Friday, May 11, 2007

Charles Barkley at the New Republic

A fascinating interview with Charles Barkley. I can't find anything he says that I disagree with. Maybe he should run for Governor in Alabama.

One of his many excellent comments:

America is divided by economics strictly. You know, people always talk about race, and we have racial problems in this country. Of course we do. But the real issue is the rich against the poor. We've got to get poor white people and poor black people and Mexicans to realize they are all in the same boat. If you in one of those three groups and you are poor, you are going to be in a bad neighborhood, you are going to go to a bad school, and you are going to have strikes against you. You can't commit crimes in good neighborhoods. They will get your ass. Their kids go to private school, or they go to school in a good economic area. But the poor people, they are all in the same boat but they divide you based on race or stuff like that. A lot of these politicians say things like "We've got to stop all these illegal immigrants." I am like, "That is so easy to stop." They are not working for other immigrants.
I think one of the key differences between left and right is this notion that "we're all in the same boat." It's not every man for himself. And when Barkley says it, it sounds real and urgent.