Arkansas GOP State Rep: Slavery ‘May Actually Have Been a Blessing in Disguise’ for Blacks

The prior post mentioned the racism that permeates so much of today's Republican Party.  Want an example?  Well, for starters there's Arkansas Republican State Representative Jon Hubbard (pictured above) who has taken GOP batshitery to new heights in his self published book Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative (self-published means that he paid to have it printed because he likely could find no one to publish it).  One of Hubbard's premises in the book is that slavery was good for blacks.  That's right, according to Hubbard being owned by others and treated as a piece of chattel the same as an animal or a piece of furniture was a "blessing in disguise" for blacks.  I swear that you could not make stuff up that would be any more insane that what passes as intelligence and leadership in today's Republican Party.   Gawker looks at Hubbard's shocking bigotry.  Here are excerpts:

We spend an awful lot of time condemning slavery, but have you ever stopped to think about the good it did?  No, because you're not a monster. Luckily, Republican State Representative Jon Hubbard of Arkansas has you covered. In his self-published book, Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative, he explains the bright side of slavery:

The institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth.

Well, gosh, when you put it that way. Hubbard goes on to argue that a life of slavery would have been "likely much better" than a life back in Africa: "Knowing what we know today about life on the African continent, would an existence spent in slavery have been any crueler than a life spent in sub-Saharan Africa?"

As first discovered by Michael Cook of Talk Business, Hubbard's book is shockingly backwards for anyone — let alone a state representative. His worldview is grounded in centuries-old racism, including the stereotypes that blacks are lazy, unintelligent, and generally unproductive members of society.

Hubbard wonders if it will "ever become possible for black people in the United States of America to firmly establish themselves as inclusive and contributing members of society within this country."

Even school integration was a bad thing, as blacks simply can't "learn to appreciate the value of a good education."

What's really frightening is that a majority of today's Republicans probably agree with Hubbard - yes, including Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.   Yet some people - including some readers of this blog - wonder why I cannot be a Republican.   Oh, and I can just imagine what Hubbard thinks of LGBT Americans.