The Black Republican

Everything is going well with the President's campaign - at least as well as can be expected in heavily-Republican southwest Florida when the frenetic last few days have arrived.

However, I wanted to take a moment after a long day of walking the precincts, and sit down to say a word about an ad that's running on my local radio stations. "The Republicans don't talk to us," I recall it saying. "They don't know our values. And they don't want our votes." It then goes on to encourage black voters to vote for Democrats.

Of course, the ad lies about all three of the items I paraphrased. (There were more, but these are the ones I remembered.) First of all, Republicans do want black votes. The problem is, elections cost money, and it's very hard to convince Republicans to spend that money to make efforts in the black community when in all likelihood any effort made will be dismissed out of hand (effectively, too) by the DNC and their black liberal mafiosi. To put it more bluntly, it's a waste of good time, effort, and campaign cash. History indicates nothing we say is going to make much of a difference at the polls.

One thing will cause Republicans to reconsider, and though it's asking a lot, I'm going to tell you what that is. A few blacks will simply have to figure things out for themselves and vote Republican, even though they've been acculturated into believing we're the embodiment of the anti-Christ. At that point, some Republicans (like myself) will be able to approach the party and show that there's a chance to break the Democratic monopoly on the black vote, and beg that we make efforts to reach out.

On the other hand, Republicans should be careful how we tailor our messages, once given the chance. This gets back to the other two items I referred to above: Republicans already DO talk to the black community, and we DO speak to the values in the black community. In fact, on this last point, there ought to be no debate. Culturally, blacks are far more "conservative" than they or the Democrats give themselves credit for. But when the Republicans promise tax cuts for all Americans, we aren't talking about white Americans alone - blacks pay taxes, too, and deserve to keep more of their own money. Blacks also deserve a stronger, free-market economy for their businesses and employees, a strong national defense, affordable health care, and most of all, better schools run by parents, not teacher's unions.

But the Republicans don't tailor their message specifically to the black community.

The Democrats and liberals always put the race-card spin on this: "They ain't talking to US black folk. It would seem from the 90% of blacks who vote Democrat year in and year out, this is what the vast majority of the black community wants. They want a separate message telling them the same thing - an equal message - that's being given to the white folks. They want to be given a separate but equal message from the whites.

Is this what Thurgood Marshall fought for in Brown? Is this what Dr. King was asking for when he sat in the Birmingham jail? Is this why Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus, and the Little Rock Nine dared abuse to walk into desegrated Central High School?

We Republicans speak to the black community in the way we were taught by all these great Americans to speak to the black community: by speaking to all Americans with ONE message - which should always include all Americans, regardless of race, color, or creed. We talk to the black community by not speaking only to the black community. We talk to the black community when we don't pretend to represent the black community separate from whites. Anything less is just Jim Crow all over again.