Why the GOP Fails to Reach the Black Community
In 2008, 96 percent of black voters pulled the lever for Barack Obama. His current approval rating in the black community shows a possible, albeit slim, vulnerability — one that Florida Congressman Allen West is ready to exploit.
On a recent episode of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, West said Democrats have had black voters sequestered on a modern day plantation, and they are upset because “they have been disregarded, disrespected and their concerns are not cared about.”
West claims to be “the modern day Harriet Tubman to kind of lead people on the Underground Railroad away from that plantation….” The problem is, as West notes, the Republican Party’s outreach “has not done very well in reaching out.”
To some black conservatives, that’s an understatement of epic proportions.
Timothy Johnson is the chairman and founder of the Frederick Douglass Foundation. He is less than impressed with the Republican Party’s outreach efforts:
I’m a past party official, so I can speak from in house party politics. The short answer is the party sucks at it. That’s the bottom line. The party when it comes down to the black community is doing a terrible job, and is still doing a terrible job.
Johnson said that the GOP may have done a little better under the leadership of Michael Steele, but the current leadership has simply given up on getting black votes:
I have candidates who are honest with me and they say, “Tim, I’ve had people tell me ‘Don’t worry about the black community.’” That pisses me off. When they are honest with me and say, ‘Tim, we’ve been told, ‘Don’t worry about going to the black community, they’re not going to vote for you anyway,’” that’s a bold faced lie. You don’t know who I’m going to vote for. I’m an American.
Chris Arps, co-founder of Move-On-Up, a “social network of African American conservatives and moderates,” says GOP outreach efforts are very superficial, saying they are simply
designed to siphon off a few votes or to force the Democratic candidate to spend resources in the black community that he ordinarily wouldn’t spend.
If the party isn’t willing to make the effort, the onus then falls on individuals. Rep. Allen West is volunteering, but is he the right man for the job?
The fact that 95% “black” people vote for a socialist simply because he is black sadly confirms every negative stereotype about blacks. The “black community” totally deserve to be disregarded. They put this on themselves and can blame nobody.
I really don’t dig identity politics. I really hate to divide people into categories based on ethnicity or origin. I find it immoral and wrong in every sense. But if you absolutely insist on asserting influence for your “group”, why not do it in a way where you actually accomplish what you set out to accomplish.
By voting democrat by default the black community have abdicated all power and influence. They have sold themselves as cheap as they possibly could do. If you don’t vote republican and don’t go to primaries, you just don’t have any influence over republican policy. And if you vote democrat like an automatron, you don’t have influence over democrat policy either. If black people all of a sudden voted republican, you would see the democrats suck up the the black community like never before.
Your comments is ten times better than the article.
Extremely well said and vert accurate!
Very well put, thank you. The onus is not on the Republican Party to win over the black vote. The problem lies in the black community that votes overwhelmingly democrat.
It’s all about racism – their own.
Too many blacks have made it very clear that Republicans are not welcome to speak to them about politics. Any blacks who support conservative causes or Republican candidates are vilified by their peers.
The Republican Party should not tailor its message to any identity group. That’s what the Democrats do. It’s pork barrel politics for their favored groups. The GOP must condemn that policy as being bad for the US as a whole and also bad for the identity groups that the Democrats pretend to be helping.
+1 Sir….with the caveat that we should all do what we can to speak to folks in our spheres of influence, and let them know they are neither our enemy and that we all have the same causes, wants, and needs.
As a whole though I agree with you. At least as long as the “Black Leadership” keeps preaching down upon us to the masses so they can continue to live in their palacial estates. We will never win against them. Their own people can not see past their skin color the utter hypocracy of supporting them.
Sometimes conservatives come across as “Holier Than Thou.” They stand behind the bible on the one hand, but often seem short on application. When they don’t seem to make headway(in terms of gaining votes)in the black community, they are quick to point to stereotypes and other misconceptions about black people. Christ,as our High Priest, was touched with the feeling of “our infirmities.” He felt our pain, saw our need, but more than that, he actually did something it. Republicans may have a rich civil rights history, but they are “ashamed” to mention it publicly. Stop denying us and we(blacks) will stop denying you(as Jesus said). Republicans are afraid to publically talk about their heritage because they are afraid of losing their base. This translates to black people as “to hell with you all, we don’t need you anyway.” Until you “condescend” to meet blacks on their level, not yours, the resuts will be the same. Jesus fellowshipped with sinners of all sorts and the “status quo” had a fit over it. Take the time out to “truly” see what blacks feel, then make your assessment. Stop clinging to your stereotype. This is cowardly and is a cop out. I disagree with many of you who comment. If republicans will go the extra mile to get votes from it’s constituents, it must also go the extra mile to get the black vote. Who cares about homosexuals when you can’t work,eat, or pay your bills. The only difference between blacks and whites, is the color of our skin. Stop making it seem like blacks are aliens from another planet. Believe it or not, God made us all in his image. We all decided to screw up the good thing that he established for all of us. Come on guys, get a clue!
@I AM: Point well stated. Thank you. To all other previous comments. Point taken also. Now, let’s get together and work this thing out. As long as we sit in our respective corners and don’t [or won't] meet in the middle, Conservatives and the Country, loses out – BIG TIME!
Let’s get this rolling.
Peace & Love to each of you.
Thanks for such a well stated premise…
Where is common sense in communication to all groups of citizens?
The consistent trend of black voters since the Civil Rights Act has been Democratic despite the fact Republicans in Congress voted for it by a greater percentage than Democrats, and Jim Crow laws were entirely the doing of Democrats. The fact that most of the Southern Democrats who opposed civil rights eventually migrated to the Republican Party tainted the GOP in a lasting way.
In 1960, Nixon managed nearly 39% of the black vote. No Republican since has topped Reagan’s 13%. The intervening event was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was followed by a campaign between Goldwater’s benign neglect and LBJ’s promise of a Great Society, and the GOP hasn’t appealed to a sizable share of black voters since.
It isn’t even a case of the tainted generation having to die out, as with the rebellious Israelites in the desert. It’s been more than a standard generation, and there has been no shift in the numbers.
Meanwhile, in every issues poll since they were first taken in the early ’80s, blacks have registered more conservative than whites on issues like abortion, crime, the death penalty, strong foreign policy, honoring military service, and even cutting taxes. Yet they tend to vote overwhelmingly against those beliefs in the people they elect.
Assuming it is correct that the KKK went Republican after the Civil Rights Campaign, I would rather have a racist in my party who might be reformable or at least neutralized, than have my party, movement, taken over by the Progressives. All the sociopolitical movements, name it, Civil Rights, suffrage, labor, temperance, started out based locally and in churchs. All but temperance were co-opted by the Progressives, who used undemocratic judicial and bureaucratic methods to achieve ends which have never gained legitimacy. See affirmative action, abortion, NLRB; etc. Temperance as an issue was resolved to everybody’s satisfaction because the methods, amendment of the Constitution, led to essentially local solutions, i.e. blue laws.
After a 30 year friendship with a black professional woman who is both fiscally and socially a conservative, it still irks me that she and her large family consistently vote democrat. The reason she gives is that only the democrats will help the black community, her pastor tells her so. She was born and raised in Alabama with an intact property owning family, but since the age of 25 she has made her life in the SF bay area in California. I have come to believe that, unless the republicans use the same scare tactics as the democrats, the same lies and the same promises of better days, it will be extremely difficult to convince black voters that they should trust the republicans. Moreover, I seldom hear that the few conservative black leaders actually expend much of an effort to change that. Jesse Lee Peterson seems to be the only one that goes outside of the conservative community. The black people I know don’t listen to or watch conservative commentators, therefore it would make no difference to feature guests like Peterson, West or Sowell. Unfortunately the civil rights history is also misrepresented in favor of the democrats and seemingly republicans are unwilling to fight that fight.
Jesse peterson..?? are you serious..This is the same guy that said “Thank God for Slavery” and Thomas Sowell defended the 4 cops that shot Amandu Diallo , who was unarmed at the time. Alan West sounds like he’s still on the plantation.
Average people are so far beyond thinking in terms of race it is only ‘some’ African Americans who spend all their time thinking of nothing else. Perhaps a large percentage of African Americans are brainwashed into believing they are only safe voting for a democrat. Sort of like people over the age of 70. Their parents were democrats and they have always been democrats. Thus, the democrat party title, and now half of the republican party title are socialists and ‘We the People’ finally figured out america has been taken from US. I intend to vote Republican regardless, but would like to vote for a true American who believes like I do and wants our Republican party back. Get rid of the Socialists regardless whether they call themselves dem or repub.
You would rather have KKK members in your party instead of progressives..?? And you wonder why Black people don’t vote for republicans…
@Jack: KKK = wants to take my life. Progressives = want to steal my soul and tell me ‘whitey’ did it. No thank you. If I know what kind of devil you are, I am armed properly to deal with you. Peace
The black community will never vote Republican; it has been too deeply brainwashed by the leftist media, Democrats (but I repeat myself), the public school system, colleges and the black churches to be able to live in the real world.
They have been taught to live in a world of racial hatred and paranoia, and they are suffering the consequences.
I might add that Jews, (of which I am one) who are typically more affluent and better educated, are not much better.
Thank you, Eric R., for noting that Black churches are part of the problem. Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are only a few prominent examples of Black clergymen who spread foolish ideas and vitriol–there are many other lesser-known examples. As in the Black community at large, harmful ideas and attitudes seem widespread amongst Black clergy and church-goers. There are, of course, many exceptions, but many black churches are not the ideal communities that some “conservative” pundits will lead us to believe.
The churches have largely lost their message and have failed the black community. The same is true of the mainstream denominations in the white community that are losing membership – and that doesn’t happen by accident.
There are several good reasons why Orthodox Christianity is growing rapidly among sub-Saharan Africans. It has no association with colonialism, it has a long history in Africa, and the message is the same as it was in 34 AD.
The only way to make blacks support conservatives is to make all conservatives black. Face it. If the black population at this point can’t get it they are either incapable or putting race above all else. Fifty years later the black population is still being talked about as if they are infants incapable of observation and logic. And if that’s true, then all the outreach in the world won’t make a difference anyway. Sometimes things are just the way they are and there’s no changing. Which is why every country predominated by the black race is on the skids and never amounted to much to begin with. All that has been done is excuse making. The problem is more insidious: our elites, who understand the level of achievement of the black population has decided that the solution is to DUMB DOWN everyone else to make things “more fair”. If the blacks can’t make it, nobody will. Funny thing is, it isn’t working out as planned. Other races keep on achieving. Want to help? Start telling the truth. A half century of outright lies is the foundation of the black debacle. But so far very few on either side has had the respect for anyone. And that starts with truth telling.
An official of a Republican administration (I don’t remember who) once said that America is unpoor, unblack, and unyoung. It would be a good idea for the Republicans to remember that.
Oldguy, I’m 85 years old, I am a Republican, and since I can identify with you age, I don’t ever recall any Republican spokeperson making those remarks. However, I can recall numerous instances where a prevously invited Republican president, Congressman, etc. was uninvited to speak at a Black College or University, or even the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga. Why? because they were instructed to do so by their BLACK political leaders. There is nothing the Republican Party can do to, or for, the Blacks in this country. They have long since been rounded up and reside comfortably on the “Democrat Plantation”. When a Republican is elected President, the Congressional Black Caucus immediately requests an audience, with the question – What are you going to do FOR us>
Richard Scammon of the Gov. Affairs Institute, talking about the 1968 electorate. He was a former director of the Census Bureau and an advisor to the White House. Close enough, huh?
So, he was talking about America in the manner that might be expected from a former head of the Census Bureau? (He was head of that bureau from 1961 to 1965. That wasn’t a Republican administration.)
Just wondering why you dragged that quote into this discussion. It is obscure, dated, irrelevant and out of context.
He was not an advisor to any Republican, he was a Democrat under the JFK and LBJ administrations. He was speaking of the mess that the Democrats were in then, and his message was the survival of the party. In ’68, he worked for NBC news, another left-wing campaign media source. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
This has been said in similar conversations, but it is worth repeating:
Forty years of Progressive social engineering has done more damage to the black community and the black family than did the years of Jim Crow and the generations of slavery.
The mainstream black subculture in our country has been abused by socialism and other “progressive” causes, divided, conquered, and broken. It is an awful situation. How many black people see this for what it is? When someone, such as Bill Cosby, does speak up, he or she is demonized by zealots and hacks, and their sheepish followers. (It is almost like trying to explain to a Jewish friend that the Democratic Party is oppressive to basic human rights and civil rights, and that it is anti-Israel.)
That wasn’t a Republican.
That was Ben Wattenberg, a Democrat.
But a Democrat who became so disgusted with President Carter that he ended up supporting Reagan. And joined the American Enterprise Institute.
Wattenberg is a Democrat in the Truman/Scoop Jackson/JFK mold. That type of Democrat is nearly extinct now, with a very few exceptions like Joe Manchin.
The Republican party will never get the black vote until we pay them more than the democrats for that vote
You can’t be serious. The whole dilemma is that blacks blindly support the Dems and get NOTHING in return!!
Get nothing in return? The statistics would pretty muhc say that they get a lot – food, housing, leisure time – and all they have to give up is theire hope and soul.
I saw a video the other day of Mayor Nutter addressing his congregation. Their response to his comments on pulling up your pants was truly encouraging. I know that white parents are also having problems trying to guide their kids through the swamp of popular culture. Perhaps it is time to forget about party labels and votes and to try talking about shared problems, with no PC censorship. The problem of black allegiance to the Democrats has a lot to do with conservatives often hiding behind ideological platitudes rather than really talking with blacks on a one to one basis. We share the same problems, and no matter who holds public office, the problems won’t be solved by government. We need more ordinary people willing to defy the racist and Uncle Tom epithets and talk to one another about problems they can face together. Only then will they begin to judge political campaigners on more than party label.
Well said! I concur, because as I have had conversations with soldiers under my charge we can 99 times out of 100 come to an understanding. We listen to eachothers side and find common ground (which is a lot more than most follks realize). Problem is, we self seregrate as a society. Even in the military, I can walk into a dining facility, an MWR, or just joes sitting around and find pockets, groups, or clicks. My experiences throughout the world and in dealing with soldiers lead me to come to the belief that multiculturalism can not work…it wont work. But when there is a common goal, or unity of spirit then things just come together, and all the things that separate us and make us different fade away.
This article is so totally out of tune with the black race and modern day America that it is pathetic.
Blacks in ever increasing numbers are; and have been excelling in every aspect of our society for quite some time now. In fact, on average blacks are doing better across the board than the Asians, Caucasians and Middle Easterners who have dominated the word “success” for decades; even centuries. And they; the blacks are doing it on their own, quietly, methodically, with education, study, hard work, hope, prayer, suffering and you name it just like the rest of the world does.
Why isn’t this mentioned in this article? It is because this article is as guilty of literal misinformation and emotionally driven drivel as anything that the Democrat or Republican politicians have ever come up with.
Mr. Lester doesn’t advance one single recommendation that makes sense. He doesn’t offer one single fact for consideration.
What he does do is blast away at the Republican Party for what..? Not appeasing the insatiably non-satisfiable appetite of people who will never be satisfied no matter how much sugar they are fed?
Stick it. If their (whoever) houses and streets are filthy then they need to grab a bucket of hot water, some ammonia and start to work instead of expecting; demanding that someone else do it for them so that they can rest while thinking up more things that the world owes them.
Next up, illegal Hispanics. Just substitute Hispanic anywhere you see black and roll the presses.
This kind of crap is the soul property of the Democrat Party; something that the Republican Party should never want, much less try become.
Please, Sensai, show me articles that prove your premise that low I.Q., abnormally violent blacks are somehow more ‘successful’ than their lower in violence and hiqher I.Q. brethren.
Malarkey indeed. lol
There are some whom the GOP can never reach, and should not waste too much time and resources trying to reach them. The best thing the GOP can do is: have good principles and abide by them, have a good propaganda program to get those principles to the public and to expose the failings of the opposition, and the GOP should be vigilant of dirty tricks from the left and the RINOS.
Are you serious? Absent government jobs and government enforced affirmative action, there is no black “success” to speak of.
No offense sir, but I think you are completely short sighted on this. Not a fan of Affirmative Action, or government largess in public hiring. We’ve all dealt with the government weenie at whatever office we need to go beg for a permit…a drivers license…or whatever. I am guilty of praying it wasnt a minority who “served” me (attitude and all)or at least spoke english I could understand. That said, the black community through their own efforts also made breakthroughs in the 1980′s and 90′s. Many climbed their way out of poverty on their own and suffered indignities trying to achieve success. Worse of all, once they achieved success, their own former communities turned their backs on them leaving them caught between their former community and the white community. I’d like to think that folks like me welcomed them open arms…but I know thats not always the reality.
http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2011/RewritingReagan/Race.aspx
DougW,
You are partly right. It isn’t that there is no black success to speak of it’s that nobody speaks of it. Many, many of the black community succeed and excel in their chosen fields but that isn’t “newsworthy”. What is “newsworthy” is poverty in the ghettos or gang violence. Who wants to read a boring old story about some black professor getting tenure or an award for excellence in teaching or some black inventor coming out with a new product or a black research scientist finding a new drug that will improve our lives? Naw, that won’t sell newspapers, now some black gang banger popping a cap on a cop, that sells! Then there is their self anointed “leaders” Like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, that do more to keep the black community down than anyone else. Whenever a black person tries to do something and fails, the “Revs” screams bloody murder and wails about the white man keeping the poor brother down! They are convinced that blacks can do no wrong, can never make a mistake, so then it has to be the white man holding him back. The bad part is they’ve convinced so many of the black community that this is gospel and that by itself is holding many blacks back. I mean, why study and try to make something of yourself when “Whitey” is just going to knock you down again anyway. That’s the message I hear every time I hear Reverend Al or Reverend Jesse open their mouths.
If the Republican party could find a way to get the fact that blacks can be and are successful without sounding condescending, and convince more blacks that the Repubs want to do more to help more of the blacks to also be a success, to drag themselves out of the gutter the papers and their own “leaders” paint them as being in, then we would get the black vote.
You know, I’ve read the above article and I’m still a little puzzled at what the author means by “outreach.” If by “outreach” you simply mean shoveling endless amounts of money into failed federal programs for blacks, well then yes, Republicans are not going to get the vote. It seems that “outreach” always translates into more money, more federal programs (especially for education), and more endless financial support for a group of people who have made whining about life an art form. That’s why Allen West is a breath of fresh air. He finally has said that blacks have to stand on their own two feet and that the Democrats simply specialize in making blacks dependent on a bloated federal bureaucracy.
And think about this for a moment. Under George W. Bush, literally hundreds of billions of dollars was spent on education FOR EVERYBODY, NOT just whites. And what are the results of that investment? SAT scores are still falling, reading levels are still falling, and more kids are dropping out of high school than ever before. And as for the old sad song about poor public transportaion and poor police protection, then every black in New York City should be a Republican. Literally billions of dollars were handed out by the Republicans to New York City under the Bush administration for subways and police (even though police protection should be a local expense), yet I didn’t see a lot of love from the black community for Bush because of his generosity. Nope, just more hate and more whining. Always more, more, and more seems to be needed from this community, even when the economy was booming five years ago.
Well, here’s a thought. How about strengthening the black family which, in turn, would strengthen the black community? How about reviving this miserable economy so more blacks can get more jobs? How about more black males staying home after they’ve fathered a child? How about fewer single-parent black homes? Or, here’s an even better thought, how about more black women NOT having children until they’re married, or ar at least a little older? No matter how much money the federal government dumps on the black community, it’s NOT going to change the character of the black community. A solid family is the key to more kids succeeding in life and for less crime in the streets. More and better jobs with growing companies means less poverty in black communities and less dependency on federal aid. All of this can be done WITHOUT the help of the federal government.
So please, don’t say that more “outreach” translates into more money to a community that has been literally drowning in federal aid since the Great Society began. Stop it. Build stronger black families, have black parents be more dedicated to their kids, and build and grow the economy for more jobs, and that’s most of the “outreach” they will need.
Great post. As the Dean of Admissions of a private university ten years ago, I attended a seminar conducted by SAT. A question came up what was the best indicator of high SAT scores.
The speaker asked people to guess..high family income, private schools, computers, and on and on. The speaker finally revealed the secret to high SAT scores…..
TWO PARENT FAMILY!
He said regardless of everything else, that is what stood out. I never forgot that, your post says exactly the same thing!
“That’s why Allen West is a breath of fresh air”
And keep an eye on Rep Tim Scott from SC…Representatives like West & Scott & Presidential candidate Herman Cain are true roles models for all AMERICANS. Forever going the way of Democrats like Maxine Waters & Andre Carson has worked so well for Blacks, I guess they just can’t help themselves from voting for the Jacka$$ Party. Maybe someday they’ll understand these haters are just in it for what THEY can get…more dependent voters, more money, more power! Conservative, TEA Party supporters like West, Scott & Cain are they best hope Blacks have, though very few will realize it anytime soon. After all, public “education” begins indoctrinating minority kids as to their victim status the minute they hit Head Start around age 3. That’s a lot of de-programming…even for the TEA Party.
Very well said. Let me add this – what I think – although a somewhat cynical approach – can work. Buy them off. It is, frankly, about all these folks seem to understand. Sorry for how rude that may sound. Believe it or not some of the most lovely and interesting people I’ve ever met happen to be Black, excuse me, I mean ‘African American.’
Since no subject has been more studied, argued over, written about, nor (up to and including the current Affirmative Action reluctant ‘Kommandor’ in Chief) the hair-brained excuse for experimental social engineering through government than the issue of Race in America, how about a blatantly Milton Friedmanesque market driven approach?
I say we grant a two generation TAX EXEMPTION for any African-American male or female upon reaching 18 years of age – for life. GOING FORWARD – FOR THE REMAINDER OF THEIR WORKING LIVES THEY WILL NEVER PAY A STATE OR FEDERAL INCOME TAX; EVER. Regardless their station or income. Regardless where they live. Be they homeless or breathing the rarified air of Warren (tax me PLEASE) Buffett.
And no strings or fine print. Everything stays as it already is – they report income, enjoy the Earned Income Credit (which means YES – they get PAID a refund THEY DIDN’T PAY – a POOR PERSONS ‘BONUS’?)…and social security right down to participating in employer 401k whatever. It’s just that every year they do their taxes – THEY GET TO REVIEW WHAT THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO PAY. THEIR WITHOLDING IS CALCUALTED – JUST NEVER COLLECTED. So they view what everyone else pays, all the NON-BLACKS walking around in skin supposidly IMMUNE to all the racial animus and prejudice and what not. (insert emphasis here – MALE)
The only qualification for this status? That it can be proven without a shadow of doubt a linage that dates back to 1965 – the seminal year of civil rights legislation.
The cultural, political, judical and economic cost however, would be a tacit and rapid dismanteling of all things affirmative action. The very moment the legilation was enacted Marion Berry and EVERYONE ELSE on the Civil Rights Commission WOULD BE FROG MARCHED FROM THE BUILDING. (preferably with cameras rolling) Ditto the civil rights division at Holders Dept of Justice – and of course – Holder either has to resign or retract his ‘cowardice’ ‘doctrine’ for Blacks now holding office.
All government employement (hopefully by then exempt from unionization) would be merit based – truely color-blind. Forget the civil disservice now utilized as set aside minority ‘middle class’ jobs. Disbin of history stuff.
No more academic farce regarding placement committees subjectively playing Solomon. You don’t get into law school or med school or any school without having presented evidence you competitively made the cut. Truckers included.
It’s not too simplistic to understand why Black, exucse me, ‘African-American’s', vote Democrat; despite the dismal year after year wailing in public viewed at the Tavis Smiley BLACK STATE OF THE UNION.
[Witness Smileys' recent PBS urgently needed save the black man k-12 crusade - there was literally nothing different from what Daniel P Moynihan was demanding over 40 years ago before the federal gov took up the cause]
Nor is it suprising that a rather modest success story like Herman Cain is such a disproportionate ‘role modle’ when it comes to being a big deal. Name if you dare the five richest black men in America who made their own money – and Rap or Sports or Entertainment/Actor personalities don’t count…not exactly a competitive question in danger of making it onto JEOPARDY anytime soon.
Demanding government patronage and getting some – rather than risking and inventing and creating wealth themselves – is the new ‘black power’.
Sowell, Shelby Steele, McWhorter (before getting tired of being battered and thus violently rejecting any conserative affiliation), and many others have been writing much more authentically than this poor white boy’s opinions regarding this subject for many many years.
But, yet, there may be a distinctly American solution to a uniquely American Problem. And it may not require being authentically black or having a PH D.
Put somewhere between 7-40% more money in the pockets of Black Americans, esspecially those just approaching adulthood today – and the force multiplying effects will served far better than any promise or speech or deeply contemplated ‘plan’ to turn back the vicious and self-destructive tide of every Dyson and Smiley out there demanding yet more blood and tresure from every American alive and yet born as tribute for sins past.
And who knows, after they come home from CHURCH, they just might reflect on how what they get there translates into what they expect from Congress and their own state legislatitures.
And Michael Dyson might just start having a hard time keeping a teaching gig – or getting booked on any show other than AlGore’s earth first channel.
We need to stop pandering to blacks and whites. This is a war of ideas and those that “get it” sooner or later will vote with conservatives. The liberal agenda is a load of crap while conservative principles hold the keys to strenthening the individual, the family unit, and ultimately the road map to self sufficiency. Last I looked the libs are into control and dependency.
Lots of criticism of the GOP but no solutions. Let’s begin with: ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for yourself. Opportunity awaits those who study hard, work hard, stay sober, marry and stay faithful and soothe the mind with Nat rather than agitate it with rap crap.
I think “outreach” is an overused term and looses any significant meaning. In essence what Colonel West advocates is a new emancipation from the bondage of a discredited and evil ideology. The message of freedom, especially our economic liberties, is the same for all. The eternal challenge for liberty lovers is to share freedoms gift with everyone. Never give up; never yield one soul to the bondage of socialism. Fight for every vote because it is the moral thing to do.
Cain/Palin to put a stop to this identity politics forever. And that includes reverse racism.
We are all AMERICANS! God Bless America.
You never know what’s going on behind the back of conventional wisdom:
http://www.thegrio.com/opinion/sarah-palin-has-a-lot-in-common-with-black-women.php
http://www.motivationtruth.com/
http://didshesaythat.com/?p=756
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=82TN87LzeUM
http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/wyclef-jean-talks-sarah-palin-5165185
ALL about strategy!!! WHOO WHOO WHOO lefties:(
“In 2008, 96 percent of black voters pulled the lever for Barack Obama.”
That pretty much sums up why this is a bad idea.
De minimis non curat lex. “The law cares not for small things.”
When it comes to negligent electoral returns in exchange for selling your ideological soul and squandering millions in precious campaign resources (and being labelled “racist!” non-stop for your efforts), politics cares not for small things either.
Today it’s estimated that Barack Hussein Obama still enjoys well over 90% approval among blacks despite his catastrophic betrayal of the nation. Notice I don’t say “betrayal of blacks” (though that’s true too). Like other posters above, I find racial identity politics repugnant and poisonous.
According to Duane Lester, in order for the conservatives to reach black voters, they must sell thoer ideological souls and act like the Democrats and the Left, indulge in identity racial politics, and “do something” for blacks to win their vote. (does this mean hand even more trillions in affirmative action and food stamps? Guarantee that the handouts continue – the same handouts which have infantilized the black community for decades? The article doesn’t say.) Duane Lester seems to be proposing that the Right spend substantial and precious campaign resources for very little prospect of return. Even if such efforts peeled away 10%, and “black support” for BHO dipped into the 80% range, that would translate into a mere 1% of the popular vote! Why bother? It reminds me of the Muslims, who hail from failed societies, always demanding we infidels must do more for them. That’s rich. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?! When does it fall on the heads of the failed to alter THEIR bad habits and attitudes rather than the other way around? Or do I expect too much from you?
Such coy black voters demand far too much from their conservative suitor. Blacks promise to deliver nearly nothing in exchange for great effort – that seems unreasonable. Shouldn’t Duane Lester’s efforts be directed towards what Leftie kneejerk blacks should be doing, rather than conservatives?
I liken the Congressional Black Caucus, Al Sharpton, and the like to the drug dealers and the impoverished blacks in their communities are the addicts. They wait for their monthly “fix” of government entitlements because they have been told in so many ways that they can’t “make it” and it’s the fault of the white man, capitalism, slavery, etc. They are held hostage by the “victomhood” mentality. Someone In Congress needs to stand on the House Floor and call them out for the Racists that they are! The decay that has existed in their black communities is generational and no fault of the less than 3 year old Tea Party movement. The Black community has had 50 years of equal opportunity, affirmative action, quotas, and been held to lower standards all in the name of political correctness. The Result: They are far worse off now than they were 50 years ago with out-of-wedlock birthrates, crime, incarceration, drug addiction and disrespectful and low class living.
The Only thing that will help the Black Community is for someone to tell them to HELP THEMSELVES!!! Stay in school, get an education, stop having babies, stop the drugs, clean up your communities..in other words PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!! No one can do that for you. Not the GOP, Not the Democrats…only YOU!!!
Allow me to point out that Blacks are hardly unique in their unwavering devotion to one political party: The Jewish community is like that, as are most people who live in cities.
None of them are well served by devoting their vote to one party. It is best to split the vote among both parties so that they compete. If either party can take your vote for granted, don’t expect much from them.
However the Jews are smart enough to view the issues and figure out the dynamics have changed. They are leaving Obama in droves.
In reply to enoughalready–I agree with some of your comments but I think its too early to assume that Jews will ultimately leave Obama “in droves.” Mark Steyn says it well, in an interview with Hugh Hewitt….
HH…”in New York, just an enormous Jewish vote turned against the President. Is that an omen for him for 2012?”
MS: “I would like to think it is, but one of the features of life in the Western world, and I saw this from having observed liberal, Jewish organizations not just in the United States, but in the United Kingdom and Canada, too, is that they often vote against not just their own interests, but certainly the interests of the state of Israel. And I think liberal Jews are among the most difficult people to turn. If we could get to a situation where Ronald Reagan was in, where he got about, I think, 35% of the Jewish vote, that would be amazing. But they’re slow to turn, and the particular Orthodox Jews in this district, are turnable. Whether, when you get to the upper West side and the kind of liberal, secular, dinner party Jews are turnable, I think that’s still very doubtful.”
My own experience echoes that of Steyn. And based on my experiences and observations, Republicans would be foolish to waste any more “outreach” towards Blacks, beyond trying to reach all voters with good ideas. At this point Blacks mostly have only themselves to blame for the mess many of them are in, culturally and economically. Considered as a group, they tend to continually vote against their own interests, so that they can stay on the Democrat “plantation.”
I totally agree with you and Mark Steyn. That also goes for the progressives that the MSM suddenly touts as falling out of love for the president. In the end they’ll all vote for Obama and the democrats because they are all on the plantation, not only the blacks. As for the latter, the only outreach they’ll go with is more handouts, goodies etc. Yes, there are a few exceptions to this rule but they are miniscule. Someone said earlier that we need to strengthen the black family. How? That is something that they need to do for themselves, just like all families. The government cannot do that.
Well said, swissik. The family issue is one of the most important, and you’re right that the government isn’t going to help with it unless it gets out of the way and stops encouraging bad behavior, which it still does.
And, yes, a lot of ignorant whites will continue to vote to stay on the government plantation. There are one or two in my family whom I’ve tried to persuade, but who won’t see reason. They’ve bought into dependency.
“In droves” means 70% instead of 80%. If the GOP candidate for president gets 40% of the Jewish vote, even after all that’s happened, I’ll eat my hat.
I’m at a loss to explain why a large majority of Black Americans continue to follow the words, of a Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Malik Shabazz, James Clyburn, Jeremiah Wright, et al, over Black Americans, such as Bill Cosby, Herman Cain, Thomas Sowell, Kevin Jackson, Allen West, et al.
When Allen West uttered words to the effect, “if it comes to lives of my men, I’d carry a gas can through hell”, Allen West was NOT speaking about a group of men, ala the Tuskegee airmen (Blacks only please). In that same vein, neither was Colin Powell.
I just will never be able to understand that mind set.
Because the Democrats keep them “dumbed down.” They can’t think for themselves. I worked for over 30 years with majority blacks in a federal facility. They all voted Democrat. The kicker is..when they talked values..they’re really CONSERVATIVE.. They hate welfare, drugs, and really hate homosexuals. Heck, I am not that far right when it comes to homosexuality..I am all for gay rights but these folks would come unhinged. And they go the church every Sunday and many had prayer meetings or discussed the Bible during their breaks and lunch. I don’t belong to a church, don’t read the Bible but consider myself a Christian and try to lead a good and honest life. BUT..they vote 100% Democrat. Go figure.
I live in Detroit suburb where blacks have made middle class inroads. Our neighborhood is probably 60% black. I basically agree with what you say and would add the black reaction to same-sex marriage. They poll more strongly against it than many other groups.
My neighbors, inasmuch as we talk occasionally, seem candidates for conservative outreach, but not a Republican party-line, necessarily. I know they stay in the Democratic fold from the yard signs, for sure.
I would characterize the black political phenomenon as more about solidarity and loyalty, than about sheeple-like behavior. They have a strong sense of loyalty to the group.
One data point is my informal survey of brands on the road. We are talking major Ford or GM customers here. Travel to the white suburbs to see the high ratios of Asian makes, but here, not so much. That is loyalty and about driving what they make. I respect this. Maybe it is a Detroit thing, I don’t know.
Allow me to take an entirely different course from the commenters above.
I would relish a million Herman Cain’s, Thomas Sowell’s and Alan West’s speaking in unison to the black community about how they have been hoodwinked into believing the leftist “message” and have become worse off for it.
I would be thrilled to have an articulate voice combat the toxic spewing of hate from Farrakhan, Pfleger an Jeremiah Wright’s pulpits of slander against this land of ours.
It would be a joyful occasion to witness someone standing up to the plantation politics of Marxists, who throw a crust of bread on the ground at the feet of blacks nationwide and then have their lackeys in the mass media, Hollywood and academia paint halos around their vile heads, while simultaneously painting horns on the heads of every white American who isn’t a Marxist.
But, to suggest that this isn’t a cemented slander….that has been going on for over 40 years, that this hasn’t taken on its own “urban myth” status, is to whistle past the graveyard of dozens of “outreach” attempts that garnered nothing but a slap in the face.
The black community is hostile ground. It is not open to hearing from anyone who believes the “entitlements and giveaways” are destructive, self-defeating, and motivation destroying tricks used to buy votes by leftists.
THAT truth will not resonate. You can’t beat 40 years of lies and slander by telling the truth to those who will not listen…from the “outsider” perspective.
If your name has been slandered, people will look at you with a jaundiced eye. If you tell them a truth they do not want to hear, they will not listen. If you point out facts they do not want to see, they will turn a blind eye toward you.
If you have been slandered and you have no street credibility, the slander will be accepted …not your message.
What has failed…is not just the Republican “message”. Let me be brutally frank here. The Republicans not only suck at delivering their message to the black community, the Republicans suck at delivering their message to EVERY community. They have been beaten like a red-headed stepchild by a mass media empire that despises them. For four decades.
They can’t get their message out, they can’t overcome the slander, the treason and the traitors who have rigged the message game against them.
They can’t get their message out to a NEUTRAL territory (independents) effectively, much less to a HOSTILE territory. The game is rigged too fiercely against them.
Spending gobs of money in hostile territory when your game plan sucks is simply a losing proposition. Non-Marxist black leaders have to want to get blacks back in the game. And…they are going to have to weather an onslaught of slanders….being called Oreo, Uncle Tom, sellout, and more.
These Jackie Robinson’s of politics will be slandered and dragged into the depths of Marxist hell for taking a stand against plantation politics of the left.
NO white non-leftist will have an ounce of street credibility to make even a dent here. Throwing money at a bad game plan is simply a bad idea. Making a game plan that can overcome a rigged playing field, overcome 40 years of slander and treason, overcome a hostile battleground, an unfair mass media, and wading headfirst into hostile territory…is a daunting task.
Better that Thomas Sowell, Herman Cain, Alan West…find a way to speak as one voice and begin to recruit an army of David’s to JOIN the Tea Party…as Black Tea…than to splinter off into a weak and docile attempt by the GOP to yet again get their brains beaten in, delivering their muddled and mushy “message” to an audience that wouldn’t believe them if they said the sun rises in the east.
Blacks, Hispanics, Jews and gays have lived long enough on the plantation. When they decide themselves that they are tired of being patted on the head, taken for granted, and uniformly disrespected…maybe they will open their eyes and ears to the slander and treason the rest of us have felt all along. If so, the treason that is Marxism will cease to own the Democratic Party. Until then…they form the base of votes for Soros, the unions and the Marxists use to win elections. And the co-conspirators in the mass media rig the “message”, advance the slander, and aid and abet the treason.
Fixing that…will take more than money. It will take wanting to be an American before you are a black, before you are Hispanic, before you are gay, before you are a Democrat, before you are a union member, …it would take your “special interest”…to be saving this land we call America.
Best post on this thread. Thank you.
Race, sexual preference, gender should NEVER define one’s being.
Why do we NEEd a movement for the “black community”? Are they not Americans like the rest of us? Are they too superficial to care about what the rest of america cares about? This is pandering, plain and simple.
I remember the question a young black man in Chicago asked when a friend was trying to convince him to vote Republican. “What you gonna give me?”
He wasn’t asking about self determination or liberty. Nor was he concerned about the damage the corrupt machine had done to public schools and community safety. He wanted his little piece of the walking around money that the urban Democrat machines have used to gin up black turnout for decades.
Best answer to that question is: Freedom.
Might Lord Byron (1788 – 1824) have seen a similar problem in The Prisoner of Chillon a long time ago? In the poem, a prisoner is freed after many years of confinement in a dungeon cell, at first with two of his brothers and when they died, alone. Then, free at last!
Are the people of whom Mr. Lester writes so long accustomed to life on the statist plantation — with crusts of bread and tasty morsels of hatred for those who would free them tossed by their
benefactorscaptors to keep them subservient and in line — so acclimated to it that they have “learn’d to love despair” and to mistake it for happiness?The GOP doesn’t need to “reach” the black community. Conservative blacks know where to find the GOP and when they do, they are welcomed.
Let me put it this way. I’m a black conservative and I became conservative mostly through my own research and experiences. I have always been conservative on economic issues. Indeed, my most harrowing experience with economics was that every time I stole something people didn’t seem to like it and they would much prefer that I paid for my goods. I also came to view taxes as a net negative after seeing how all of the money being taken out of my check was going to things that I did not support. The last straw was during the Iraq War, where even though I was vehemently opposed to the operation I am still an American and will always support the country against any evil country we fight. It seemed that every liberal that talked about the war had more hatred for Bush and America than it did for Saddam Hussein, who may not have had a fully operational WMD program, but was a monster anyway.
In other words, Blacks are going to have to figure it out on their own that the Democratic Party still treats them as outcasts. Once they convinced Blacks that Republicans are racists for supporting states’ rights and being against devastating programs that has utterly destroyed the Black family, it was all over for Blacks voting for the GOP. I have hope, though: Many Blacks are starting to see these effects *even with* a black man in the White House.
But a surefire way to reach Blacks? Tell them to look at their paychecks and ask them if they’re satisfied with all of those taxes being taken out of them. If they are, forget them. If they are not, you have a chance to convince them that they should vote Republican.
Hey, Chris
I was thinking the surefire way to reach Blacks is to pound the hell out of the best wedge issue: school choice.
Make it THE issue for local elections. Get Republican candidates to pound and pound and pound the hell out of that message in Black communities. “Vote for me and five mornings a week you’ll be driving right past that garbage-hole where your kid is learning nothing, being threatened by gangs, and tripping over broken concrete, to the school down the street where they’re dressed like they respect themselves, carry books home every day, take music lessons, and get ready for college. Vote for me and your kids will be able to go to the very same schools my kids are going to.”
When is the Republican Party going to have ‘outreach’ initiatives for an American of Italian and Irish ancestry like myself? Idiotic.
Like MANY posters have said, especially LibertyShip46′s post, progress/upward mobility in infinite-like ways begins AT HOME.
Not a political party, politician or ANY other federal entity/recipient mooching for your serfdom.
Sadly a simple construct completely lost/not accepted by a majority of the Black community/race.
Ever see a mother break her baby’s legs and one arm? It’s not uncommon in some cultures where begging is a profession that honors the giver, and Mom just sees to it her new son will have a lifetime professional career with the one free hand she leaves him with which he can take alms. Actually, a career as remunerative, in those cultures, as a Harvard degree can be in ours.
Tammerlane (Timmer-i-lang) the Hun invaded the eastern caliphate in its waning years, and the mutilated, stinky beggars annoyed him. He generously pensioned all beggars to get them off the streets. His generosity, however, brought the smelly, disgusting mob from the streets into his throne room (lobby). There they stayed, clamoring for redress (lobbyists) of pension amounts depending on how hideously unfit one was (one eye, no legs, no eyes, no arms, no tongue).
Tammerlane solved the problem. He withdrew the benefits and killed all the beggars. Everyone went to work after that.
Politicians attempting to appeal to this or that race/gender/ethnicity/age (whatever !) so called “community” is…stupid.
And creates an endless loop of designer politics.
Such appeals are also antithetical to the principles and values of America.
A black guy at a tea party rally was asked on camera why he wasn’t with “his people”.
His answer ?
“I’m with my people. Americans.”
A lot of people in the so called black community are “reached” by the republican party, like Allen West and my hero du jour fighting against the outrageous NLRB’s grotesque union power grab, South Carolina Congressman Tim Scott.
I was there when that black man replied he was “with his people”. And he was.
I remember in 2000 at the height of the Florida recount frenzy, a black colleague exclaimed, “if that Bush gets elected, blacks will be hanging from trees!” Do you really think that this mentality will go away anytime soon, especially with a republican running against a black president? Identity politics have poisoned the black community. After hurricane Katrina, mayor Nagin wanted rebuilding of a “chocolate New Orleans”. Vanilla and mocha need not apply. And they have swallowed the big lie that any criticism of Obama is racist. At least the Jews of Queens and Brooklyn were able to vote against a democrat Jew to elect a republican Christian as they see the winds of the left shift in an ugly direction.
I am confused why the article is titled, “Why the GOP Fails to Reach the Black Community”. When the author attempts to answer the question, he says, “…filthy public transportation and violence in the streets…”, he only addresses the blacks that are in major cities. There are other issues outside of major cities
Black folks follow black leaders who sell them as sure a slave traders sold them. Every black person in America should read what Jackie Kennedy said about MLK. This is the actual thoughts of the Democrat Leadership in America and has always been. As long as the Democrat Party has the Jessie Jacksons and Al Sharptons to B/S the black community and they do not have the initiative to learn and make it own their own they will always be slaves to their masters regardless of race. The poor white community is no better.
the Democrat Party has the Jessie Jacksons and Al Sharptons to B/S the black community…
More and more blacks are catching on to the race baiting/race hustling ways of guys who’ve literally made a living, a handsome living, out of keeping hostility alive.
Booker T. Washington described these guys over a century ago…
“There is (a) class of colored people who make a business of keeping the
troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the
public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their
troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their
wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays.
Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances,
because they do not want to lose their jobs. … There is a certain class
of race-problem solvers who don’t want the patient to get well, because
as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of
making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make
themselves prominent before the public.”
– Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery
(1856-1915)
As for the hackneyed “racism” charge against anyone who opposes Barack Obama…
“The racism charge is an excuse for Obama’s incompetence, no more, no less.”
Jesse Jackson was decidedly PO’ed that some mulatto interloper stepped in and stole his thunder.
Remember during the campaign when Jesse was caught on mike saying he wanted to cut Obama’s nuts off ?
Ain’t brotherhood grand ?
That’s because the Republican ESTABLISHMENT are liberals and they think the same way as the democrats, throw money at the problems, the result is where we’re at. WE NEED A PRESIDENT AND LEGISLATORS THAT ARE TRUE CONSERVATIVES THAT ARE FREE MARKET BELIEVERS! JOBS FOR ALL, NOT JUST CERTAIN GROUPS SO POLITICIANS CAN GET PAYBACKS IN MONEY OR VOTES, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH WITH THE CRONY CAPITALISM! Until then, so called Republicans will not get the “black” vote, because they really know they(dems/reps) are the same same. People aren’t stupid, no matter what certain people say over and over.
Jean you are exactly right about the idiot Statist/Progressive Republicans…they will never change and will continue to be cowed by the Race Bigots’ Identity Politics. Steve Sailor has been noting this for decades but the majority of the White voters are still living in denial and afraid to speak about this issue!
Mr. Lester is focused on addressing a symptom rather than the disease. Libertyship was right on in pointing out that the demise of the traditional family has had a bad impact on the black community. I believe though CFbleachers is closer to the root. Both excellent posts.
There should be NO distinction, legislation or any other governmnet action aimed at ANY ethnic group. Period. We are all Americans. We all live under one set of laws. That one ethnic group or another is statistically different doesn’t entitle them to any special “class” as citizens. Nor does it absolve them of their responsibilities as citizens.
History is full of examples of persecution, slavery, tyranny and the like. One needn’t look to far back or for that matter, to far away, ie Syria etc… to see examples of brutality. What we have in America is very special! We have a framework (the constitution) that gives us all the freedom to win or fail. There are no exclusionary clauses in it. I get tired of hearing about special interest groups. What “interest” isn’t “special”? I don’t believe any particular race has exclusive claim to anything. We’re all Americans. When we start acting like it then this country will see a resurgence like never before.
Good point of GOP inability to get the message out, CFBleachers. But we Republicans might address some issues in our past. This would cost us nothing. Yes, the GOP provided most of the votes for the Civil Rights Bill, and yes, the Democrats were for decades the party of segregation. Yet the Goldwater campaign was perceived by many blacks as driving them out of the party, especially in the south.
Through Eisenhower the GOP got upwards of 70% of the black vote. That dropped in half for Nixon, _possibly_ because of JFK’s call to Mrs. King. In any event, that’s how it was spun. This was followed by the Goldwater campaign which, salutary as it was in other respects, was a disaster for GOP relations with African-Americans, from which the party has never recovered.
This is not to diminish the malign influence of the media, the Democrats, black preachers, the Great Society, etc, etc. But we can’t do anything about that. We can 1) offer a liberty-based, free market, small government, pro-family, pro-defense, pro-Constitution agenda now, and 2) internally, honestly look at our (now-distant) past. If we are looking for black votes, simply to throw up our hands and lament that they can only be bought with government money will get us nowhere.
To attempt to buy votes with yet more government money would further infantilize the Black community, it is indeed the wrong approach.
We all need to do much more commerce in the marketplace of ideas, so that blacks would see that they are conservative already, as they indeed poll.
Also, now with a black president at the helm, how would Americans, black or white, answer the question, “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?”
Reaching our and standing tall are entirely different things. It is a practical impossibility to reach out to something that is so deeply corrupted as that–politically and intellectually–without compromising first principles. That is how conservatism was lost in the first place.
Stand up and let them see you. It is they who will have to leave the reservation.
This is disturbing, saying that the Democrats are frightening African Americans so they can get their vote. I see this as Democrats hate mongering telling the African Americans to hate whites. We all have to live together, again, disturbing.
Barry Ceminchuk
bceminchuk@yahoo.com
Barry,
I am not sure what news you have been tuning into the past couple months, but you shouldnt have had to look too hard (especially if coming here) to see the truth. “saying that the Democrats are frightening African Americans so they can get their vote.” Have you been paying attention to what the National Black Caucus has been saying publicly??? What Debbie Wassmerman-Schultz has said? Heck, fill in the blank Progressive has been saying for decades that the Republican’s, and now Tea Party want to lynch black folks, keep them in poverty, and are a bunch of racists….
“Democrats hate mongering telling the African Americans to hate whites.” Not all whites, and not as blatant. Theres the undertones, references, and dog whistle buzz words that do that for them. They dont want them to hate whites in general…just specific ones that are against the Progressive Agenda. Pick up Rules for Radicals and have your eyes opened.
The media and the “leadership” of the black community must be held accountable for their half-truths and outright lies! The true history must be told of what happened to the freed slaves after the Civil War. In 1865 all 118 republicans in congress voted FOR the 13th amendment, only 19 of the 82 democrats voted for this amendment. 94% of republicans in congress voted FOR the 14th amendment, NOT ONE democrat in either the house or senate voted for the 14th amendment. The 15th amendment was passed entirely on republican votes, NOT ONE DEMOCRAT VOTED FOR IT! By 1875 republicans had passed almost 2 dozen civil rights bills. By 1900 democrats began to actively seek a repeal of the 14th and 15th amendments. Woodrow Wilson enacted pro-segregation policies, including segregating the military, in his administration; and the democrat-controlled US house passed a bill making it a felony for a black to marry a white! OH and this is just the start of the PROGRESSIVES LIES!
I agree the GOP needs to attract black voters, but going into their community without a solid plan only opens up the flood gates for the media to show how disliked they are. Do you think a Republican walking into an audience of black Democrats is going to fare well? Imagine the media frenzy to publish those films of blacks booing any and everything the speaker says. Or filming an audience of 10 people in a 200 seat room. The media, skilled with words, and armed with the editors scissors, has the potential to create great harm. Whatever the plan, it needs to be well thought out.
As has already been stated here several times; the GOP should NOT try to pander to any group.-that is what liberals do; pander to groups and pit man against man. The GOP needs to stand on the principles of personal integrity, character, and values that are based in reason and liberty NOT identity politics.
Martin Luther King, Jr was a Republican.
Why are we implicating a special race-based ‘outreach’ is a lacking necessity of the Republican party? By doing so, we imply a race-based lower level of intelligence, needing special outreach!
People ARE intelligent enough to make their own decisions.
At an age of late 50s now, I’ve never required any special ‘outreach’ to determine what party I was a part of or how I was going to vote. In fact, I was voting Republican while parents were still registered Democrat. All without ‘outreach’.
And if race is a requirement for ‘outreach’, I would have been a prime candidate. Ethnically, I refer to myself as ‘heinz 57′, I’m a mixed bag of Nordic and Canadian Indian.
I chose my own direction, sans any ‘outreach’. And if were implying blacks need special ‘outreach’, that’s an insult to their intelligence.
Certainly it can’t take too long to quickly realize most everything Jackson and Sharpton are spewing is complete BS!
As well, West deserves no special honors. He can talk a good game most times, but he doesn’t have the cajones to take out a Usurper ‘president’. Based on that, all 535 should be barred from office!
And whether acknowledged or not, voting ‘race’ is rather Klan-ish. Every election I inundate myself with readings. I follow politics closely enough I’m usually pretty set to vote people for office, but legislation, and judges are a different issue! One must watch out for trick wording to ensure you’re not voting opposite what you think you’re voting, and then for judges, LexisNexis account is almost necessary.
Party guidelines or recommendations prior to election are just that, a recommendation. Only time I look at them is after I vote to see how closely I selected.
All without any special ‘outreach’, AMAZING…
In the Sept. l2 Wall Street Journal there appeared an article by Arthur Laffer on black youth unemployment which reaches around 50% in rhe inner cities of America. He proposed enterprise zones be established. An e-zone would suspend minimum wage legislation, payroll taxes, and regulations that are stifling small businesses. Tdfhe e-zones would be pretty much free market zones. Arthur Laffer was a supporter of Ronald Reagan. I don’t understand why the Republicans have not picked up on Laffer’s suggestion especially when Mayor Bloomberg is predicting riots as they have appeared in Europe. I do understand why the Democrats have not picked up on it. It would p.o. their union allies so they don’t even mention it.
When Allen West was elected to Congress, he indicated he would join the Congressional Black Caucus and do some “outreach” himself.
Can you imagine the success in reaching out to a diehard like John Conyers ? How about Maxine Waters who about a month ago said …”And as far as I’m concerned, the ‘tea party’ can go straight to Hell.”
(well, Maxine, you’re forgiven ’cause you’re frustrated as Congress had just appointed a special committee to look into your husband’s bank fiasco in California and keeps dragging its heels on its investigation of you)
You think the documented crook (but still holding onto office) octogenarian Charlie Rangel is open to outreach ? Alcee Hastings ?
In my humble opinion, many members of the CBC have been extremely obstructionist in terms of “racial” progress in the United States.
I hope Allen West has a sense of humor.
The article is quite correct as the Republican outreach is dismal. We are mainly talking about establishment Republicans who would love nothing more than to reside over a big government they can profit from. The OUTREACH should consist of issues we agree on such as school vouchers in which the Democrats cannot and will not support. Keep pushing the issue and bite down like a rabid pitbull until you get your pound of flesh. Conceding the votes or giving up is the cowards way. We have to fight for every inch of ground.
pelaut, regarding your comment on beggars and Tamarlane…I have seen this sort of behavior with my own eyes. Visiting Bangalore back in the 90′s, around 11 PM after a meal at a restaurant on Mahatma Gandhi Road (!), our group was standing outside waiting for our driver (don’t hate on me, you’d be crazy to drive in India without a local driver) when I saw two boys, one 14, the other 8, approaching. The older boy stopped about 100 feet away, then reared back and punched his little brother in the face making him cry like a banshee. The 8 yr old then approached us and begged for money!!! They were decently dressed and looked as if they got 3 squares a day. The older boy would have been insufficiently pathetic, so he enlisted his younger sibling to do the work. True professionals.
Those of us who saw the film “slumdog millionaire” surely remember the horrific scene where a “boss” of beggars blinds a very young boy by pouring a chemical in his eyes, therefore making him a pitiful blind beggar boy. My Indian neighbors confirmed that this practice still exists in slums like Calcutta and others. I apologize from being off topic.
Your incident is bad to say the least.
Though that’s bush league to adults (I don’t know if it’s the children’s guardian/parent in most instances) exploiting children’s actions on the dark continent.
The commercials we see time-to-time of the fat, bearded guy asking you to ‘..be a sponsor to little..’ images inundate Africa. Targeting Anglos specifically.
A female adult will be sitting away from a stop sign/traffic light collecting money, pointing to a car for other young prodigy(ies) in disheveled clothing to put on their most pathetic ‘help me’ face(s).
The Western World, UN/UNICEF, Peace Corps and other do gooder but in essence doing nothing type entities take tens of billions of taxpayer provided Western dollars annually for ‘outreach’ to the African/Trans-Jordanian/Haitian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani etc., with the final result being.. MORE & MORE RELIANCE & RESENTMENT of the Western world!
Though if you try to speak to those who feed the disease, err, ‘helpful providers’ of the possibility in teaching rather than DOING for these folks they’ll tell you in a myriad of ways ‘they can’t’ – The very same attitude/approach the Democratic Party is proud of. Their tentacles on every aspect of inner-city and outlying minority areas.
It’d be sad if it wasn’t such the norm..
We Republicans can offer Blacks something the Dems can’t and never will. Capital ownership. Yes we will have to finance it with the labor the Blacks will have to give in exchange. But many and a growing percentage when it works will get it — that working to own the means of production that the Democratic Party should not be allowed the power to take away from them to promote monopolistic or oligopolistic capitalism (aka communism or socialism)is the only way out of their economic trap. Progress is better than a slow descent into the swamp. That is what Republicans have to offer the Poor, the Blacks, and all Minorities. Boo-Rah! Let’s Go! 20% of the Blacks will become 40% the more we push it.
A strong economy is more important to those who want to climb from disfunction to the middle class.
College graduates can generally get some sort of start in life, even Cultural Anthropology Majors.
I have seen the dreaded SEIU march in labor parades. The marchers were mainly very nice, non threatening black ladies employed by government.
High testosterone, underclass males of all ethnicities can not get hired by government. They have arrest records and the timid types who work for government are terrified of them.
The only hope for these guys is a stong economy where a risk taking entrepeneur will take a chance on them.
Obama offers no hope for these guys. Only risk taking capitalists have the balls to deal with the bad boys who want to change their lives.
Here is an interesting Black Republican website I had not seen before. A friend just sent it to me by e-mail.
It is astonishing, continuing black support of the democrat party.
Given that political party’s historical record of abject racism.
Booker Rising is the best….bar none.
Oh, I dunno. I tried to contact someone from the NAACP to follow up on a position they’d taken in a local matter in Colunbia, Maryland, and I was stiff-armed rather rudely.
Maryland is where the black Democrats put up that ugly, racist campaign against Michael Steele. There are people who have a stake in keeping the black folk on the plantation, and they aren’t necessarily white or asian. So it’s not at all easy to go through the usual community pathways.
But I had my kids in a private school that was about 1/3 black, and the parents used to joke amongst themselves that they all have the same conversations with their kids.
Right now, independent-minded blacks are like eagles: they are going to come in, one at a time. Make them welcome, let them lurk a bit, and be sure that, when you think you are talking to “white” folk, you from time to time mention that your policies are inclusive, that they are designed to help everyone. Have faith.
What the republicans have to do is educate all people but especially the young blacks their true history. They would learn the democratic party has held blacks down a lot more than the republicans ever did or do. Just ask the young blacks, who started the kkk or pushed segregation and held back their right to vote. Ask them all so who was the first man to own a black slave in America, they will be shocked! I was.
New book on Frederick Douglass, see it at conservativemessenger.org
Expalins Douglass’ life empowering values and how most Black Christians do not vote their faith.
I have said for the past ten years the repubs are neglecting a huge voter base by writing off black voters. Since 2001 I worked for black federal judge and numerous ivy league black law clerks. Every one of my friends were potential republican voters, and some were. But as usual the repubs got off on some sort of morality issue that effected me and my friends. I didnt vote for Obama but my friends did, I cant blame them. But outside of Obama the conversation was how the Congressional Black Caucus was essentially an uncle Tom. The democrats have never treated the black community and voters as anything more than people to scare. I think its sad. Most of my black friends are fiscally conservative and reasonably liberal on social issue. If the repubs ever expect to appeal to black voters, they have to keep that in mind
I think part of the problem is that Republicans do not play racial politics, or any other “group vs. group” politics. The truth is that Republicans do not reach out to people based on race or class, etc.
I am not saying that outreach to blacks is not needed. I think black conservatives are very important players, and I thank them for their hard work and involvement. I am always interested in what they have to say.
If you try to have a conversation with someone and they refuse to communicate with you, how in the world is it your fault that they don’t want to speak with you? And, then you are blamed for the breakdown in communication. Well, this is how I see the relationship with blacks and the Republican Party. I would like to see more blacks involved with the Party of Lincoln, but there has to be some desire on the part of blacks to want to have a positive dialogue with us. Just look at the Congressional Black Caucus, when J.C. Watts was the only black Republican in Congress, they wouldn’t even let him join the organization. And many of you who have commented here on our lack of “outreach” to blacks write as though the lack of blacks in our party is ALL our fault. As far as I am concerned, we should let our deeds and the fair treatment of all people be our testament and quit worrying and fretting about what others, especially blacks, think of us.
I am black, have been a Republican for a number of years, and I moved away from the Democrat Party a long time ago. I disagree that the Republican Party does not attempt to reach out to blacks, they simply do not throw money at it the way some people would have them do it. Blacks changed to the Democrat Party when Franklin Roosevelt ran for president. At that point they thought their existence after the depression depended upon the Democrats because he was a Democrat.
Things have changed but most blacks honestly do not read enough to find the truth so they cling to the lie the left wing Media feeds them. Their source of news is CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC. If they read a newspaper they read liberal newspapers, Jet, Ebony, etc. What do you think the Republican Party can do to reach beyond the left wing established media.
I try to educate blacks all the time but they have some kind of fear that left wing socialist have feed into their minds for decades and it’s not easy to remove it.
Blacks like Muslims are taught by their parents and grandparents that Democrats are for the little man and Republicans are for the big man. How do I know this, I am black and I heard all my young life. There was no evidence it was true so the lie was passed on from generation to generation and social standing does not matter because the seed is planted in them deep at an early age. Like Islamic terrorist early childhood training is not easily irradiated.
Black conservatives have to put forth a concerted effort to retrain black democrats in barber shops, grocery stores, churches, and most of all black preachers have to get in touch with the truth and stop lying like dogs in the pulpit. They viciously attack Republican candidates with CNN paranoid talk and some or most of what is said is just not true. Blacks fear losing welfare and social programs more than anything in this world, the weird thing is most do not receive welfare in any shape or form. But they don’t want to help support family members who do get checks, etc.
They fall for lies like medicare will be cut by Republicans but no one tells them Democrats have already signed that damaging health care bill into law that cuts medicare by $50,000,000,000 in ten years. That means less service to some blacks who have medicare ONLY. Will CNN tell them that, NO. If white Republicans tell them that they will not listen.
What’s a white Republican to do, to that I politely say, NOTHING. Do what they can when they can. They might want to look into making commercial tailored for blacks throughout the year with prominent black men and women telling what the Republican Party really stands for. If there are those who do not like that idea then tailor the ads for all communities, simply include something that catches the eye of all Americans. The best time to do something like that is not when an election is near but all during the year.
Reaching out to the Black community . Man I have a major problem with that idea. I am of Mexican descent, I am 54 years of age. No one from the Rnc has ever reached out to me. I have learned from life, that the Conservative party is the one that best suits the founding fathers ideals. Why should the Rnc reach out to the blacks? And if they do reach out what is it they are going to offer them. I agree with Col West that some blacks are still on the plantation. They have the slave mindset. The reason that God had the Jews wander the desert for 40 years, (2 generations) was to get rid of that slave mind set. Things in life must be learned on your own. Blacks (like other minorities) are over sensitive about themselves. The main stream propaganda machine has done a great job in keeping them on the plantation. Stories that involve making any changes to Social welfare programs are always framed in a way that the changes will appear to harm “THE CHILDREN” and minorities. I have read Thomas Payne’s Common Sense. Mr Payne states that while society is good Gov is always evil, and in that he is correct. The problem as I see is that some blacks at least the ones that are portrayed by main stream propaganda machine and the ones that voted for Obama just because of the color of his skin believe that the solution to their problems is more government. I don’t know how to combat that idea. I don’t know how to get them off the plantation. Its tragic because there is A LOT of potential. The main stream propaganda machine does its best to hide people like Col West because they are a threat to their way of existence.
So again if blacks want to stay on the plantation then, I guess that’s on them. But its up to the rest of the us WORKING Americans no matter what color they are to close down the plantations.
In order to break the cycle of poverty, a decent education is required. A child with an education is an adult who can get a good job. An adult with an education and a good job will take his children out of the slum. The cycle is then broken.
However, a child with little or no education isn’t likely to leave that environment, except to go to prison or the morgue.
The cycle of poverty cannot be broken with welfare. It cannot be broken by requiring the residents of the worst neighborhoods in our country to attend the worst schools in our country. Yet, that is the current operating procedure, as Democrats fight tooth and nail to block school choice programs. Their loyal constituents need the freedom to go to any school they can get to– not just the horrid schools in their crime-ridden neighborhoods. Of course, whith that education may come a realization that they are capable of taking care of themselves and their families– and that might not work out well for Democrats.
That blacks do not seem to understand what Democrats are doing to them is baffling.
No one purchased my vote, nor is it for sale.
Offering the black community bribes and goodies to vote for politicians is what Democrats do.
That the black community think that their votes are to be traded so they can get free taxpayer dollars is their problem, not mine. It shows that the black community is corrupt.
That they think the GOP would put them back in chains shows that they are paranoid. Thats pretty pathetic isn’t it?
Parties don’t “reach out.” That’s not what they should be doing. Parties have a platform of ideas, and people either agree or they don’t.
What exactly is this “reaching out” supposed to look like?
As someone once said, the problem with Africa isn’t America. The problem with Africa is Africa.
And the same can just as easily be said of Black America – the problem solely rests with Black America.
Frankly, it has been my observation the absolute worst path a Republican candidate can choose is to pander for the black vote, though most everyone of them have tried in one capacity or another.
I read this article twice, and I can not see one solid suggestion from this article that has convinced me otherwise. If I were the Republican candidate of choice, I would juxtapose my positions against Obama’s positions, elaborate why I believe my positions are superior, structure them if need be to the audience, and leave it at that.
Republican policies are clearly superior in every facet, even for Black Americans. And it is the responsibility of Black Americans to figure that out. The smart ones have.
I disagree, wholeheartedly. The Republican message is no secret. How do you taylor a strategic message of governing philosophy to a group who believes they have a unique experience that transcends the party message without diluting the message? Why would the party expend resources to attract a bare minority of a minority? It’s the law of diminishing returns. Besides, the presence of many blacks in the party proves the message is competent for those wiling to hear it. What makes a black skinned American so different that he or she needs special attention to woo their votes? Hey, there you go. The problem is that the Republican philosophy, as the conservative wing espouses, strongly discourages special attention in all it’s government manifested forms.
Its not the fault of the GOP, that the vast majority of blacks are identity politics racists who wish to tranfer others wealth to their group.
Not interested in pandering to that.
Duane, with all due respect, I am at a loss to explain why black Americans are stuck on stupid. Black Americans and a growing cadre of Americans of any racial or ethnic stripe need to shed the notion that government is the solution to their problems when government, under any political flag, is not the solution to their problem. They are the solution to their problem.
What have the Democrats done for the black community to “lift them out of poverty” if that remains their status after 1/2 a century of social and legislative reforms initiated on their behalf by both parties. What have the likes of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Charlie Rangel and the Congressional Black Caucus done to lift the black community out of poverty? And what about the continuance of the policy of affirmative action? How has that preferential treatment created to accommodate black “inferiority” make the black man feel? When will blacks recognize that they are no longer slaves or 2nd class citizens unless they continue their insistence on claiming that status? How have black Americans like Herman Cain, Allen West, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, etc. succeeded in breaking the so called “color barrier” and who are the modern architects of that ” barrier”??
Black Americans obsessed with hatred for the Republican party need to look inward, not outward for the cause of their failures. Stop listening to the rhetoric of what Walter Williams calls the poverty pimps, rhetoric filled not with anything factual but the vile, vicious, lies that democrats have embedded in the collective brains of blacks for the sole purpose of keeping them under their political thumb. It is maddeningly true that the democrats rely on their induced ignorance and rage on the black community in order to control it. Does the black community demonstrate that they have any inkling of this? Is upwards of a consistent 85% to 95% voting record for democrats constitute evidence that this is true? Is the black community aware that while the democrats controlled the house and senate in 1964 a larger percentage of republicans voted for the Civil Rights bill than did the democrats; 82% vs 69% in the senate and 80% vs 61% in the House (http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/183344.html)?
In short, Duane, black Americans need to stop living their stereotypical, anti-establishment, self delusional lives and step out into the bright future that awaits when they stop pointing the finger of blame everywhere else and focus on the true source of their predicament, the guy that stares back at them every morning from the bathroom mirror.
Slavery is a dark stain on America’s past but the operative word here is “past.” It’s over and continues to recede into the rear view mirror of history but the hate that exists between the races will continue as long as blacks and whites persist in perpetuating animosity, division and blame that is used as an excuse for personal failures.
The white community eagerly supports Allen West and Herman Cain. Walter Williams regularly subs for Rush Limbaugh at his golden EIB microphone and speaks for 3 hours to a predominantly conservative audience. Is this an indicator of their desire to deny their black origins and “please whitey” or is it because how they’ve lived, what they’ve accomplished, what they have to say and who they are resonate with Americans who see the color of their skin as a factor of no consequence?
How can the GOP win over the black vote when Conservatives are against welfare and blacks live off of it?
This reply board is full of idiots. LOL
The failure of Black Conservatives in Modern Society
by Greg Thrasher
The failure of the politics of conservative thought in the Black community has never been a surprise for me. I have always known that black people are very astute in rejecting backward ideas, underdeveloped thoughts and philosophies. The media fiction that the GOP and conservative principles are gaining a new foothold with Black folks is nonsense and is nothing more than the exaggerated press releases of GOP balloon blowers and black apologists seeking affirmation from conservative whites as they mine the lucrative cottage industry of black conservatism.
Conservatives, when they dressed themselves in black face, become even of a more losing proposition because this partnership only insults the audience the conservatives wish to recruit and indoctrinate.
It should, however, be pointed out that the failure of conservative politics in the Black community is not based entirely on the underdeveloped core themes and ideas of conservative politics nor on the legacy of its racists beliefs as marketed by white republicans. Some of the failure of conservative thinking in the ‘hood is a direct result of Black folks who have embraced conservatism as a panacea for the ills of black folks as manta from heaven .
Black conservatives are always their own worst victim in this parade. Black conservatives continue to display a patronizing and condensing posture
when they interact with those who are not card caring members of the GOP. In addition these Black operatives never seem to get passed touting the usual Black token darlings of the GOP.
It should be noted that the very ideals of some conservative principles have existed in the Black community long before whites even entered the soil of North America. Black conservatives who have embraced conservative politics fail miserably in the black community because they are viewed as
agents of a political philosophy that at it’s core has contempt for black dignity and humanity.
Black conservatives simply cannot navigate around the ugly legacy of white racism so when black conservatives seek to uplift and elevate black masses with the failed themes of conservative politics, they look like minstrels and fools to the majority black electorate. The truth is, of course, liberal political ideology and conservative ideology both are on their last days in the black community as
neither has been effective in truly changing the life conditions of the majority of Black Americans.
Black cultural traditions and our very essence, as a people, have liberated us from the obstacles that life has brought us in America and not the partnership with whites marketing political dogma from either side of the aisle, right or left. The Black electorate has always been vulnerable to the prospects of a movement which values and respects the vast cultural and social capital the Black community has. Liberal conventions have at least offered some basic features which have
contributed to the well being of Black folks in this country. Of course none of us are enshrining white liberals as our saviors or liberators – we have done that ourselves and no doubt we will continue to be our own icons and legends.
Black people generally are not obsessed with politics nor do they view the political arena as being an integral aspect of their lives. Our greatest assets have always been outside the traditional mainstream orthodoxies. Black folks will embrace a political construct that has them at the core of it’s paradigm. We are hungry for a new meal with a menu full of new recipes and ideas. Black conservatives would be best suited if they were the primal beginning of a new political movement,
one which is without the legacy of white supremacy nor the result of white architecture. The question is, where is the origin of this fertile spring? It is apparent that the stream of conservative dogma and propaganda has never truly flowed with our interests at heart….
Greg Thrasher, Director PLANE
IDEAS
That was on the money….
Greg Thrasher’s post is exhibit A in this thread.
“Black folks will embrace a political construct that has them at the core of it’s paradigm.”
Black Seperatist Identity Politics Racists. Plain and Simple.
They like the Lefts giving them wealth trasfers, special priveleges and preferenes….and thus vote for them. They dont reject racial preferences and discrimination. They advocate Black Supremacist discrimination and preferences.
Who wants to mine that putrid stink that is the majority AA cultural mindset for votes?
My take [as a conservative] is that Republicans don’t catagorize people but have a platform that should appeal to ALL American citizens. Democrats catagorize people to keep contention going and to keep each group feeling they need to depend on centralized government.
Let me simplify this;
A Conservative is a Liberal that has been mugged.
That’s a good point, often repeated. But I think L. Neil Smith has a good answer when he says a liberal is a conservative who’s been arrested.
cyber, a person who grew up in Nazi german might become a nazi. that means what, that it is okay?
we are all formed by experience. we don’t have the same experience. and we can’t sympathize with all viewpoints equally. That is the tragedy of life. Liberal democracy sympathizes with more viewpoints than any other culture.
I don’t like murderers. but if somehow I became one, my whole viewpoint would change. Suddenly, I would want even more liberal laws and procedural rules that would help me get off. I would be happy to blame the victim and justify myself in any way. I would be delighted to find some new disease that would explain how I can’t help killing people. But should everyone else adopt my viewpoint? No, they should not.
What if I was innocent? Same thing. I would want everything done to show my innocence or get me off on any technicality. But because some innocents are convincted should we change everything or something. and how should we change things? Maybe some things can be changed. I don’t know.
No matter what we do, something will be wrong. Thomas Sowell has written about this. He says it is possible to ensure no innocent person is every convicted. Never arrest anyone. It is also possible to ensure that all the guilty are convicted. Convict everyone. We choose something in between.
You are right that we are all limited by our lives. Liberals and conservatives alike.
good article. i do think conservs can do some thing better to get black votes. however there is a fine line tha needs to be addressed. there is a not small percentage o the the country esp focused in black communities that for lack of a better phrase have a problem with being slaves but not with being pets. the dems have been working for generations creating a black culture whose sole identity is being opressed and the only savior is someone giving them what they want. opportunitiy is no longer defined by what i can do for myself, but what can others give me so i vote for them.i honestly think these people cannot be saved. some may come around but most will simply turn violent, as we are already seeing in europe and in parts of the US in the form of flash mobs. these cannot be reasoned with, only put down, like old yeller with rabies. at a certain point the black community needs to take responsibility and straighten itself out. but as long as they are babied by the dems and the PC racebaiting politics of all progressives be it right or left, then this will not occure.
For the record, I’m black. I’m a conservative and a registered republican. I’ll stipulate to the fact that the black community gives far too much uncritical support to the democratic party.
That said, I make and will defend against all comers the following statement: The GOP does not consider blacks to be a political constituency necessary or essential to their aspirations for governance.
Evidence supporting my contention comes from the numerous messaging fails of the GOP. The GOP takes great care in crafting its messages, but is quite cavalier in how it communicates to and about black voters. The tone of the commentary in this forum is pretty hostile towards blacks as a political constituency, with a fair amount of patronizing language and a tone that indicates near contempt. I’d argue that the sentiments and tone in this comment thread are actually pretty indicative of the attitude of the GOP broadly (dismissive, paternalistic, condescending).
I’ve written about this issue in a variety of ways. You can see my arguments:
http://politicalseason.blogspot.com/2010/12/idiocy-of-enslavement-rhetoric-by.html
http://politicalseason.blogspot.com/2009/03/trading-in-currency-of-black.html
http://politicalseason.blogspot.com/2010/07/gop-again-demonstrates-disregard-for.html
http://politicalseason.blogspot.com/2010/07/letter-to-lincoln-stereotypes-disguised.html
http://politicalseason.blogspot.com/2010/07/rush-gop-race-baiter-in-chief.html
http://politicalseason.blogspot.com/2011/07/slavery-on-collective-conservative-mind.html
http://politicalseason.blogspot.com/2009/07/gop-your-witness-is-weak.html
http://politicalseason.blogspot.com/2009/05/limbaughs-race-baiting-gop-funky.html
I recommend reading anything by Shelby Steele, White Guilt is a good place to start, you will learn a great deal.
Well Col West addressed this problem with the correct answer, democrats have blacks on a mental plantation. To be blunt, the blacks like it. The ones that don’t like it leave. They are called uncle toms and every other insult is tossed at them.
I hate to get biblical here but, the slave mind set is the reason that God had the jews wander the desert for 40 years, 2 generations. To get that mind set purged. The answer, well we cant round em up n make em wander AZ for 40 years so they have to turn to their own. I don’t believe that they will respond a white man telling them to learn to stand on their own. I believe that conservative blacks will have to go into the black community and address the problem. They will be attacked physically and verbally but that to me is the only way that blacks will get off the plantation. The RNC can’t do a thing to help them unless its blacks in the RNC that go into the black community to help.
What is the real problem with Black people voting republican. It is the racism coming from the GOP. Now we can debate this all day long , however Black people for the must part do not have a time machine that goes back to the early days of the democratic KKK. What they have is the present day racism from the GOP. David Duke was a democrat who is now a republican. Why does he feel so comfortable in the GOP..?? And Black conservatives , listen to this VERY CAREFULLY.. We must bring the GOP to task for their racist nonsense and we cannot defend racists like the tea party , Rush Limbugh , Glenn Beck , Micheal Savage , DSick Cheney etc..And we must stop lying about Dr King. He was not a republican and spreading that lie only pushes Black people further from the republican party. Herman Cain with all of his accomplishments failed to learn that you can’t disrespect people and then ask for their vote. Plus the GOP does not have a great history when Black people are concerned. How many Black members of congress are in the GOP..?? Two…and how many since the 50s..Five…That’s not progress and we have to realize that when we talk to Black people. They are not stupid and to get then to listen to our views we have to be willing to critcize republicans. That may cause political harm – just ask Colin Powell and Micheal Steele…But these two men will get more votes then Herman Cain will ever get because they have more respect for Steele and Powell…So we as Black republicans we have to be honest with our people and we have to stop ignoring the racism coming form the republican party. We look like uncle toms when we defend their racist behavior. Black people will listen to anyone that is truthfuil with them. No more lies and no more insults.
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