Northwest Iowa’s congressional representative, Republican Steve King, is at it again. An unabashed ‘champion of Western civilization,’ King relishes his role as the most ardent defender of the white race in Congress. For a long time he displayed the Confederate flag on his desk in Washington, has called Hispanics “dirt” and recently met with a member of a far-right group in Austria founded by a former Nazi S.S. officer. King is convinced that our white Christian values are under assault from minorities, women and members of other religions. His great dream seems to be to rebuild the United States in the image of imperial Europe.
When a reporter at the 2016 Republican National Convention asked him about the lack of diversity there, King replied, “I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out, where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you’re talking about, where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?” And just last week, in an interview with the New York Times, King asked, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization – how did that language become offensive? Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”
How did concepts like white supremacy become offensive? One need only look at our history. America was founded in an attempt to break free of the white Christian aristocracy that was strangling European society. There only the rich were able to enjoy the fruits of Western civilization – otherwise why did so many millions of Europeans come here? Our ancestors sought freedom from political, economic and religious oppression.
Yes, these people did bring European ideas to this country, and there’s no denying they oppressed the Native Americans, African slaves and any other group that was somehow different. Yet history shows us that the story of America is the story of an unending struggle to realize our founding ideals – freedom from oppression and equality before the law. And no, we aren’t there yet.
The Western civilization King champions is the same civilization our ancestors fought to escape – a civilization where a privileged few – white Christian males with lots of money – deprived everyone else of their fundamental rights.
The terms white nationalism and white supremacy are well documented historically as the terms used by the worst elements of the white race to justify oppressing minorities, women and the poor. If Rep. King had actually been paying attention in history class, he would know this.
As their party drifts closer and closer to openly embracing King’s views, a few courageous Republican voices have been raised against King’s comments, including Wyoming congresswoman Liz Chaney – daughter of former vice president Dick Chaney – who called King’s remarks “abhorrent and racist and should have no place in our national discourse.” Not all Republicans seem to feel this way, though – Nebraska’s Governor, Pete Ricketts, has contributed to King’s reelection campaigns.
King’s views are no secret and Omaha World-Herald columnist Matthew Hansen asked in November why Iowans are dumb enough to keep reelecting him. In response a woman from Harlan, Iowa, explained that people like Hansen “just don’t get it,” and went on to say that the “actual dumb ones” are those who vote “for someone without actually knowing where he stands.”
Everyone knows where Rep. King stands. What’s frightening is that despite knowing about his “abhorrent” beliefs, Iowans keep electing him. And Iowa isn’t that far away – geographically or ideologically. One wonders, could someone like King find support on this side of the Missouri, too?