Some blacks say top Democrats take them for granted

Unfortunately, the people on whom I rely to supply me with life's necessities, like food and shelter, do not share your opinion that "I've got mine," so I must give large chunks of my life to providing them with proof in the form of money earned by enduring the ignorance and folly of my fellow humans and the hostility and insolence of their sullen, ill-mannered children, which I have done all this day. Otherwise I would have responded to your post earlier.

Many of these people belong to the parasite class. Some are rich by most standards, their wealth based on tobacco allotments or "baccy papers" and government subsidies of farms they have inherited but have never worked. Others are recipients of welfare "entitlements" not quite so lavish but just as steady. The first group is all white; the second, an equal balance of black and white, although with the arrival this week of the notorious ----- sisters and their many children from a neighboring county the whites will soon be in the lead.

One youngster, a member of the first group, was so rude and unpleasant I could barely suppress the urge to beat the snot out of him with his $300 hundred dollar skateboard which he kept "accidentally" banging against my shins.

Where was I? Oh, yes, I think we had a little problem of communication. I should have said, why would anyone care if conservatives welcomed him? The way I put it it could be interpreted as churlish.

Anyway, I thought I was responding to rdb3. He is Airborne. However close and friendly his squad is, whatever his group's shared goals, when he flings his body out into space he is doing the unthinkable, he is defying the law of gravity and his own instinct for self-preservation, and he is alone. It is sheer effrontery. How dare he!

This is how I imagine those people who defy the current wisdom and strike out on their own, people like Thomas Sowell. He is guilty of defying the law of the Left, the law that pulls him down as hard as that law which rdb3 defies when he steps out into space. How dare he?

And the Left reserves its loudest huzzahs for the Blacks in its ranks who hunt down and destroy Blacks who refuse to let the Left control them.

During a boring television panel show, three white men, one black man, a white referred to something Thomas Sowell had written, and they began discussing it repectfully (it was about economics,) the young black was silent and seemed to be seething with indignation. The whites sensed his anger and one of them asked him what was wrong. He very nearly spat out, "Thomas Sowell is revolting."

The whites went on to another subject. No one asked the black man why he thought Thomas Sowell was revolting. Was Sowell physically repulsive? Had he stolen from his detractor, slept with his wife? No. Thomas Sowell's ideas are so original, so logical, and so dangerous to the Left and its control of the serfs, that no one on that panel dared suggest Sowell's ideas were revolting, since they might be forced to discuss them which is against the Left's code of silence about any ideas lacking the Left's seal of approval. A black liberal's livelihood depends on his willingness to destroy a black conservative, and the more savage and irrational the attack the bigger his reward.

But to people who watched that show, and who possibly had not heard of him, the name Thomas Sowell may, in the future, conjure up all that is repugnant to decent, civilized human beings. So if someone handed them a book by Thomas Sowell they would recoil as if it were a bag of adders.

How dare they!

What I am asking is if conservatives are ready to work, hand-in-hand with blacks who have come off of the plantation, ready to answer questions; ready to point out avenues of knowledge; ready to hold intelligent discourse. Are you ready to walk together with me as we work for the betterment of our home towns, our nation, our world? Or are you ready to continue to beat down and continually slam people who are different than you?

I know this question wasn't directed at me, but let me take a stab at an honest answer.

I've been what can be popularly be discribed as a conservative (making choices and decisions from that perspective or mind-set) for 25 years. But I didn't know what being genuinely conservative really was until I went to college. And after that, I didn't know who other, genuine, thinking conservatives were until I was ready to leave college. I entered college in 1987 and didn't graduate until 1993. During that time I worked and studied every semester I could. If I had learned everything that was being taught to me in college, I would have graduated as a thoroughly indoctrinated, liberal (popularly-described, not classically described) with a liberal arts degree. Not conservative at all.

During school and after I left, I had to find my own work and make my own connections. I've made some good decisions in that regard, and some not-so-good. Nothing illegal or morally dishonorable. Just not optimal. Right now, my income is very modest. And my skills are not in business, management, or in fields like computer science or engineering. I'm a graphic designer and the field, as a profession, is full of left-leaning peers. (At least in my corner of the country.)

To answer your question:

The short of the long is that if being conservative (my emphasis) is about making money, I couldn't help you if I wanted to. (Not much, anyway-- I AM fiscally responsible and live within my means.)

But if by being conservative you mean adhering to a set of core values that will assist one in leading an honorable and happy life, I'm happy to share any knowledge I have with anyone and I'm not ashamed to say that I'll probably be learning for the rest of my life. But I'll say this: if there was a life-course on How to Be A Conservative, no one told me about it, either. I had to learn the hard way. Free Republic is the first and only place I'm aware of where conservatives (and Classical Liberals and libertarians, for that matter) of like and unalike minds can meet, discuss, argue, and grow. We all have something to teach and learn from one another here.

I should add that people who describe themselves as conservatives will not always agree on what it means to be a conservative. I would say a more accurate (but not wholly accurate) term to describe my philosophical beliefs would be "libertarian." That's enough to raise howls from some people right there, but if someone says, "Oh, you're a conservative," it's not a term I will flinch from because that's what I hear most often from people when I talk to them about the issues of the day.

I don't know if that answers your question to your satisfaction or not, but that's the answer I'd give to anyone.

Afraid of stepping on toes on others. And yet, still more are afraid of anything they do being misconstrued.

I think this is ABSOLUTELY true, and I'm wondering why no one else has commented on it. The local Cincinnati radio guy here is very straightforward about the racial issues the city faces. He gets a few black callers (who say they are black, anyway)who agree with him. There is one black lady who is vicious. I wonder what the mainstream black population thinks of him?

And then there is the racist card. How much courage does it take for a white person, publically called a racist, to stand tall and say, "Don't call me names, respond to what I've said." Too much courage from what I've seen. It just doesn't happen.

I'll be at my local republican campaign office on Friday. I'm going to ask if Davis or his supporters who are going door to door have been in Covington. Maybe I can start a discussion.

But if by being conservative you mean adhering to a set of core values that will assist one in leading an honorable and happy life, I'm happy to share any knowledge I have with anyone and I'm not ashamed to say that I'll probably be learning for the rest of my life. But I'll say this: if there was a life-course on How to Be A Conservative, no one told me about it, either. I had to learn the hard way. Free Republic is the first and only place I'm aware of where conservatives (and Classical Liberals and libertarians, for that matter) of like and unalike minds can meet, discuss, argue, and grow. We all have something to teach and learn from one another here.

Give that man a cigar! That's the kind of honest and forthright answer that I've been looking for. I know there's not a correspondance course for this. But at the same time, new conservatives - black or white or purple for that matter - shouldn't have to listen to patronizing idiots who feel that their brand of conservatism is the only one either.

Some people on FR at least appear to resent my presence. They appear to resent any attempt to encourage other blacks to leave the liberal plantation. Those are the ones who need to reexamine what it is to be conservative.

spin said we succeeded in knocking the 4 biggest problems out of the Republican Party.
rdb3 said Elaborate on those "4 biggest problems" please.

After the 2000 primary, I gave to conservative allies a plan to strenghten our cause. My tactics were not adopted. I went along with the alternate tactics and we accomplished my tactical goal of removing 4 key players who were the obstacle to any growth or reaching out to anyone .
....Gov George Ryan,
....State House Minorty Leader Lee Daniels,
....State Party Chair Larry Williamson and
....Crook County Chair Manny Hoffman.

We knocked them out, plus some, but not all, of their sychophants. This created a vacuum in the Party which we have been able to partially fill with our man as State Chair and a pretty good woman as Crook County Chair. The vacuum as House minority leader is the next big battle.

"Republicans" Gov George Ryan and Lee Daniels actively destroyed the party. Larry and Manny did nothing to build the party. They were the leaders of the country club/ establishment dominant wing of the party. They flourished on kickbacks from contracts and no-show patronage jobs to fellow members of the club. Women on the outside thought they were anti-woman. Blacks thought they were anti-Black. Pro-lifers thought they were anti-prolife. etc. In reality, they were just anti-everyone not already in the club.

In addition to filling the vacuum, our hope was that other players and wnnabes would wake up and open up the party. Our moderate Republican state treasurer has responded with intelligence. Speaker of the House Denny Haster doesn't seem to have a clue. He seems to think that all he needs is more money to buy new sychophants.

Going back to 1960, Black State Rep (and my mentor) Bill Robinson, put together a coalition around Ogilvie based on good government and independence of the corruption in both parties. Blacks, and everyone, worked together on the basis of a common interest in fighting corruption. The Ogilvie Republican good government image was the only thing that kept Republicans winning in Illinois. Gov George Ryan destroyed that image.

So like the Chicago sports teams, Republicans are now in a rebuilding year. I am optimistic we can succeed in 2004. But 2002 looks pretty grim.

The current Republican candidate for governor, Jim Ryan has the curse of the name. He claims to be pro-life but defends his record of trying to put an innocent man to death (Rolando Cruz). He claims to be pro-death penalty but his record on Cruz destroys his death penalty position. The Hispanic press and TV has been anti-Jim Ryan (for good reason) since Cruz became a debacle in the 80's. To the Hispanics Jim Ryan is our Buchanan-Dornan-Wilson-Tancredo. The Blacks look at Cruz and think "If Jim Ryan would do that to a Hispanic, just think what he would do to a Black. No wonder none of us want to live in Jim Ryan's DuPage bastion of Republicanism."

mhking: Some people on FR at least appear to resent my presence. They appear to resent any attempt to encourage other blacks to leave the liberal plantation. Those are the ones who need to reexamine what it is to be conservative

rdb3: I've said it before. Conservative blacks fight a continuous, simultaneous two-front war. From the left flank, the marxist Frankensteins make our lives miserable because they just can't get right. The right flank contains those who don't want us in the conservative camp. So what do I say to these things?

This was an interesting thread. mhking, I would be honored if you would include me on your Black conservative ping list.

FWIW, I'm not black, but I've noticed the same disdain you allude to from two distinct types in Republican/faux Conservative circles. First there are the Jim Jeffords/Judge Smails from Caddyshack country club types. These quintessential RINOs reflexively belong to the Republican party, the Harvard Yacht Club and the Episcopal Church because that is what's expected of persons of their alleged high status. I'm usually too busy laughing at them to feel slighted by their disdain.

The second type are the intellectual offspring, legitimate or otherwise, of the Jim Crow wing of the Democratic Party. They are the ones who reflexively cheered Bull Conner, Orville Faubus and James Earl Ray.

Disclaimer: the above is not meant to denigrate Southerners or suggest that bigotry is indigeneous to a specific part of the country. Having lived a year in Birmingham, Alabama, I learned first-hand about Southern hospitality and encountered far less prejudice there than I saw growing up in New York City. Bigotry is a set of attitudes and beliefs, not a matter of accents or zip codes.

Unfortunately there are a fair number of this type of "conservative" on this forum, no doubt because they think the term is short-hand for their racist ignorant beliefs. You can spot this type by their belligerent boasts that America's greatness resulted from the color of the Founders' skin rather than the content of their character. They are wrong and profoundly so. First, America was a melting-pot even in the 1700s, not the ethnically homogenous Anglo-Saxon society of their imagination. More important, what made America great was not the ethnicity of its Founders, but the greatness of their ideals.

These bigots pretending to be conservatives hate minorities and immigrants (at least the dark-skinned ones) because they think they will dilute the racial/ethnic purity to which they erroneously attribute America's greatness. Alexis deToqueville said: "America is great because she is good. When she ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." These people think America was great because she was white and when she ceases to be white, she will cease to be great.

One of my favorite Ronald Reagan sayings explains the fundamental difference between America and other countries. Reagan said: "You can go to France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to Germany, but you cannot become a German. But you can come to America and become an American." The corollary to Reagan's insight is that people like Dinesh D'Souza and so many other honest, hard working immigrants from every corner of the globe are more American than any native-born bigot whose ancestors fought in the Civil War. These fake-conservatives are Americans by accident of birth only, just like the French and the Germans. They will never become Americans, at least not in the larger sense Ronald Reagan meant.

Conservative bigots belong in the party of slavery and Jim Crow, not the party of Lincoln and Reagan. Perhaps this explains their disaffection and disloyalty. I'm sure they'd feel right at home with the other freaks and losers on the Commie/racist/anti-Semitic Left.

Republicans need to do the right thing even if it costs us votes in the short-run. Nixon's "Southern strategy" was wrong even though it helped him win the 1968 election. The Republican party is still paying the price of that sleazy cynical vote-grubbing strategy today. Bob Dole was a weak candidate and he ran a pi$$-poor Presidential campaign. But one thing he did right was show the bigots in our ranks the location of the exit sign. At least the guy who thinks we made a mistake fighting Hitler in WW II and writes that America is no longer worth fighting or dying for (what's left of Osama bin Laden in the Tora Bora cave would agree him I'm sure) had the courtesy to leave on his own. The ones who didn't take the hint need to be escorted -- on a rail.

Thank you for the Freep. Am going to pass on the link. His last post was too close to the far side for me to continue to engage.

There is a large white underclass here and in Europe and Great Britain. The Gorbals, a white slum in Glagow, legendary for its ghastliness was around for a long time.

Theodore Dalrymple writes of the white (and with immigration, the increasingly third world) underclass in a regular column at city-journal.org. City Journal is published by the Manhattan Institute. I like it because it's jargon-free and the writers present their ideas in a seemingly effortless style, unpretentious and mercifully clear.

Dalrymple's last book "Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the UnderClass." Dalrymple is his pen name. He is a medical doctor, a psychiatrist, in a Birmingham, England slum, and serves as a prison doctor.

A recent column of his, "Theory vs. Reality? The French Choose Theory" (European elites refuse to see the connection between family breakdowen and spiraling crime."

It sounds heavy, but it's funny (hah-hah sardonic) and gracefully written.

It's not that late, east coast time, but it's been a hectic week. Thank you again for cluing me. I usually think, well, I must not have made myself clear.

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.