HENRY JOHNSON, Kennewick

With Election Day past, the Republicans are left to reflect and lick their wounds. The president apparently scored his triumph owing to his obsession for punishing high income producers -- together with huge polling margins from key ethnic minorities. Class warfare carried the day.

Patronizing liberals, flushed with victory, are counseling conservatives, insisting that Republicans must stop being racists. Fortunately for their own supporters, Democrats are allowed to define "racist."

Simply stated, by their definition, racists are the politically conservative white people in America, those favoring reduced government debt and spending. Note: actual bigoted activity and thought are not requisite factors.

This definition of racism is why our society embraces -- with scarcely a whisper of opposition -- the likes of Congressional minority caucuses, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, The National Council of La Raza and other genuine race hustlers. Their local derivatives, though not identified as such, frequently receive favorable coverage, even in the Herald.

Does any group really believe that its collective advancement and success are best served through leveraging their ethnicity? Shame on them.

All fair-minded Americans should defend the melting pot ideal (welcoming legal immigration), but confront the racially driven government spoils contest that has sapped our national resources and set race against race for decades.