On Plantation Politics

Got this link off Free Republic and followed it to National Review.  Williamson, the author, makes an allusion to who owns the term "plantation".  It sort of looks to me like the left is trying to appropriate that term for their own uses.

The use of the word “plantation” to describe the relationship between black Americans and their political patrons is an unfortunate staple of contemporary rhetoric. Professor West’s remark is unusual in that “plantation” rhetoric usually comes from the Right

Williamson goes on to warn the white folks not to use the term loosely.

With that in mind, I'll throw my own two cents in.

White liberals run the Democrat party.  This may be changing, but for the most part, those in leadership positions are mostly white.  Thus, those in the rank and file are not white, by and large.  Isn't that what the plantation system was all about?  All blacks working for whites for little profit or gain?  Isn't that the case today?  What good has the Democrat party really done for the black people?  It seems to me that they've done a lot of harm.

Most of the money is still coming from rich whites.  Guys like Soros and Buffet.

Again, who's working for who?  Are the white folks in the Democrat party working for blacks or against them?

How does it really help the black folks to be united in their enthusiasm for a party that doesn't advance their interests?  Isn't that the question that is usually thrown at white guys like me who aren't rich, but vote for Republicans?

The Republicans, judging from what I have seen, tend to get their support from the middle class.  It is the very poor and very rich who tend to vote for the Democrats.  It's the very poor and very rich dynamic that defines what the old Plantation system was really like in the Old South.