A Little Note About American Foreign Policy Towards Apartheid South Africa and Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela's passing is pretty universally recognized here in the United States, and everyone wants to pay tribute to the man.

But it should be noted that, back in the days of the actual apartheid struggle, many American politicians who are still prominent today, actually agreed with the racist white minority regime and labeled Mandela a "terrorist".

Perhaps most notably, there was former Vice President Dick Cheney, who seemed embarrassed whenever this inconvenient fact was brought up.

He certainly was not the only one, however. Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee for President in 2008, also voted against a resolution for Mandela's release from prison. So did Newt Gingrich. And they were not alone.

Here's a more specific list from an angry blogger:

http://oswaldofguadalupe.tumblr.com/post/69209852037/the-twitter-mandela-hall-of-shame



Also, I thought this was rather pathetic.

Former Republican Presidential candidate is displaying a very gross, and very public, misunderstanding of Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement.

He is likening the opposition to the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as "Obamacare", to that movement towards ending legalized racism in South Africa. Once again, a prominent Republican is voicing his uninformed opinion in weighing in about the healthcare debate in the United States, and completely glossing over the glaringly obvious failings of the existing system.

Moreover, by comparing a real-life struggle for simple human dignity and living conditions with his and his party's) political opposition towards an attempt at remedying the ills of the American healthcare system, and attempts to making it more fair and affordable, Santorum is, in fact, reinforcing the notion of American political and historical ignorance.

Santorum, and those who tend to agree with him, seem to have completely forgotten the inconvenient truth that South Africa was the only other industrialized nation other than the United States not to have some form of affordable universal health care during the days of apartheid. One of the priorities of the incoming, black majority, ANC -led government was to remedy that, and set such a system into place.

South Africa continues to have that system in place still, nearly two decades later.

The United States, in the meantime, continues to lag behind the rest of the world, dragging it's feet towards even attempting a more equitable and just healthcare system, as irrational fears and even more irrational arguments behind those fears continue to be aired prominently. Mr. Santorum's ignorance being so widely on display, presumably to a fairly wide (and most assuredly loyal) audience, is only the most recent manifestation of that mixture of political ignorance and arrogance that prominent, and very vocal, American politicians have garnered and, by default, the United States itself. It has legitimately become a worldwide reputation by now, as more and more people are seeing in the United States, formerly the world's leading superpower and envy of the worst, not a good example, or some "shining city on a hill", but rather, a political basketcase.

Here is the story in further detail:

"Rick Santorum: Nelson Mandela Fought 'Great Injustice,' Just Like Republicans Are Battling Obamacare" The Huffington Post  |  By Paige Lavender Posted: 12/06/2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/rick-santorum-nelson-mandela_n_4398155.html