Posted on 11/17/2006 3:05:04 PM PST by neverdem
A letter to the Republican Party: All that talk a year ago about the new black ascendancy in the Republican Party, with profiles all over the place of Michael Steele, Ken Blackwell, and Lynn Swann ... and in the end, not one of them was elected.
If your party was hoping they would usher more black voters into pulling the lever for you, you were neglecting something crucial. Millions of black people remain convinced that the R in Republican stands for racist, for a reason you will have to attend to if you're serious about the black vote.
I am serious about you getting more of that vote, because only when black America stops putting all its eggs in one basket will there be any reason for any party actually to court our attention with real policies.
And for that reason, I consider it urgent to inform you that it is in your interest to purge your state-level organizations of operatives who engage in underhanded tactics to suppress Democratic votes.
Some years ago, racial profiling was the typical justification for black people insisting that racism continues to define black existence. Amadou Diallo and the Cincinnati riots of 2001 were still fresh in people's minds.
These days, in the wake of those episodes, in many cities, relations between police forces and inner-city black men, while still often frayed, are more constructive.
But I have noticed that over the past couple years, the preferred crutch for "racism forever" types has become the claim that Republicans are trying to deny blacks the vote.
Perhaps memories about Florida are fading somewhat. However, the allegations about Ohio in 2004 are more recent — and amply preserved by the blog culture that had emerged by then. Victim-based black politics today holds up Ohio as Exhibit A
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
McWhorter has done some good work in the past -- not exactly a card-carrying conservative, but with ideas echoed in recent times by the likes of Bill Cosby: responsibility, self-reliance, civility...
With this article, he demonstrates that he's drunk the fatal dosage of "Black Victim" flavored Kool-aid...
Too bad.....
Nuts. It's not voter suppression to insist on the importance of voters being properly registered, with proper ID.
That's how the American election system is supposed to work. One man, one vote--not two or three.
Millions of black people remain convinced that the "D" in Democrat stands for "Dependency" and "Daddy." And the "P" in Party stands for "plantation." Quick: what have Democrats done for blacks in the last 40 years, besides pander to their sense of victimhood? As long as black Americans think that the only way they can get ahead in life is to believe the demagoguery of the Democrat Party, they'll be stuck -- which is exactly where the Democrat Party hopes they remain.
or to have an ability to read the dang ballot.
Doesn't matter. You can't get the black vote anyway. It's unattainable. And it is of decreasing relevance. Blacks are not the largest minority anymore. Hispanics are. They're surging, are the only ones with a fertility rate above the replacement rate (whites and blacks are both below it). With amnesty, they are going to become a huge voting block.
Lose the Hispanics, and the Republicans will not get power back for a century. Probably forever.
Therefore, Republicans need to think long and hard about what they have to do to get the majority of Hispanic votes. If the Democrats get a majority of Hispanic votes, and they currently do, then their majorities will increase with time, because of the increase in Hispanics relative to the decrease of everyone else.
Write off the blacks as a lost cause.
Bring the Hispanics on board or lose the cause.
In the battle for the hispanic vote, Republicans need to prevent the Democrats from developing a "victim mentality" within the greater hispanic community. Frankly, this isn't about race -- it's about opportunity, about a positive message, about inclusiveness in the "American Dream" and the American way of life. We also need to be talking about the importance of assimilation -- the Dems are all about "respecting" different cultures, including protecting their right to speak their native language, but these are all means of keeping ethnic minorities as distinct from other Americans, of keeping them from becoming part of the larger American culture, and perpetuating the sense of disenfranchisement. Any hispanic (or black) who rises above an attitude of victimhood, who actually seizes the opportunities of America, will not long stay a Democrat. Democrats will want to make hispanics feel, or accept the notion that they are second-class citizens. And to keep them in the Democrat fold, they will always have to be made to feel like second-class citizens.
McWhorter the Democrat accuses the Republicans of voter fraud. Ho hum. Kool-Aid is right. He gets a lot of flak from brothers who think he's left the reservation, so he's propping up his black credentials.
In regards to the conservative Republican or Constitutional political party members, people who take personal responsibility, work hard and play by the rules, do not want a 'big tent' for those who don't, and neither do I.
When Whites, Browns and Blacks agree with the standards, they will join as did others of every race.
It will take more than that.
Latinos are mostly Catholic and quite pro-life, but they don't vote that issue. Folks who walk Latino precincts trying to get votes for the GOP hear the key issue: Republican Party is for the rich.
Well, if you're a Latino, unless your family has been here a long time (and that's not very many), you're almost certainly poor. Republicans have to tailor an economic message and policy that recognizes that and gives security to these folks. Otherwise they'll vote Dem in the same massive numbers they already do, and that will mean Democratic majorities forever.
GOP has to move on the economic philosophy front.
I completely agree. The problem with most Republican candidates is that they don't even try to compete for the hispanic, or black, vote. It's the way these voting groups are ignored that probably does the most damage.
And it is just wrong, wrong, wrong! How can we stop this perception however when the left makes sure they tell them this all of the time? What an evil tactic, but it works for them.
The problem is that competing for the black and Hispanic vote MEANS urging stronger schools, universal health care, stronger labor protection, and a solid social security pension program. Poor people are mostly worried about money and security, and cannot afford the luxury of worrying about hot-button morals issues.
But Republican candidates, reflecting their base, are often still stuck in the rut of railing against the New Deal, the EXISTENCE of Medicare and Social Security, and even the EXISTENCE of the Department of Education.
It's politically unrealistic, and not even wise economically.
Republicans have to get off the laissez-faire economics kick. It actually did not work all that well when we had it, and we're never going back to it any more than we're going to go back to Prohibition or preventing women from voting. Those are all bad ideas whose time came, and went.
Philosophically, Republicans want to be a middle-to-upper class party. They don't really WANT to modify their economic ideology to accomodate a large portion of poor people and industrial laborers. In fact, there is a portion of the Republican base which focuses on laissez-faire economics as THE objective for which they vote Republicans. THOSE people would feel utterly betrayed, and might leave the party, were the party to reach for comprehensive public health insurance.
I don't know how big a portion of the Republican base the Ayn Rand economists and laissez-faire economists are. I do know that Republicans are viewed, not wrongly, as the party whose policies favor the rich in particular, and that this is a killer with poor people like Blacks and Hispanics. With Blacks it doesn't matter. Electorally they're a dead letter. Write them off.
But you can't write off the Hispanics. They're the majority maker.
So, where can the GOP change?
On national security? No. They could become COMPETENT at war fighting - that would be refreshing - but their basic focus on national security is appropriate and a net vote getter.
On abortion? Well, they could change, but they'd lose their religious base, and that's huge.
On economics, then. Thas the only option left.
But CAN they change on that?
Judging from the virulent reactions one sees on FR for posting something to the effect of "Social Security has been a net benefit to most people", I am dubious.
And that's a pretty bad situation to be in.
Because if we can't budge on anything, we can't win.
I have to agree. And that's a shame. I've been a big fan of McWhorter in the past.
AFA the People's Republic of MD goes (since I live there), I am not very impressed w/ the vote preferences of African Americans (should this be hyphenated?). They helped to elect a failed Mayor of Baltimore City to the most prestigious office in the State w/o holding him accountable for his monumental failures in governing.
The Dems only vote along racial lines in their primaries.
It's a lost cause.
Don't forget that social security is nothing like the original program. That was intended to take care of the truly needy, to keep them from joning the economic radicals. But it has been sold to the middle class as social insurance rather than what it is, a straight transfer of funds. It was never intended to provide a pension for a class of people who make a millions dollars in their working career. It has become a bonus for people who saved a boodle for old age. The problem is that the baby boomers didn't have enough kids to keep the money coming.
You also need to consider that blacks are overrepresented in the Civil Service. That's because so many civil service jobs are in the national capital. Civil Servvants vote for the Democratic Party, which is the government party. Democrats vote for higher taxes, which go to create more government jobs.
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