Libertarians Also Getting Tired of the Left's Constant False Accusations of Racism

There's an excellent article at Cato by David Boaz called, "The Boys Who Cried Racism." As I've written before, false accusations of racism are a standard left-wing tactic, used over and over against Republicans, particularly conservatives. Since we now have a black president, this tactic has been used even more frequently to paint any sort of criticism of the president or his policies as race-based. Cries of racism are seen everywhere on the left, from the lowliest anonymous blogger, to prominent hacks like Paul Krugman. In response to Krugman's latest idiocy, Boaz notes,

Paul Krugman can’t understand why people would oppose government control of health care — or skyrocketing deficits, or a federal takeover of education, energy, and finance along with health care — unless they’re driven by racism. But he’s not the only one who sees racists under every bed.

As Boaz points out,

The classical liberal ideas of individualism, individual rights, property rights, “negative liberties,” and limited government date back hundreds, even thousands, of years

They aren't based on racism, and neither is opposition to Obama and his policies. If we had the whitest of white presidents instead of Obama -- say John Kerry -- and he was pursuing the same policies, there would be the same outrage and opposition on the right, and among libertarians. Attempts to pretend opposition is based on racism are nothing more than smears used in a typical leftist attempt to silence opposition. But they won't work, since most people recognize baseless slurs when they see them.