Posted on 03/16/2009 4:14:41 AM PDT by RangerM
Today conservatism is stigmatized in our culture as an antiminority political philosophy. In certain quarters, conservatism is simply racism by another name. And minorities who openly identify themselves as conservatives are still novelties, fish out of water.
Yet there is now the feeling that without an appeal to minorities, conservatism is at risk of marginalization. The recent election revealed a Republican Party -- largely white, male and Southern -- seemingly on its way to becoming a "regional" party. Still, an appeal targeted just at minorities -- reeking as it surely would of identity politics -- is anathema to most conservatives. Can't it be assumed, they would argue, that support of classic principles -- individual freedom and equality under the law -- constitutes support of minorities? And, given the fact that blacks and Hispanics often poll more conservatively than whites on most social issues, shouldn't there be an easy simpatico between these minorities and political conservatism?
{more at link}
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
jveritas,
You are quite correct I did join 6 days ago and perhaps I’m not the kind of person who will thrive here. In truth in the past I have more often described myself as a Libertarian rather than conservative. In recent times I have come to realize that the two party system is so entrenched in the US election system that it was time to get off the Libertarian fence. This fact may be why you see me as a liberal as I think I’m more pragmatic in my views, I don’t do the spin or repeat meme’s. There was a post here that said the Market went up because Obama was silent, I said it wasn’t true, he spoke. There was a post here that said the new ominbus bill banned stem cell research, I said that wasn’t right, it banned money from that particular bill being spent on stem cell. If factual representations of reality make me Liberal, call me what you will. I speak truth to power even when unpopular, it’s a Libertarian principal, some habits are hard to break.
Did you want people to wrongly think Obama had banned stem cell research? Talk about taking a vital issue off the table.
The facts are always better than the spin.
Compare the Regan presidency to the Libetarian platform, you might find they are closer than the recent GOP policies.
That said, I’m in this fight now and I want to win. That will take candid, hard assessments of the facts, not more “me too”
Exactly. It ain't, in fact, "Chilean Sea Bass". That free lunch is more like fish sticks and left over french fries.
In the black community, there seems to be four ways:
1. Accept the government handouts, which aren't that much, but keeps you alive without much work on your part.
2. Become a crimnal. Deal drugs, Rob, steal. That way is brutal, and most wind up dead or in jail.
3. Have some natural ability. Sports. Music. Dancing. So few make it.
4. Stay in school/learn. Work hard. Maybe you won't get rich, but you'll be freer and middle class.
Again, I think this is an incorrect premise. This is the liberal approach of how do I spin this to this to a target market? or what message do we sell? Its not a focus group. Conservatism is set of principles and values. From Ronald Reagan at CPAC (February 6, 1977 (4th annual)):
When a conservative states that the free market is the best mechanism ever devised by the mind of man to meet material needs, he is merely stating what a careful examination of the real world has told him is the truth.
When a conservative says that totalitarian Communism is an absolute enemy of human freedom he is not theorizing -- he is reporting the ugly reality captured so unforgettably in the writings of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
When a conservative says it is bad for the government to spend more than it takes in, he is simply showing the same common sense that tells him to come in out of the rain.
When a conservative says that busing does not work, he is not appealing to some theory of education -- he is merely reporting what he has seen down at the local school.
When a conservative quotes Jefferson that government that is closest to the people is best, it is because he knows that Jefferson risked his life, his fortune and his sacred honor to make certain that what he and his fellow patriots learned from experience was not crushed by an ideology of empire.
Conservatism is the antithesis of the kind of ideological fanaticism that has brought so much horror and destruction to the world. The common sense and common decency of ordinary men and women, working out their own lives in their own way -- this is the heart of American conservatism today. Conservative wisdom and principles are derived from willingness to learn, not just from what is going on now, but from what has happened before.
The principles of conservatism are sound because they are based on what men and women have discovered through experience in not just one generation or a dozen, but in all the combined experience of mankind. When we conservatives say that we know something about political affairs, and that we know can be stated as principles, we are saying that the principles we hold dear are those that have been found, through experience, to be ultimately beneficial for individuals, for families, for communities and for nations -- found through the often bitter testing of pain, or sacrifice and sorrow. (snip)
One thing that must be made clear in post-Watergate is this: The American new conservative majority we represent is not based on abstract theorizing of the kind that turns off the American people, but on common sense, intelligence, reason, hard work, faith in God, and the guts to say: "Yes, there are things we do strongly believe in, that we are willing to live for, and yes, if necessary, to die for." That is not "ideological purity." It is simply what built this country and kept it great.
You said: “The majority of them live on government handouts in one way or another and the majority of them do not pay any taxes.”
This was in response to a comment that the vast majority of minorities do not receive welfare. That is actually true. Welfare recepients at the highest point in the last 40 years never went over 6% of the population. More recently it has been closer to 2%. There is no way that most minorities are on welfare.
You decided to change it and make it about government handouts. If you use slippery language like “government handouts”, then the vast majority of all Americans are included in this. Is education a government handout? Then anyone who goes to school is on a government handout.
As far as paying taxes, 38% of households do not pay federal income taxes. Most still pay fica, which I consider to be a tax. I don’t pay federal income taxes due to a moderate income and a variety of tax breaks I get, but I don’t feel any less patriotic because I don’t pay taxes. But then I am white, so maybe it’s okay if I don’t.
Which brings to the question: what’s your point? As conservatives we are color blind, so why make this about what a certain race does or doesn’t do? Even if your point is true, that still leaves a significant number of minorities who are not depending on the government and might be open to aligning politically with conservative candidates. Why not make it about those who are on welfare no matter the color of their skin? When you make it primarily about race, you further alienate responsible, law-abiding citizens with whom we have much in common.
Don’t tell me you haven’t seen more “luxury” foods in the carts of customers paying with food stamps than you do in the carts of people paying with their own earned income.
His prescription is correct:
The challenge for conservatives today is simply self-acceptance, and even a little pride in the way we flail away at problems with an invisible hand.
Spare me the holier than thou crap. I am not making it about race. This whole article is about race and we are commenting on it. I am just stating the facts that a majority of blacks vote democrats because government handouts and there is no denial about it. Now government handouts come in different shape and forms and not only a welfare check. I also said that in another post that most whites who vote democrats do so because they want more government handouts.
“government handouts come in different shape and forms and not only a welfare check”
Like, “it’s not your fault that you don’t succeed, it’s ‘the man’ that’s keeping you down”.
That’s probably a bigger factor than the welfare check - validating victimhood and providing excuses for character issues.
Honestly, no.
But then again, I live in Alabama. We shop mostly at Walmart Supercenters. Here, “luxury” food is the “better” parts of a hog or chicken. That and beer and snacks. We’re too fat!
No one I know eats cavier or sushi. We call that “bait”.
Seriously, I really do not see that at all with food stamps vice those without. And I do watch, as I usually accompany my wife when she shops, and I find it very boring.
Because this article is about attracting the black vote and I am saying that there is no way on the planet the Republican can get even 25% of the black vote because a majority of blacks vote for government handouts and democrats give to them all the time. The same way that most white who vote democrats do so for government handouts.
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That is a pretty flaky source at that link. In the King era almost all blacks were not republicans.
Once again you have me. I should say, how do you communicate to both, which is what I really meant. I was being too lazy in my question. That aside, how do you communicate these virtues to both?
It’s tough, because the left has intentionally broken up the God-intended order of things, and the wiring of the female human is still as she was created.
We would be shooting at balloons to try to get the bitter single female to change her attitude.
The FOUNDATIONAL issue is the devaluation and breakup of the family. Build that back up as a valued and desirable institution, and, well, MOST of the problems of society would be solved.
I think you are missing the point. To say a majority of Blacks vote democrat because of welfare (a social program a majority don’t receive) over simplifies the issue. You think these voters vote on personal economics only, I disagree, I think there is more there, there.
What else will make them vote democrat besides the left wing liberal economics?
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