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Blacks in the GOP

Submitted by Daniel Ruwe on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 20:12
in

 

 Crossposted at Right Minds

 

There are 199 Republicans in the House of Representatives. Not one of them is African-American. There are 49 Republican Senators. Every one of them is white. There are 22 Republican governors. None of them are black (though in fairness, there is only one elected black Democrat governor). The Republican party does not have even one black Congressman, Senator, or governor. African-Americans vote overwhelmingly Democrat, which explains some of the disparity, but that situation is intolerable.
 
Making this situation all the more incredible is the fact that so many of the conservative movement’s most influential thinkers are black. Thomas Sowell is arguably the most influential living conservative economist. If he isn’t, an argument could be made that Walter Williams is. Michael Steele is one of the most popular politicians among conservatives in the nation. Hoover Institute fellow Shelby Steele is very much admired among conservatives, Jesse Lee Peterson is very influential on race matters, and Deroy Murdock, Star Parker, and Armstrong Williams are all widely read conservative columnists. Larry Elder has a large talk radio audience. Black thinkers form a crucial segment of conservative thought.
 
Many liberals respond by saying that black conservatives are little better than Uncle Toms; that they simply repeat what their white masters tell them to say. But that is obviously wrong. Thomas Sowell’s word is law in conservative economics, Walter Williams is one of the most read columnists on the conservative website townhall.com, and Deroy Murdock is one of the most popular writers in National Review. Black conservatives don’t parrot conservative talking points—in many cases, they create the conservative talking points
 
And Republican leaders select many African-Americans as political appointees. The only current black Supreme Court justice is conservative Clarence Thomas. The first black Secretary of State was Colin Powell, and the second was Condoleezza Rice. The Republican party does not lack for blacks in appointee filled offices—only electoral ones.
 
If blacks are not held back by conservative racism, and are some of the conservative movement’s most influential scholars, why can’t they get elected as Republicans? There are at least three reasons.
 
The first reason lies in the fact that well over 75% of blacks vote Democrat. This limits the number of possible black Republican politicians—only a tiny fraction of people have the skills and the inclination to enter politics, and the fact that three quarters of the black population are staunch Democrats narrows the field still further. This means that there really aren’t many black Republican politicians to begin with.
 
Another reason for this disparity lies in the fact that most politicians are politicians first, and ideologues second. It is much easier for a young black politician to gain party support and funding if he is a liberal Democrat. In fact, being anything can hurt an aspiring black politician’s career—black Republicans are often taunted as “Uncle Toms”, pelted with Oreo cookies (get it? Black on the outside, white on the inside), and are sometimes referred to (in Condi Rice’s case) as “house n*ggas”. Being a black Republican politician is like crime—it doesn’t pay.
 
One of the reasons it doesn’t pay lies in the fact that the Republican party does not make much of an effort to find strong black candidates. While Ken Mehlman’s Republican National Committee made an effort to attract black candidates (many blacks ran as Republicans in 2006, although they ran mostly in long-shot races), many GOP strategists believe that such efforts never became an important part of the RNC. After Mehlman left the chairman post of the RNC, these efforts were mothballed.
 
The Republican party has few black politicians—and that is a pity, both for the GOP and the African-American race. The Republican party is missing out on some strong leaders whom would strengthen the party. The black community is losing an opportunity to lift itself out of the culture of government dependency in which so many blacks are enmeshed. (This is hardly a phenomenon unique to blacks—many, many whites are entangled in the same culture, as are many members of other races). The lack of black Republicans hurts both blacks and the GOP—and the Republican party should seek to change that. The black community has much in common with the conservative movement (many are religious social conservatives, and blacks form a large part of the military), and the Republican party should take advantage to this common ground.

 

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I think the GOP was awfully

Submitted by Lisa on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 20:44.

I think the GOP was awfully disappointed when Watts retired from politics. Are there any rising black GOPs on the national scene? I can't think of any.

Immune to Attack

Submitted by bishop on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 20:55.

Minority conservatives are compelling because they're immune to the common liberal charge of racism or being part of the "old white party".

This is such a shame

Submitted by texicali on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 21:05.

Ken Mehlman's idea in 2006 was a great idea.....he got Michael Steele to run in MD....we have excellent candidates in our party that for various reasons can't run for office even though they really want to....some are making so much money in the private sector they can't afford to leave it....others have different reasons....I remember Michael Steele speaking at the 04 convention and how impressed I was...I've heard him a few times since then and am still impressed.....I've always like JC Watts he gets it....Larry Elder would take the world by storm if he ran....but we keep getting painted in an unflattering light....someone needs to stand up and set that record straight

Youth Outreach?

Submitted by prairiefreedom on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 22:03.

What do you all think about this: should the party viz. College Republicans and the conservative movement viz. Young America's Foundation and other like organizations further target their efforts to spread the conservative message to black youth in order to bring them into the movement early on? It doesn't seem like we make inroads in the black community unless we educate those individuals early on when they are most likely to question the conventional wisdom.

Oh sure, let's cite 2006, shall we?

Submitted by section9 on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 22:13.

We get three leading lights in the black community, Michael Steele, Lynn Swann, and Ken Blackwell, to run in the most toxic year for Republicans since 1974 and we're surprised that they got the table run on them?

Ken Blackwell was torched by the corruption of the Taft Administration. A great guy on his own terms, Blackwell couldn't escape the stain of the Taft Republicans. He went down with that ship.

Lynn Swann was completely wasted against a powerhouse like Eddie Rendell.

Mike Steele ran the best race in the country, but in the end, he too was bound to lose. He did, to a store mannequin. 

Look, folks, you want to recruit black Republicans? Follow the J.C. Watts model. Recruit the hell out of young black conservatives, both male and female. Get guys like Larry Elder and the Mike Steeles of the world to aim a little lower. Star Parker should be a House Candidate for God's sake! Get into the House where they can establish a leadership cadre. Watts was all alone up there.

Further, you need to establish a farm team at the State Legislative and State Senate level. This probably is almost nonexistent right now, but it's high time the Party started supporting black candidates at this level, in mostly white districts.  

J.C. Watts' election proved that white Republicans will vote for a conservative black man any time. That's why Watts was despised by the black caucus. We failed in 2006 because we got greedy and got our butts kicked in a Democratic tidal year. 

Lastly; black conservatives are attacked the way they are for a reason. The minute the Democratic Party loses its hammerlock on the black vote, they lose elections. Period. 

Sadly, if you're expecting original, insightful thinking about growing a beachhead within the black community from those graverobbers at the RNC, you'd have better luck getting a patent for a Perpetual Motion scam from the Patent Office. Don't hold your breath. 

What?

Submitted by Lisa on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 22:35.

J.C. Watts' election proved that white Republicans will vote for a conservative black man any time.

 Don't you think the fact that he was a former star QB for the Sooners had something to do with it? I suspect they'd vote Adrian Peterson into office, too, regardless of his policies. (And I certainly mean no disrespect to Watts, who did prove himself quite capable as a representative.)