"All truth passes through three stages," the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer stated, "First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
Such is the experience of American political reformers-- abolitionists, suffragettes, civil rights leaders and now me.
Four years ago, I suggested that straight while males not be allowed to vote.
Presciently, I noted:
Asked what qualities they valued in a president, women listed:
1. Judgment
2. Intelligence
3. Leadership
4. Communications skills
The list for straight white men was:
1. Swagger
2. Knowledge of NFL rules
3. Doesn't take any shit from foreigners.
4. Laughs at fart jokes
No one took me seriously. Many thought my proposal was satirical. LOL! ROFL!
Others ridiculed me as an "egalitarian elitist," "know-nothing know-it-all," "degenerate pervert" and "perverted degenerate."
Undeterred, earlier this year I again asked if we should Disenfranchise Straight White Males.
I noted that straight while males account for:
• Three quarters of people who believe that the earth was created in 4,000 B.C., one thousand years after the Sumerians invented glue.
• 85 percent of those who argue we would all be better off if the rich paid less in taxes.
• 100 percent of those who warn that ISIS terrorists are massing at Ciudad Juarez, preparing to impose Sharia law on El Paso, Lubbock and the Odessa-Midland metropolitan area.
This provoked violent opposition. Donald Trump tweeted that I was "a pathetic, lightweight Muslim wetback" and "I hear Clifford is a child molester, and, even worse, a pedophile."
I received hate mail, filled with grammatical errors and misspellings and, calling for my torture by impalement, the rack, iron maiden and worse:
You should be attached to a midi-evil (sic) torture di-vise (sic) called the breaking wheel with your arms and legs stretched out along the spokes. As the wheel turns a strait (sic) white man with a heavy metal hammer delivers bone-breaking blows to all parts of your body. And also to your arms and legs. Once you are shatered (sic), your limbs will be interweaved (sic) between the spokes. The wheel will then be hoist to the top of a pole and your flesch (sic) eaten by vultures and birds.
But having endured violent opposition, my idea is now becoming self-evident as the Republican race centers on the size of each candidate's kielbasa.
DisSwim (Disenfranchise Straight White Males) chapters have recently opened 39 states. DisSwim initiatives will be on the ballot this fall in San Francisco, Seattle, Austin and Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ.
Favoring my idea but worried that the Roberts court might hold it unconstitutional, President Obama wants to "nudge" straight white males into not voting. He is working with TV networks to broadcast, on Election Day, the Daytona 500, Alabama vs. Auburn football, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit TV special and WWE Spectacular with Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker taking on The Rock and Roman Reigns. Research suggests that this would decrease the straight white male turnout by 92%.
Even conservatives are coming around. Yesterday the Koch brothers and the American Enterprise Institute gave a limited endorsement to DisSwim. They advocate disenfranchising all straight white males who are not property owners. They claim this was the constitution's original intention.