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Why the GOP Can't Win With Minorities (Excellent Column)
WSJ ^ | 3/16/09 | Shelby Steele

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 ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: blackvote; conservatism; elections; gop; hispanics; hispanicvote; identitypolitics; minorities; politics; racism; republican; shelbysteele
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To: RangerM

bttt


21 posted on 03/16/2009 4:51:06 AM PDT by aberaussie
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To: RangerM; All

"Captain Roger Hill is facing an Other Than Honorable discharge from the Army ... We hope to enlist your help in joining our letter writing campaign to the Secretary of the Army. The Human Resource Command (HRC) will review Roger's discharge packet and make a recommendation as to the characterization of his service to the Secretary of the Army Pete Geren."

Read the story of Dog Company, visit the More than Brothers web site, and support our troops!

22 posted on 03/16/2009 4:52:05 AM PDT by Sergeant Tim (In the War on Terror, there is no place to run from here.)
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To: nathanbedford

I hadn’t read much Shelby Steele before. I never miss a Thomas Sowell (etc.) column. I’ll have to add Shelby Steele to my list.

I’ll look for that C-Span video on their website. They keep a good (online viewable) archive. Thanks for the info.


23 posted on 03/16/2009 4:53:07 AM PDT by RangerM (Gotz-ta git me sum of them internets!)
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To: jveritas

“Most minorities vote for only one reason: Welfare and more welfare.”

This is not true. The vast majority of minorities do not receive welfare and many look down on other minorities that do.

To the extent that welfare helps the Democrats with minorities, it is mainly due to the fact that Democrat welfare programs, while ultimately destructive to minorities, are seen as an indication that they “care”. On the other hand, conservative calls to cut these programs and get people to stand on their own feet and achieve a higher standard of living are spun as “racist”.

The fundamental problem is that the Democrat party is seen as the party that “cares”. Most don’t of course, and to the extent they do, their well meaning programs do more harm to minorities than ten thousand Klansmen ever could.

We need to effectively that we are the party that cares enough to tell the truth and not to pander.


24 posted on 03/16/2009 4:58:23 AM PDT by Above My Pay Grade
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To: RangerM

Conservatives only have the truth. If we give that away then who cares who anyone votes for?

Perhaps it’s time to act like the truth is beautiful instead of a sinful behavior.


25 posted on 03/16/2009 4:58:33 AM PDT by donna ("Democracy is not enough. If the culture dies, the country dies." - Pat Buchanan)
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To: Above My Pay Grade
The vast majority of minorities do not receive welfare and many look down on other minorities that do.

The majority of them live on government handouts in one way or another and the majority of them do not pay any taxes.

26 posted on 03/16/2009 5:14:30 AM PDT by jveritas (God Bless our brave troops)
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To: Above My Pay Grade
The vast majority of minorities do not receive welfare and many look down on other minorities that do.

The majority of them live on government handouts in one way or another and the majority of them do not pay any taxes.

27 posted on 03/16/2009 5:14:33 AM PDT by jveritas (God Bless our brave troops)
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To: RangerM
Of course this is true.

However democrats are great at stroking grievances but republicans are not. How about the school voucher program in DC being terminated? You hear Steele talking about that? No he is busy talking about Rush Limbaugh, Steele on defense on some liberal show. Idiots!

28 posted on 03/16/2009 5:16:11 AM PDT by sickoflibs (Keynesian Eco 101 : "If you won't spend your money WE WILL, and your kid's too!")
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To: TomGuy

In the last two months Obama and the democrats already authorized 1.3 trillion dollars in welfare between the so called stimulus (welfare bill) and paying mortgage for people who cannot afford to pay them. Also it is the democrats who are giving money to the banks and more so than the Republicans.


29 posted on 03/16/2009 5:21:13 AM PDT by jveritas (God Bless our brave troops)
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To: sickoflibs
How about the school voucher program in DC being terminated?

The residents of DC do not give a damn about school vouchers. They want welfare.

30 posted on 03/16/2009 5:22:29 AM PDT by jveritas (God Bless our brave troops)
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To: nathanbedford
To unlock the hold the of the Democrat party on the African American race, Republicans must find an emotional key.

It is not going to work. There is not a single emotional key that will make blacks vote Republicans not even 25% of them will do so. Republicans trying to get the black vote is an absolute waste of time, money, and energy.

31 posted on 03/16/2009 5:25:36 AM PDT by jveritas (God Bless our brave troops)
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To: pnut22

Some do not want to accept it.


32 posted on 03/16/2009 5:27:06 AM PDT by jveritas (God Bless our brave troops)
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To: Servant of the Cross

The larger issue is Women. Women make up 53% of the electorate, Obama won them by 13%, you do the math. Even as Obama’s poll number fall (largely in the south & males) women give him job approval ratings in the low 70’s. The southern white male strategy will not work in the new demographics of America, like it or not.

This http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/03/obama_creates_w.html is no accident.


33 posted on 03/16/2009 5:27:17 AM PDT by Evoter
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To: Heartland Mom

We should probably show more sense then to put out parodies like the ‘Magic Negro’ song or Cantor’s profanity laced video...some of our wounds are self inflicted.


34 posted on 03/16/2009 5:28:18 AM PDT by nyconse (When you buy something, make an investment in your country. Buy American or bye bye America)
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To: jveritas

I guess Johnson was right...

“I’ll have those n*rs voting Democratic for the next 200 years.” — Lyndon B. Johnson


35 posted on 03/16/2009 5:28:27 AM PDT by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: RangerM
blah, blah, blah, blah...

the Democrat party put the idea in minorities(read Blacks) collective heads in the ‘60s that they were “entitled” to food, shelter & clothing because they were the oppressed because their ancestors were slaves and they and now Hispanics(particularly illegals) are living off the American tit. And just as any drug dealer gives his first customers a "taste" in order to get them "hooked", those people who are "hooked" on government assistance, continue to vote for their "dealer."

It is not a matter of minorities, it is a matter of AMERICANS going out and earning a living without government assistance. Unfortunately, HALF of Americans today depend on the government for their livelihood.

So until those Americans, who are on government assistance, wise up and do as some governors did last week and say “no thanks” to government assistance, the situation is not going to improve.

36 posted on 03/16/2009 5:32:13 AM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: Evoter
Welcome to FR.

Seems like you're attempting to divert the point of the thread. True conservatism will appeal to women and men, as well as any other demographics (appeal to the content of one's character, not the color of their skin).

Your premise is wrong (and sounds like DU). Conservatism is not a "white male strategy".

37 posted on 03/16/2009 5:36:08 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: Evoter

Here’s the pattern, if not an intentional plan:

>put more women in the workforce
>tell them they’re “independent” and need to be independent as a desirable state (Steinem - woman, man, fish, bicycle)
>make divorce easy, promote the concept that marriage is unnecessary and undesirable

now, play to women’s natural “wiring” to be taken care of, and offer the government as the entity to do so.

I am NOT wrong on this - look at the stats. Married women are conservative by HUGE margins, seeing their families as the primary unit of support.
Single/divorced women vote OVERWHELMINGLY for more government “protection” and “security” - ie, big government socialism.


38 posted on 03/16/2009 5:37:11 AM PDT by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: MrB

You are of course correct, but this is a truth that is not permitted to be uttered in public.


39 posted on 03/16/2009 5:42:23 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: Above My Pay Grade

You are right, and the post you respond to is a perfect example of why there is a disconnect.

If a group/party assumes that:

“Most minorities only vote for one reason: Welfare and more welfare”

how can that group expect minorities to not see it as racist and against minorities when faced with generalizations like that?

That thinking is a cop out, it relieves conservatives from the responsibility of looking in the mirror, many just repeat the same line over and over....

“It can’t be us, they just want more welfare” ... that’s not a strategy for winning only self validation.


40 posted on 03/16/2009 5:44:48 AM PDT by Evoter
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