Posted on 06/17/2013 4:01:35 AM PDT by Kaslin
Anyone who doubts that the Republican Party can attract black voters needs only look south to Louisiana.
At a conference held in Baton Rouge at the end of May, called @Large and aimed to attract black conservatives, black Democrat Elbert Guillary, a member of the state legislature, announced that he was switching party and becoming a Republican.
Less than two weeks later, just up the road in Central City, Louisiana, black Democrat city councilman Ralph Washington – who attended this same @Large conference, made the same announcement – he’s becoming a Republican.
It’s really not such a mystery. The mystery is why this is not happening more often.
I’m asked all the time why, when it is so clear that blacks are damaged by the left wing political agenda, black voters so uniformly and consistently support candidates – Democrats – who advance this agenda.
My answer is that Republicans need to start acting more like the businesspeople they claim to be.
Any businessman convinced that his product is the best doesn't blame customers for not buying it. He doubles down on his efforts to understand these potential customers better and how to sell to them.
There needs to be more appreciation of the differences in the black population.
A Gallup poll done in 2011 showed that whereas 39 percent of whites say they are “very religious,” 53 percent of blacks do. A large percentage of “very religious” blacks are conservative and very different from blacks on the left who identify with the NAACP.
The @Large conference, where I was a speaker, was hosted by pastor C.L. Bryant, who tells his own story about leaving the left-wing black establishment in his new film “Runaway Slave.”
Bryant was president of the NAACP chapter in Garland, Texas, but his relationship with the NAACP soured when he refused to speak at a Planned Parenthood pro-abortion event.
His eyes began to open and see that his traditional Christian values – protecting the unborn and promoting the traditional family, individual freedom, and dignity – were out of whack with the political agenda blacks were automatically signing onto.
Elbert Guillary is now the first black Republican in the Louisiana state legislature since reconstruction.
Listen to him to understand why a conservative black leaves the Democratic Party.
He called the Democrats “the party of disappointment” and expressed disillusionment with Democratic policies on abortion, gun control, education, and immigration.
Democrats “have moved away from the traditional values of most Americans,” he said. “Their policies have encouraged high teen birth rates, high high school drop-out rates, high incarceration rates, and very high unemployment rates.”
Or listen to now-Republican councilman Washington:
“…the value system I was raised up with, it really doesn’t side with the Democrats...Some of the things I see happening today, with the entitlement programs, we have to change. We can’t continue doing the things we are doing and survive.”
Everyone understands that black American history is unique and complicated.
But wallowing in the past is never an answer to anyone’s personal challenges.
The challenge is clarifying right from wrong and acting accordingly moving forward.
It has always seemed pretty clear to me that traditional values and personal freedom and responsibility must be the agenda moving forward for every American of every background.
Black Americans, like every American, need less taxes taken out of their paychecks, need to be able to choose where to send their children to school, need to be able to pick freely a health care plan that suits their needs, and need to save for retirement instead of paying payroll taxes.
You can’t sum it up any better than what Elbert Guillary and Ralph Washington have said. There are many, many Guillarys and Washingtons out there in black America. We need more efforts like the @Large conference to reach them
probably thinks that Lincoln was a democrat too
Good. I will vote for any candidate who has the right ideology and values. The person’s race does not enter into the equation.
Can you name three that hold elective office and have the ability to push a conservative legislative agenda?
I feel the same way
It is indeed
Blame those in here who root for a third party
Great letter and there’s is hope that more blacks will see the light
So are these new Republicans going to be Republicans or Black Republicans? Are they going to be members of the National Black Republican Association? Or just Republicans?
His Lt. Governor was Robert Freeman a democrat. Maybe that explains it?
The GOP talks a lot about outreach but do they do it? The way you win people over is you spend time on their turf in their churches in their communities. The latest bs about immigration doesn’t help win Hispanic votes. Hell the primary beneficiaries cant even vote yet some how Hispanics are going to have an ahh-ha moment and start voting GOP because they suddenly perceive being Republican as not racist. The GOP needs to bring in some fresh marketing from the retail world. People who specialize in branding/selling that aren’t political insiders. Inside most of the time what they spend money on is crap.
Also they totally reject promotion of issues like marriage that resonate with the very religious blacks and Hispanics who are the most natural Democrat voters to peal off. If you go to marriage marches they are some of the most diverse gatherings I’ve ever seen in conservative politics but of course that doesn’t matter.
that was a nasty thing to say about someone that wised up to the democrats plantation and left. Your attitude would attract no one to conservativism and gives republicans a bad name....you must be a liberal mole....
At one time, I may have considered this positive news. These days, however, being Republican is far less important than being CONSERVATIVE, in my mind.
Consider these Republicans: John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Chris Christie, Mitt Romney. The list goes on and on.
In general, I’m somewhat leery of black Republican converts. I’m not suggesting that they are intentional saboteurs, but I am wondering how much of their personal, traditionally-liberal “black experience” will bleed into their lives as Republicans. If this happens, it will further dilute what little staunch conservatism remains in the Stupid Party.
If blacks believe in what we believe - fine. Would love to have them in the party. But it's a fool's errand to spend money and time seeking the black vote.
] Democrats seeking Tea Party voters would be wasting their money and time too.
We need to get real guys... blacks are NOT going to vote for us in numbers that matter... Our time and money must be better spent.
I want to see Star Parker do a breathless story about two NRA gun owners who become Democrats... and a list of reasons why democrats should spend time and money going after the ‘NRA gun owner’ vote - rather than spending money on expanding their base...
Susan Colins, is and has always been a RINO. All you have to do is go to Senate.gov and do a search how she voted and you will find that she voted mostly with the rats, except in 2012 when she ran for reelection. John McCain and Lindsey vote mostly with the other Republicans, which clearly do not make them RINOs
Did I use the term 'RINO'? No.
The point is, especially with respect to McCain & Graham, is, look at some of the anti-conservative issues that have their support, like ' comprehensive immigration reform' and feelgood, squishy statements about how nice a guy Obama is. Who cares if they vote with the other Republicans, if the other Republicans are only half a chromosome from being a liberal?
Hope they are conservatives and not just opportunists. We need more conservatives of all stripes, especially folks who haven’t been seen as traditionally aligned with conservatism.
There already is a third party — The Constitution Party, but voters won’t support it.
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