If there is such a thing as a moderate Democrat anymore, Howard Schultz, a guy with good ideas whom I actually like, is one. But like the Democrat leadership in Virginia, Democrats have more racial issues plaguing them these days than Republicans. Soon that state might change its motto to "Virginia is for Lovers of Black Shoe Polish."
Remember a couple of years ago when the former Starbucks CEO and current presidential candidate took a break from selling overpriced coffee to white people and decided he would try to end racism? Schultz seems to have done that; almost every couple in TV commercials now is interracial, and they seem happy.
Ron HartSchultz instructed his baristas, the tattooed and nose-ringed students majoring in women and gender studies and carrying $45,000 in student loan debt, to lecture customers on race. This I know for sure: If anyone wants to start a "conversation" with you about race, he is doing two things: calling you racist and presuming to virtuously lecture you on the matter.
Little known fact: I minored in gender studies in college. But back then there were only two sexes, so I am not sure I could make a living in the field today.
If Schultz had not bowed to public pressure and ended the "Race Together" campaign (where baristas wrote that message on customers' cups), we would have been handed that insult on top of the injury of standing in line for a $6.50 cup of coffee in a place that employs snooty baristas. Once a Starbucks employee asked a customer's name so he might write it on the customer's cup. The man said, "Marc with a C." The employee promptly wrote "Cark" on his cup.
If we are going to slow the line at Starbucks for a conversation on anything, it ought to be why it charges $6.50 for a cup of gritty coffee that you can get at McDonald's for $1.50. Talk is cheap; why not a latte? Let's talk about how much the dolts who buy coffee each day at Starbucks, versus at McDonald's or making it themselves, could save in a year. $6.50 minus $1.50 is $5. So, 365 days times about $5 extra per day is $1,825 a year, assuming you don't tip the hipster "philosophers" who write your name on your cup.
Starbucks is not a lecture hall; it is a place to meet someone you don't quite trust in your home, or from whom you are buying something on Craigslist. At best, it is a place to finish a term paper. A lecture hall is the venue for the Grammys, Oscars or any entertainment awards show. This year, you could get six hours of college credit for watching the Oscars. Starbucks ultimately decided to leave the racebaiting to the professionals: Jesse Jackson, Jussie Smollett and Al Sharpton.
Of late, the media have been scouring the nation to find pseudo race-based incidents they can highlight on the news. They misreport, with obvious bias, and then extrapolate to brand each incident as indicative of all of America. As with all hoaxes like the Jussie Smollett case, the media seem to relish giving the condescending stink eye to America on race without checking the facts.
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In a lame attempt to pit the races against each other, the left's renewed focus on race stems largely from the Ferguson, Missouri, case. To review their best set of facts: Michael Brown was the African-American, inner-city youth with a troubled past. Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson traces his family back to England, where white people were invented.
The most egregious recent incident involved those dopey University of Oklahoma frat boys singing a song with the "N" word in it. If Jay-Z had sung the same song, he would have gotten a BET award and a Grammy for Album of the Year.
The reason Howard Schultz is appealing is that he is a successful capitalist who is talking ideas. But there is no longer room for ideas in the dogma of the new Democrat Party, which requires its members to vote in mindless lockstep with leadership. The seismic shift to socialism in his party makes it hard for Schultz to run, since he is actually a Democrat.
Contact Ron Hart, a syndicated op-ed satirist, at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @Ronald-Hart on Twitter.