Taken for Granted

Avatar for schifferle
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Registered: 03-27-2003
Taken for Granted
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Wed, 08-04-2004 - 10:01am
Some wonder why women or poor/middle class people would vote Republican? Why do so many Blacks vote Democrat?

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/ww20040804.shtml

Conservatives, liberals and blacks

Walter E. Williams


August 4, 2004


During the first Reagan administration, I participated in a number of press conferences on either a book or article I'd written or as a panelist in a discussion of White House public policy. On occasion, when the question-and-answer session began, I'd tell the press, "You can treat me like a white person. Ask hard, penetrating questions." The remark often brought uncomfortable laughter, but I was dead serious. If there is one general characteristic of white liberals, it's their condescending and demeaning attitude toward blacks.

According to a Washington Times story (July 14, 2004), Democratic hopeful Sen. John Kerry, in a speech about education to a predominantly black audience, said that there are more blacks in prison than in college.

"That's unacceptable, but it's not their fault," he said. Do you think Kerry would also say that white inmates are faultless? Aside from Kerry being factually wrong about the black prison population vs. the black college population, his vision differs little from one that holds that blacks are a rudderless, victimized people who cannot control their destiny and whose best hope depends upon the benevolence of white people.

Have you watched some white politicians talking to black audiences? It's bad enough to watch the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson do an imitation of Flip Wilson's Rev. Leroy. But to watch Al Gore and Bill Clinton do it is insulting at the least. They don't talk to white audiences that way. As a matter of fact, Sharpton and Jackson don't talk to white audiences that way, either -- talking about going from the outhouse to the White House and from disgrace to amazing grace and other such nonsense. By the way, after addressing the NAACP's 95th annual convention in Philadelphia, Kerry gave the audience the black power clenched-fist salute. I wonder whether his white audiences get the black power salute as well.

On July 23, President Bush gave a speech to the National Urban League. Unlike so many other white politicians speaking before predominantly black audiences, Bush didn't bother to pander and supplicate. He spoke of educational accountability and school choice and condemned high taxes, increased regulation and predatory lawsuits. He defended the institution of marriage. He didn't see blacks as victims in need of a paternalistic government to come to our rescue. He saw blacks needing what every American needs -- an environment where there's rule of law, limited government and equality before the law. The most important question President Bush left with the audience was whether blacks should give the Democratic Party a monopoly over their vote and take their votes for granted.

Sen. Kerry and others have criticized Bush for snubbing the NAACP convention. Here's my question to you. If you were president, would you speak before a group whose president, Kweisi Mfume, said, "We have a president that's prepared to take us back to the days of Jim Crow segregation and dominance," or whose chairman, Julian Bond, said, "(President Bush) has appeased the wretched appetites of the extreme right wing and has chosen Cabinet officials whose devotion to the Confederacy is nearly canine in its uncritical affection"?

It's always been my contention that the conservative vision shows far greater respect for blacks than the liberal you-can't-make-it-without-us vision. For decades, there have been buy-off-the-black-vote presidential appointments like secretaries of labor, health and human services, education and housing. But it's been conservative presidents who have appointed blacks to top positions of responsibility and authority such as secretary of state, national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Republican presidents didn't make these appointments to buy off the black vote. They chose the best people around, who just happened to be black Americans.

Maybe it's guilt that motivates white liberals. That's why I've graciously offered a Certificate of Amnesty and Pardon (http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/gift.html).

Avatar for tmcgoughy
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Registered: 04-08-2003
Wed, 08-04-2004 - 10:46am

"Some wonder why women or poor/middle class people would vote Republican? Why do so many Blacks vote Democrat? "


Seriously Schifferle, I am not picking on you but, is this a constructive debate that you are trying to introduce?

The first key to wisdom is constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.  -
Avatar for schifferle
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Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 08-04-2004 - 12:04pm
Yes, I think it is worth giving thought to. Roughly, 90% of Blacks vote Democrat, rather than being more evenly spread out among the parties. There certainly are remarks made by Democrats wondering why certain groups tend to vote Republican or why anyone would vote Republican at all for that matter. Blacks used to generally vote Republican years ago, then changed. Why did people find the Democrat Party's values more to their liking? And some people, from various walks of life, do vote straight party ticket, because their family always has. I don't mean to imply that this is the way all Blacks vote. It's not my intention to be insulting.
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Registered: 04-08-2003
Wed, 08-04-2004 - 12:28pm
From Reverand Al:

--

It was those that earned our vote that got our vote. We got the Civil Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the Voting Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the right to organize under Democrats.

--

Avatar for schifferle
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Registered: 03-27-2003
Sat, 08-07-2004 - 8:53am
From Unfounded Loyalty: An In-Depth Look into the Love Affair Between Blacks and Democrats

by Wayne Perryman

Rev. Perryman is black, religious and makes his living as an investigator in discrimination cases. He researched the period of 1832 to 2002 to answer a question posed to him by some black inner-city young people; "Why are most blacks in America Democrats?"

Among his findings:

- The Democrat Party was solidly pro-slavery prior to the Civil War, seeking to expand slavery to all of the States.

- The Republican Party was founded just prior to the Civil War and was anti-slavery.

- President Lincoln was the first Republican president. President Lincoln changed Vice Presidents for his second term, selecting Andrew Johnson, a pro-slavery Democrat, to broaden his base and appeal to borderline Democrats.

- After the end of the Civil War, Southern Democrats passed Black Codes in the South to suppress, restrict and deny blacks the same privileges that were available to whites.

- Republicans enacted the Freedman Bureau to assist the newly freed slaves.

- Upon being sworn in to replace the assassinated Lincoln, President Johnson stated: "This is a country for white men and long as I am president it will be a government for white men."

- The Ku Klux Klan was formed as the terrorist arm of the Democrat Party.

- Initially in the South after the Civil War, many blacks were Republicans, including many elected officials. The only black US Senator from the South was a Republican until Barbara Jordan, a Democrat, was elected from Texas in 1972.

- Federal troops were stationed in the South to protect blacks until removed by President Hayes in 1877, but they did not prevail against the terrorist acts of the Klan, which continued to intimidate blacks, causing many to not vote or to vote Democrat.

- The terror situation prevailed until well after 1900. In 1900, three white persons founded the NAACP to publicize and stop the lynchings. There were 94 known lynchings in 1900.

- Rich Republican whites funded and supported many of the black colleges, including Morehouse where Martin Luther King Jr. studied. Many southern Democrats opposed the colleges and tried to diminish their effectiveness.

- The many Civil Rights Acts of the 1960's and 70's were supported by more Republicans than Democrats, and in many cases passed over the objections of Southern Democrats.

A thread throughout the book is that in turning to the government for support rather than the traditional black church, the black community has lost a lot of its resiliency.

Finally, the author claims that the Democratic Party has never officially apologized for slavery or their terrorist war against black Americans.