Posted on 08/09/2004 11:55:22 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
When Republicans are advised to choose the black rather than the white in the 8th Congressional District runoff, a perfectly legitimate question arises: Isn't a preference that takes account of race affirmative action politics?
That's a question conservatives debate as a result of Dylan Glenn's endorsements from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp. Both think Glenn's success would draw other blacks into the Republican Party, which is essential to building a stable governing majority.
The difference between racial preferences/affirmative action, as commonly practiced, and the Glenn endorsement is that both Glenn and his runoff opponent, state Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Sharpsburg), are solid conservatives whose votes in Congress would probably be indistinguishable.
When two equally qualified candidates present themselves, voters, employers or college admissions officers should, in fact, ask themselves what additional benefit accrues by choosing one over another. Equally qualified is the key. Not pretend. Not expand the qualifications zone so broadly that it becomes meaningless. And not fudge standards to mask discrimination.
The problem with affirmative action as most governments and universities practice it is that they're not upfront and honest about what they're doing. Often they're not choosing among equals. They're granting preferences on the basis of race and feeling morally justified because they see themselves as promoting diversity -- or at least Kodak and surname diversity. Rarely to never is the diversity argument applied to social conservatives, devout Christians, anti-abortion women or others whose views differ from the assembled group.
In Glenn, Republicans are not elevating a lesser qualified candidate on the basis of race. The GOP's voters can choose in self-interest and be true to their convictions. Blacks and Hispanics are essential, long term. But to get them, the GOP can't become an extension of the Democratic Party. The differences are not cosmetic. The two parties have fundamentally different core beliefs on the role of government.
President Bush's encounter with the NAACP should be an eye-opener. No president who does not wish to filter his message through the liberal wing of the Democratic Party should spend five minutes before the NAACP. Or waste two minutes with the Democratic Party's race spokesmen.
But clearly, getting past those filters to fairly present the conservative message to minorities is absolutely essential.
In Glenn and others -- a surprising number of substantial black conservatives are emerging in metro Atlanta -- the GOP has minorities attracted to the party's message. They're not faking it. They believe the message of personal responsibility, free enterprise, limited government, low taxes and strong defense.
Appealing to blacks without compromising core beliefs, without prostrating convictions before the icons of liberalism and without pandering is a long-term struggle requiring patience and dedication.
I believe that you reward courage, that you embrace blacks and other minorities who endure scorn and hardships to articulate conservative values. A governing majority that does not expand its base cannot endure.
Democrats have succeeded by turning weakness into strength. The weakness is that it's a party of gimme constituencies determined to use government to transfer the wealth of "the rich" to them. But it projects "diversity." And Democrats successfully spin to the media that their party is diverse, while the GOP is the party of old white men and Christian fundamentalists. Sooner or later, that pejorative begins to take root.
Affirmative action politics? No. It's the politics of those who wish to build a governing majority.
OK. Jim Wooten is gonna hear about this from the far left. He got off the Democrat playbook ... WAY WAY WAY off.
Wooten is in the trenches at AJC. Sort of like Jeff Jacoby is at the Boston Globe.
We absolutely need Dylan Glenn in there along with Vernon Robinson in North Carolina. They are the seeds from which great things will sprout.
Bump!
"We absolutely need Dylan Glenn in there along with Vernon Robinson in North Carolina. They are the seeds from which great things will sprout."
Bump!
Alan Keyes' Senate bid is already impacting the black community as well.
He is a hero to many blacks already, and that number will only grow as more of them are exposed to him.
It's time for a big push.
He was reaaaaaaly good last night on BET. He said exactly what he said on Fox News. He's not two faced, saying one thing to white people and another to black people. The reporterette on BET News looked a little put off but not too put off. Alan Keyes is VERY straightforward and not a BS artist. I think I'll go mosey on over to the BET message boards and see what's being said.
Let's see, only one positive comment about Keyes on BET message board after the interview. I think Keyes reaaaaaly got under some viewers' skins.
Hero to many blacks? The latest polls show him at less than ten percent of the black vote in Illinois.
He get's under LIBERALS' skin.
Maybe a hero to black conservatives, but the rat demographic just sees him as being a lawn jockey of the republican party.
That's really obvious judging from the response to his candidacy.
That is only the starting point.
But he is doing press like a whirlwind.
Watch those numbers rise.
Be patient, it won't necessarily all happen overnight (though more than could have been hoped has), but over the course of months, after they've had a chance to actually listen to him, they WILL be affected.
No way to know if it will be enough, but all Alan has to do is peel off 1 in 20 of them that Republicans wouldn't have normally gotten, and he will win.
Keyes, on the other hand, will be dismissed by black voters as beyond the pale as...he was in Maryland....as he was when he ran for president. I used to believe otherwise but no longer do.
We'll see.
The thing I think you're missing from your equation is the fact that there are many blacks of faith who at some point are going to tire of the Dem plantation, where gay marriage and abortion (of a huge number of blacks) is the order of the day, and where school choice is a distant dream.
Again, I could be wrong.....but after years of trying to run black conservatives and appeal to these conservative instincts without making any headway, you have to start wondering.
As you say, however, Keyes will have a chance to prove me wrong. I hope he does!
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