Perils of Political Correctness
Preparing for its convention in Denver, the Democratic Party is facing daunting obstacles in accommodating the many political correctness sensibilities of its various factions. Environmentalists demand a “green” convention. Powerful labor unions demand that materials be purchased exclusively from suppliers that are both American and unionized. Healthy lifestyle enforcers are keeping a close eye on the food. And above all the BDS brigades want to make sure that no Republican-leaning CEO gets a dime’s worth of contract. The result is a bewildering array of logistical impossibilities, counterproductive illusions trumping substance, and just plain silliness.Among the moves for a politically correct convention are some of the usual suspects of faux environmentalism. For example, convention organizers have built a bureaucracy of monitors tasked to calculate the carbon impact of the convention with a promise to somehow offset it by investments in undefined alternative energy projects. But others border on the bizarre:
To police the four-day event Aug. 25-28, she’s assembling (via paperless online signup) a trash brigade. Decked out in green shirts, 900 volunteers will hover at waste-disposal stations to make sure delegates put each scrap of trash in the proper bin. Lest a fork slip into the wrong container unnoticed, volunteers will paw through every bag before it is hauled away.
“That’s the only way to make sure it’s pure,” Ms. Robinson says.
As if the Orwellian trash control brigades were not strange enough, convention organizers are also being pressed to control the diet of convention attendees. Fried foods have been banned and regulations have reached down to the level of specifying the colors that much be included on each plate:
…on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include “at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white.” (Garnishes don’t count.)
Fortunately, convention organizers have not lost all sense of perspective. Convention organizers are thus far resisting demands to prioritize hatred of Republicans above their “green” projects.
But it’s almost inevitable that principles, politics and profit will conflict. To wit: Coors Brewing Co., in Golden, Colo., will donate biofuel made from beer waste to power the convention’s fleet of flex-fuel vehicles. A green star for the convention — but it has rankled die-hard liberals, who boycotted Coors in the 1960s and ’70s to protest hiring practices that they said discriminated against blacks, Latinos, women and gays. Heirs to the Coors fortune have long been active in conservative causes and Republican politics.
Convention officials say Coors is a good corporate citizen. And a Coors spokeswoman says the donation was a gesture of civic pride, not politics.
No matter, grumbles Anna Flynn, a longtime union member from Denver who objected to the donation. “Any way you put it, it’s still Coors,” she says.
Chris Lopez, a spokesman for the host committee, says that securing a diverse group of sponsors is as much about showcasing the regional economy as promoting sustainability.
LMAO, I had already heard of the issue with the colors. I suppose rare meat counts for red, veggies for green and potatoes or beans for white. I suppose turnips will do for purple….ah hell…
It’s always fun to watch the DNC and the RNC. You know you’re watching the DNC because cameras keep focusing on rugged American pioneer types. You know you’re watching the RNC because you keep seeing black people (though maybe they won’t even bother, this time around) or latinos.
I’m happy that they’re having a problem with Coors - I think the best way to handle it is to take the offering from Coors but service New Belgium beers instead. It’s definately better beer anyway!
Personally, I like a beer with a bit more body, but I cheerfully keep drinking and serving Coors just because it upsets my liberal colleagues. And, Coors has been a good corporate citizen in many ways, supporting various arts, museums and other cultural organizations. If the Dems are so thoroughly enthralled with BDS and CDS that they can’t accept the bio-fuel from Coors, well, I’d say it shows how meaningless all their talk about environmental consciousness is. Coors is right there, next door to Denver. So how much will it cost to haul fuel from a more distant producer to the convention? Not just dollars, but fuel, has to be counted folks. Oh, right - this is the crowd with Al Gore, the man who has a monster house that consumes something sufficient to heat and light many average homes for the same amount of time. Carbon foot-print? Carbonized brain is more like it. What a bunch of hooey.