The Black Republican

One of our recent commenters asked The Black Republican to expound on our opinion of a column today by Henry Louis Gates Jr. in the New York Times. The column explores how black voters can make the rationale to - as President Bush recently said in quoting an Illinois legislator - "swallow the elephant". To Gates, the question should be, "Why support a party that has written you off?"

An excellent question - your politics should reflect a positive value judgement. (Some have made this same contention recently with regard to the Presidential election - i.e. one can't simply be voting against Bush to have a valid reason to vote for Kerry.) Though from my perspective Gates' argument is not exactly an honest one, because he goes on to describe the root of this disaffection as the fabled "Southern Strategy".

Republicans can appeal to white moderates by signaling a measure of compassion about problems of race. "On the other hand," Dawson observes, "you can go into places such as Florida and try systematically to disenfranchise poor black votes."

Ah, that old canard again - and the very essence of somebody's "Southern Strategy" - but not the Republicans'.

As a Republican for 20 years*, I can guarantee that the only "Southern Strategy" to disenfranchise black voters practiced by the grassroots of American politics is this kind of devisive rhetoric from the Left. The Republicans did (and still do) have a Southern Strategy, and I'll break the long silence of Republican insiders who have never revealed our evil plot: speak the truth, and let people make whatever assumptions they like about it. Yes, that's right, Republicans are guilty of playing oldest form of dirty politics - we use people's own prejudices against them.

Let me demonstrate. If you click the "Discuss This Column" link on the New York Times' page for Gates' article, you see this post:

Gates doesn't look back far enough. In so doing, he is giving the GOP a free pass on their nod and wink brand of naked racism. In 1948, when Harry Truman integrated the military, the racist Dixiecrats led by Strom Thurmond bolted the Democratic party. Who welcomed them with open arms? The Republican party, that's who. What political party has never apologized or even stopped courting racists? Can you guess?

That some racists have in the past assumed the Republican mantle is far from me to dispute. But the Republican Party does not "court racists", and having not done so need not apologize for it. Asking for such an apology is like asking an innocent man, "Are you sorry for beating your wife?" The apology is asked for simply to villify the opponent for admitting to something he hasn't done.

That we have in the past couched our arguments in such a way as to appeal to conservative white southerners while discouraging black liberals is a disappointment to me personally, but it was a recognition of the state of the electorate. The way the Democrats were playing the race card, we weren't going to get the votes of black liberals anyway, and our values require that we stand up for Classical Liberalism as opposed to the socialist neo-liberal agenda. The dramatic loss of 90% of black votes is repugnant, but may not have been avoidable without giving up on any practical way to oppose the Leftist agenda.

On the other hand, one could make the argument that the current Democratic Party today is blatantly racist, while Republicans are merely accused of advocating policies that appear to be racist. Which is the more heinous? Which requires a more strenuous apology? (And which party ends up disenfranchising more people? [Ed: Note the irony of that link. For a less repulsive version, try this.])

Gates finishes his commentary, not with a question, but with a statement that assumes political reality.

What the big-tent rhetoric ignores is that a more "black friendly" G.O.P. might pay a price in white support. "The Republicans would lose more white votes than they would gain black votes," Dawson says. And so blacks, as a one-party constituency in a two-party system, get sidelined.

The good news is Gates is reading yesterday's tea leaves. The signs indicate that we are finally winning our case in the marketplace of ideas, and the Truth is getting out to make the Republican Party truly the new majority. And with that new strength we can begin to repudiate the lies of the Left that seem to have undercut our principled arguments for years.

The Black Republican seeks to make its case on the merits of every issue - especially issues of race. We know full well there may be a loss of votes from racist whites if they believe we are tailoring our rhetoric more boldly to the black community. And those are votes we'd be happy to lose.