1-22-07, 11:55 a.m.

There are certain things I've learned in life that I have taken to heart. Among them, the fact that Union forces defeated the Confederacy in the civil war. Despite this, elements of the plantation mentality survived and, like many virulent strains, mutated into a new form enshrined into law and called Jim Crow.

Almost a century after the end of the civil war, a new civil rights movement emerged which culminated in the passage of the US Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was not achieved through the largesse of then President Lyndon B. Johnson. It was achieved as a result of a broad and engaged struggle, one that united people across racial, ethnic, religious and class lines.

Recently, however, I have been reminded that although gains have certainly been made in curbing racism and other forms of hate and intolerance, these diseases are still with us. And if you've read the news over the past several months, quite a bit of it is coming from Virginia.

First, there was former Senator George Allen's use of the term macaca, a racial slur, in referring to a young man connected with the campaign of his opponent, James Webb. Allen later apologized, and went on to lose to Webb in the mid-terms.

Then, last December, Virginia Representative Virgil Goode went on record as opposed to newly-elected Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison's intention, as a believer in Islam, to use the Koran in his swearing-in ceremony.

In a letter to his constituents, Goode said:

'The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran. I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America.'

While an apology was demanded of Rep. Goode, none was forthcoming.

And in the past week, a Virginia state legislator, Delegate Frank D. Hargrove, Sr., offended African-Americans and Jews in his comments in opposition to legislation which would have the state apologize for slavery. Virginia apologizing for slavery in its past, Hargrove said, would be similar to having Jews apologize for killing Christ. When Delegate David L. Englin, who is Jewish, called Hargrove's remarks 'inflamatory,' Hargrove told Englin his skin was too thin.

What is it that is prompting these politicians from Virginia, on the federal and state levels, to resort to what can only be characterized as hate speech? There is nothing in the air, water or mountains of Virginia that is causing people to suffer from outbreaks of insensitivity, absence of decency, or foot-in-mouth disease. And to be fair, the comments by Allen, Goode and Hargrove have been met with outrage and condemnation from large segments of the state's population (although television coverage of Goode's statements indicated he enjoyed some support from his constituents for his comments).

The answer to this question can be found, I believe, in examining what is at the core of ultra-right politics as practiced by the Bush administration. And, in particular, the consolidation by these forces of an immense degree of power since September 11, 2001.

When the Bush administration came to power as a result of a stolen election in November of 2000, an election validated by the US Supreme Court, they probably believed early on they would be able to get away with anything and everything. While this is admittedly conjecture and speculation, subsequent events suggest it is not wholly without merit.

When New York city and the Pentagon were attacked on September 11, 2001 the ultra-right quickly seized on that event and exploited it for all it was worth; military intervention first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq -- the former ostensibly in a hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the latter in a hunt for 'weapons of mass destruction' that apparently never existed.

Since 9/11, Bush has made ten-score references to that date as a justification for domestic policies that have fundamentally curbed basic, democratic rights as expressed in the US Constitution; detainment and violation of the right to habeus corpus, torture, unprecedented use of 'signing statements' which explain how President Bush and his officials will 'construe' legislation and so on.

During the past six years, the Bush administration's modus operandi has been predicated on one thing: fear. The exploitation of fear gives politicians something of an edge, at least in their minds. Exploiting fears allows the ultra-right to attack immigrant rights, and portray themselves as righteous. It allows them to approve a wall between the US and Mexico, provided you don't ask them why no similar wall is proposed between the US and Canada.

Exploiting fears allows them to spend billions on a war to topple, and then execute, Sadaam Hussein, provided you don't ask them about the US history of supporting Hussein's regime financially and militarily when it was engaged in a war against Iran.

And racism. Well, racism thrives on fear. Fear to racism is like bellows to a fire. But the important thing to remember is that the ultra-right didn't accomplish this all overnight. They used 'salami tactics,' moving their own agenda in a slice-by-slice manner. And the virus of racism, once unleashed, works like any other virus -- attacking the body, probing for weak spots.

Someone recently asked me, as we were discussing the statements made by the politicians from Virginia mentioned in this article, whether what I was feeling was about 'political correctness.' I told him no -- it was about correctness, period.

To former Senator Allen: You apologized. You lost in the mid-terms.

To Representative Goode: Presidents John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson were sworn in without Bibles.

To Virginia Delegate Hargrove: Jesus Christ wasn't killed by Jews (the apostles were Jews), the Romans killed Christ. The Romans, too, had slaves and their empire collapsed, as did the Confederacy.

The fact that racism still rears its ugly head simply requires more struggle. Because our system thrives on these unhealthy influences, it occasionally shows signs of illness. Fortunately, resistance has increased. That resistance must continue to be supported and built up. And ultimately, the system of capitalism which breeds and nourishes these viruses will be defeated and replaced with a body politic called socialism.

-Lawrence Albright is a contributing writer on politics and culture for Political Affairs.