slavery and as a way to regain moral authority lost because of slavery.  He argues blacks do not need whites to protect blacks’ self-esteem and such efforts harm blacks.    

Once Mr. Elder turns away from racial matters, the book quickly runs out of steam.  He argues the glass ceiling is full of holes. The formula for success for women is the same as that for men, and the cost of posing as a victim is the same for women as blacks.  

Mr. Elder has kind things to say about Libertarians in the chapter about the two big government parties.  He believes the election of Governor Ventura in Minnesota, particularly because of the participation of first time, young voters, shows what can happen when voters actually have an alternative. 

As for those who say the Libertarians can never be elected because they are too far from the political center of American politics, he reminds us the Libertarians have already taken the correct stand: “stake out a persuasive, principled position and the center will find you.”

In his chapter on gun control, the following quote from an elderly resident from South Central L. A. says it all: “I’d rather be judged by twelve than carried out by six.”

I recommend this book for highly evolved, idealistic, compassionate  enablers who will learn a cold lesson in reality: Responsibility creates mature persons; government “help” retards the recipient.  

See also a recent article, Grace Under Racial Fire, by Larry Elder at: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21207

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