Posted on 08/23/2016 4:08:27 AM PDT by VitacoreVision
Who would have thought that Donald Trump, of all people, would be addressing the fact that the black community suffers the most from a breakdown of law and order? But sanity on racial issues is sufficiently rare that it must be welcomed, from whatever source it comes.
When establishment Republicans have addressed the problems of blacks at all, it has too often been in terms of what earmarked benefits can be offered in exchange for their votes. And there was very little that Republicans could offer to compete with the Democrats' whole universe of welfare state earmarks.
Law and order, however, is not an earmarked benefit for any special group. It is a policy for all that is especially needed by law-abiding blacks, who are the principal victims of those who are not law-abiding.
Education is another area where something that is needed by all segments of the population is especially needed by blacks and other low-income minorities. In other words, here again there is no need for a divisive policy of earmarked benefits, in order to attract new voters into a “big tent.”
No matter what policy Republicans follow, they are not going to win a majority of the black votes this year, nor perhaps even this decade.
Nor is that necessary. Just an erosion of the Democrats’ monopoly of the black votes can benefit both Republicans and the black community, who are currently taken for granted by the Democrats. Republicans may also get more white votes if they are no longer seen by some as racists.
Education is a slam dunk issue for Republicans trying to appeal to black parents with school-age children, as distinguished from trying to appeal to all black voters, as if all blacks are the same.
Education is an issue with little, if any, down side for the Republicans, because the teachers’ unions are the single biggest obstacle to black youngsters getting a decent education — and among the biggest donors to the Democrats.
Among the few signs of educational success for low-income minority children in the public schools are the KIPP and Success Academy charter schools. But teachers’ unions are bitterly opposed to increases in the number of such schools, and Democrats do what the teachers’ unions want, because money talks.
As long as blacks vote automatically for Democrats, while the teachers’ unions insist on getting their money’s worth, it is all but inevitable that the education of black children will be sacrificed in the public schools, wherever Democrats are in control.
Republicans have nothing to lose by taking on the teachers’ unions, which donate more than 90 percent of their money to Democrats. Again, Republicans may not win a majority of the votes of even those parents who have children in the public schools. But that is where any inroads into the black vote can begin.
Here, as elsewhere, a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. That step should include appeals not only to black parents with children in successful charter schools, but also the larger number of black parents on waiting lists for charter schools, and anyone else in the black community who understands that a good education is the key for the next generation to advance.
The black vote has not always been a monopoly of the Democrats. From the time of Abraham Lincoln to that of President Herbert Hoover the black vote was Republican. Even in the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the black vote was one of the few that went to President Hoover in 1932.
Even after President Franklin D. Roosevelt won over black voters in FDR’s 1936 landslide, Republicans continued to get a significant share of the black vote over the next 20 years. But not in recent elections.
Someone on CNN said that if Trump were serious about wanting the black vote, he would address groups like the NAACP. That was in fact a big mistake that even President Reagan made.
Blacks voters are not the property of the NAACP, and they need to be addressed directly as individuals, over the heads of special interest organizations that have led blacks into the blind alley of being a voting bloc that has been taken for granted far too long.
Whether other Republicans will re-think their approach to attracting minority voters is a big unanswered question.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
Probably not George Will, Charles Krauthammer, or Token Sowell, but lots of normal people with common sense.
Never Trumper can’t write first sentence without taking shot a vulgarian Trump
Wow. In the Special Hate-Trump Issue of National Review, Sowell was saying that Trump’s rallies reminded him of the rallies of a certain politician in Germany in the 1930’s.
Sowell has warmed a bit.
It's long past time for dividing us up and is now the time to come together as Americans.
The only one talking like this is Trump. Get on board Dr. Sowell; late is better than never.
I often think this myself. I wonder why more Republican candidates and office-holders don't take up this point.
Maybe it's because, at the local (county, state) level, so many voters of both parties have such an investment in the government school status quo. The jobs, the sports, the clubs, the administration, the contracting ... they've got tentacles into everything, and an alternative is hard to envision.
Sowell has not yet had his “come to Jesus” moment about Trump. It will come.
Trump has more ‘common sense’ in his little finger than all the politicians put together. Many are just coming to recognize that fact. The common man has always known the points Trump is making and it is so refreshing to see the unvarnished truth being spoken for a change.
——Just an erosion of the Democrats’ monopoly of the black votes can benefit——
eroding the margin does two things. marginal attrition takes away hillary’s votes and then in a similar manner adds to the Trump total.
This marginal attrition could be very critical in the cities where the black vote is concentrated
Rather than a $15 minimum wage, the cry should be for a 15% Trump black vote
Who would have thought that Donald Trump, of all people, would be addressing the fact that the black community suffers the most from a breakdown of law and order? But sanity on racial issues is sufficiently rare that it must be welcomed, from whatever source it comesTotally uncalled for and a disgusting display of ignorance.
Brilliant, great thinker my ass!
Thomas Sowell used to rock!
And I’m glad he begins to see a side of Trump that he was unable to see before.
OF COURSE Trump wants to improve black lives. He wants to improve ALL American lives. I knew that the moment he called for the muslim ban.
Trump is one of Sowell’s blind spots. He normally is brilliant.
I think someone put a bug in his ear about Trump, and I think it was slander.
He normally is brilliant.I used to think so too.
Trump has a way of exposing frauds without even trying.
Sowell is a token black that has a way with words (that he stumbles over when he speaks)...not brilliance.
This election is not about Liberal and Conservative policies or Democratic and Republican Party politics. If it were then Thomas Sowell's observations would be relevant but this election is about so much more.
"The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them." -Albert Einstein
Perhaps not brilliance but the wisdom Thomas Sowell shares is superior to brillinace.
He doesn’t have anymore wisdom than you do he’s just good at putting it into words you like.
Just because a writer is critical doesn’t make one anti anything. I can’t stand a writer 100% for something. That represents a slanted version of anything one writes about without any objective analysis whatsoever. In fact a writer such as that is not different than the fawning in the tank media was for Obambi as well as his disciples who swore he would part the sea.
You praise your cantidate when he is spot on but you also hold your cantidate to account when he detours and goes off track. Otherwise you are an idol worshipper but worse sheep.
So less appreciative because he is critical when it is needed of someone we support?
You are starting to sound like a glazed starry eyed Amercian Idol disciple. I’ll support and fully back a cantidate (as I do now) when he is right but will definately hold him to account when he is wrong. He (Trump) has done wonderful and great things...however
1) he isn’t God
2) he isn’t going to cure all ills of the economy
3) he isn’t going to single handedly deport millions
4) all of the above because he isn’t King
NOW
I will full back his quest to toss those out of Congress who aren’t with him to get us in the right path. I just feel many are wrapped up in cult of personality vs. reality on what a POTUS can actually do vs. peoples fantasy
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.