It's never gonna end, people.

Earlier this year I read an opinion column in the Kansan that made me laugh out loud.  In this opinion column, the author inferred that if Barak Obama was elected president, America would have conquered the demon of racism and we would be a happy utopian society complete with rainbows, unicorns and smiles.  Interestingly enough, he went on to say that electing John McCain would send us all straight to hell.

Aside from being a prime example of the bipartisan idiocy that is ripping our nation's jugular to shreds, the naivety of the author had me a bit bemused.  Can anyone realistically believe that racism will ever be conquered?  This, a nation that was founded by slaveholders?  This, a nation that was founded with the blood of thousands of Native Americans?  This, a nation that, for some reason, still has states that wave the Stars and Bars over Old Glory? (As a Floridan, this one hurts.)

Tragically, racism is one of those ugly historically ingrained truths that will forever tarnish our nation, no matter how great it may be.

Take a look at the furor over Barak Obama's middle name, for instance.  Yes, it is the same name as a now-deposed Iraqi dictator.  Does this have any rational bearing on the election? No. But it certainly had bearing in the minds of West Virginia democrats when they resoundingly voted for Hillary Clinton in their primary. 

There is absolutely no magic panacea for the cancer of racism in our country.  Yes, the fact that people are ready to accept a minority as president is a step in the right direction, but we can never expect the fight against ignorance to ever be fully won.