Charles Murray warns Tucker that America could cease to exist as founded
Political scientist Charles Murray warns Fox Nation about the dire consequences of identity politics
The United States is facing a potentially world-changing crisis in which it could cede its standing as one of the last free societies that governs without prejudice toward or against certain groups, political scientist and author Charles Murray said Wednesday.
Murray, of the American Enterprise Institute, told Fox Nation's "Tucker Carlson Today" that the crisis America is living through under President Joe Biden is unlike any problems felt during previous liberal administrations like those of Barack Obama or Bill Clinton.
That crisis, he said, risks the United States becoming "America" in name only:
"What we are looking at is an inflection point in American history that could very easily go the wrong way. And so, what we’ll be left with is a country that still has the name America," he said.
"It’s still the world’s leading economic and at least military power and a very powerful economy. We aren’t going to be America anymore. We’re going to be just like other big powers, and our government is going to be run with the same kind of partiality toward your group over the other groups that has been the norm throughout human history."
From 1776 to the present, Murray said, America has been the "exception" internationally, in that it gives unique autonomy to its people regardless of their race, gender, occupation or social status.
"America was… a unique country when we started, and if we lose that uniqueness there’s no way to make America great again because America is not going to be America," said Murray.
Murray said that the new focus on Critical Race Theory, a disputed curriculum that places America's founding as grounded in racism rather than individual liberty, equality and freedom of thought, has brought him to this conclusion.
"I began to realize that what's going on with critical race theory and identity politics is a repudiation of the American creed. It's saying the founding ideals are wrong," he said. "The American creed used to be a phrase in common use. It was based on the first paragraphs of the Declaration. All men are created equal. They are born with inalienable rights."
Instead, Murray noted, identity politics and critical race theory make a person's immutable characteristics – such as their race or gender – the only thing that matters as to their place in society. The result is often in itself discriminatory.
He warned that the overwhelming push from the political left at present day is to foster "social goals that bring another group up preferentially to meet another group."
While such actions are idealistic, they however "repudiate what has made America America," he added.
While the U.S. has historically been about providing equality in beginnings, the left seeks equality in outcomes, which itself requires discriminatory practices against perceived advantaged groups, he suggested.
Murray told host Tucker Carlson that race is the "third rail" of American politics – because many people don't want to believe that an individual can improve himself or herself by bettering their education or an enhanced work ethic, or the like.
"And what it boiled down to was, in America, you can go as far as hard work and talent will take you. You are the equal of everybody else. You're the equal in terms of the law," he said.
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A potentially unforeseen symptom of Democrats purportedly seeking to discriminate against certain groups in the name of equity, Murray said, is that Republicans could then respond by seeking to advantage the groups that the left has begun to disadvantage.
"What happens the next time the Republicans take the Senate and the House? Do the Republicans start to behave as the party for Whites to pass laws that favor Whites? I’m not saying that’s going to happen. I’m saying that kind of identity politics is more likely now than it used to be," he said.
"That's potentially catastrophic."
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