A pestilence creeps across the land. The shadows lengthen, the air chills, and the windows are slammed nervously shut. At the unbalanced tables of hipster coffee shops, anxious and hushed voices discuss fell premonitions while their sixteen-syllabled drinks go untouched. Packages of overpriced flax seed lie uneaten while their non-binary owners uneasily pace the room, chewing their manicured nails instead. Is this it, they wonder? Is this the end of days?
At least, that's how the apocalypse might seem had one's only source of news been CNN, NPR, or the Guardian, all of which are currently hyperventilating at the recent polling showing minority voters souring on Joe Biden. The Left hasn't been this frantic since the Taliban took down the pride flag from our Kabul embassy story-hour room.
But while their public meltdowns elicit bemused titters from those of us on this side of sanity, we must resist the temptation to read as much as they are into the polling. I hate the idea of giving the Left any aid or comfort, but if I were them, I'd take off the sandwich boards and relax. Knowing my own party, I can assure you our "leaders" are already looking for ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Most polls don't tell us much beyond the fact that black voters are pulling away from Biden in moderately significant, but not seismic, numbers. The polls can't tell us whether this trend is permanent. The polls can't tell us whether this trend is more in support of Republican policies or only in opposition to Democrat policies. And the polls can't tell us whether the unique personalities of Joe Biden and Donald Trump play a factor and, if so, to what degree.
I remain pessimistic for two reasons. First, the primary concern of many of these polled minorities remains the economy. If minority voters lean away from the Democrat Party because the economy is down, they'll swing right back to it once the economy improves, even if it does so under a Republican administration. It's understandable that Americans living check-to-check prioritize the economy over more middle/upper-class culture war issues. But, as such, it is their responsibility to take note of how that economy functions. Had they done so, they wouldn't have been voting solidly Democrat for the last few decades. Alas, there is no evidence to illustrate such vital understanding has been attained.
Second, though correlation isn't causation, there is a good case to be made that the singular figure of Donald Trump is almost singlehandedly bringing minorities into the Republican camp. However, this has not yet translated into greater inroads down ballot, even when he's at the top of it. And, regardless of whether he wins or loses in 2024, what happens in 2028 when he isn't on the ticket? Will black support revert to Romney/Ryan levels?
Now, we can complain about the black vote all we want. We can criticize it as counterproductive and self-defeating (it is) and say that their votes are blindly given to Democrats without question (they are). Worse, we can write them off as lost. But none of this will make winning elections any easier, nor will it make America a better place. We have to play the hand we are dealt. This doesn't mean compromising our values, but it does mean doing a lot more work to promote our values for what they are, as opposed to how the mainstream media and the professional huckster class intentionally misrepresent them.
True to form, Biden is trying to shore up his numbers by lobbing the race card. He headed to South Carolina to preach racial division at the black church where a white supremacist gunman murdered nine black worshippers in 2015. As we all know, his son Beau singlehandedly disarmed the gunman and then went on to defeat the entire remnants of the Klan. On horseback.
We can roll our eyes at Biden, but despicable as his tactics are, at least he's doing something to win the black vote. Other than Trump himself with the occasional Chick-fil-A photo op or pardoned Kardashian relative, what are the rest of the Republicans doing?
The blame for this doesn't belong solely to either never-Trumpers or only-Trumpers. Our current House clown car is filled with RINOs who do nothing about border security, along with self-styled "rebels" who, in their inbred brilliance, think the best path forward is to hand the majority to Democrats who will make those RINOs look like the John Birch Society. Neither group of these petulant children seems focused on outreach to any group, least of all blacks. When was the last time Dan Crenshaw, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Mike Gallagher, or Matt Gaetz spoke at a black church, community event, or political gathering?
Senator Tim Scott is only one man, and it can't only be on him to get the black vote for us. The rest of our representatives need to put on their big kid pants and do some heavy lifting.
The Republican message should be this:
For decades, the Democrats have won your vote by giving you free handouts and fomenting racial division. We Republicans have been trying to keep pace by giving you slightly fewer free handouts and by offering cowardly apologies for whatever half-baked racial grievances we are blamed for. All this has done is keep black America in a state of systemic poverty, both economically and culturally.
The Democrats have been standing in your way for centuries. The Democrats supported slavery and launched a civil war to preserve it. The Democrats formed the KKK to terrorize black Americans for a century thereafter The Democrats opposed the civil rights movement and did everything to derail school and societal integration. The Democrats turned on the fire hoses and let the dogs loose on you. But with the creation of the welfare state, the Democrats were finally able to achieve what they had always wanted to do—they destroyed the black family.
Because of the damage done, black America has regressed to a state of virtual slavery, once again thanks to the Democrats. You might not be in chains, but too many are entirely dependent upon your racist overseers for your income, your housing, your food, your medical care, and your employment. A more benevolent slavery is still slavery. Your owners expect proper gratitude in the form of a loyal voting bloc, lest they "forget" to provide these benefits in the next budget.
But the foundations of the black family cannot be rebuilt by quotas, reparations, artificial holidays, history months, segregated college dorms, or releasing degenerate felons back into your neighborhoods. It will require a generational effort and deep cultural realignments. There are billions of people across the globe mired in poverty much worse than anything black America is experiencing, and they aren't using it as an excuse to fail. They don't glorify criminality, they don't beatify their predators, they don't tout ignorance as a badge of honor, they don't deride their successful as race traitors, and their fathers don't abandon their own children. Your teenagers are beating up disabled girls in wheelchairs and laughing as they do it. This isn't poverty. This is a sick culture.
So here's what the Republican Party is offering: We aren't going to condescend to you, and we aren't going to baby you. We aren't going to suck up to you, and we aren't going to bribe you. We are going to hold you to the same standards as we would any other group of rational adults because that is what a truly racism-free society does. We will appeal to your intellect, not your emotion. We will never make a single promise that we can't keep.
We are going to get the government out of your way. We are going to remove the bait-and-switch entitlement addictions that have been intentionally set in your path to ensnare you. We are not going to "give" you anything other than the liberty your forefathers fought so hard to secure and that you've since traded away for thirty pieces of imitation silver.
Much can be blamed on the Democrats, who never forgave you for resisting chattel slavery. But that is only part of the story. The Democrat is gonna Democrat. If you return to Pharaoh because of the shiny gifts with which he lured you back, that choice lies on your shoulders, not his. We can help you reclaim the freedom you willingly surrendered, but rebuilding your families and communities is the responsibility that you and you alone bear. This promised land belongs to you as well if you have the moral courage to accept it.
Regardless of whether this message would convert millions of black Americans or not a single one, it is a message based on truth, human dignity, and the ideals on which this magnificent nation was founded. We have a rare opportunity here to secure the black vote while they're down on Democrats. But it would require Republican politicians with enough fortitude to preach it.
Don't hold your breath.
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