The Dividends of Racial Politics
By Star Parker
TownHall.com
Suddenly we can’t seem to get race
out of the news.
Congressman Paul Ryan’s tour around America’s
cities, trying to get a handle on America’s
persistent problems with poverty, turns into a
racial incident, as a member of the Congressional
Black Caucus calls remarks he made in a radio
interview “a thinly veiled racial attack that cannot
be tolerated.”
A simpleton law-breaking rancher in Nevada, egged on
by reporters, says stupid things about black
Americans, and suddenly he becomes a national figure
with serious views about race.
And then a sleazy billionaire octogenarian, owner of
the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, with a
long history of racially charged remarks, some of
which having resulted in lawsuits, becomes front
page news when his equally sleazy young black Latina
mistress surreptitiously records a private spat
between them in which he makes tasteless comments
about blacks.
Isn’t race supposed to be behind us? Hasn’t America
elected, twice, a black man as its president?
But these days our president is far less popular
than he was when, with much fanfare, he was first
elected.
Americans are not thrilled with his signature health
care law, which has expanded the reach of government
in an unprecedented way into the private lives of
Americans and American businesses.
Economic news out this week shows that the American
economy in the first quarter this year hardly grew
at all, providing, according to the Wall Street
Journal, “fresh evidence that the economic expansion
that began almost five years ago remains the weakest
in modern history.”
Race is not going to go away because it is too
useful to the party of the left. In fact, it has
never been so important.
Democrats are well aware of the profound demographic
shifts in the nation today.
America is becoming decidedly less white and the
minority vote has and will continue to have
increasing impact on the nation’s future.
The Washington Post “The Fix” political blog ran a
piece this week saying “Black voters could decide
who controls the Senate in 2015.”
According to the piece, “Six of the 16 states with
the highest black populations are holding key Senate
contests in 2014.” And, it continues, three of these
states – Louisiana, North Carolina, and Arkansas –
“are widely considered the most pivotal when it
comes to the GOP’s hopes of winning the majority.”
High black turnout in these key states can
extinguish Republican hopes of winning back the
Senate.
A 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center reported
that 46 percent of blacks feel there is “a lot” of
racial discrimination today compared to 16 percent
of whites that do.
Democrats and the left wing press know that fanning
these still racially sensitive flames is the way to
turn out black voters.
Paul Ryan visited the Congressional Black Caucus
this week to try and take the edge off the
allegations thrown his way and talk about race and
poverty. But why would 42 big government loving
liberal black Democrats care about building bridges
with a white Republican?
The black Caucus isn’t about ideas or solving
problems. It is about political power. Black poverty
hasn’t changed since 1971 when the caucus was
formed. But some present and former caucus members
have become wealthy.
Conservatives waste time answering the race baiters.
It’s time to talk directly to minorities around the
country about policies that would actually help
these communities.
Ideas like real unconditional housing vouchers that
would break the HUD-induced ghettos and allow low
income Americans to live wherever they want. Letting
low income earners opt out of payroll taxes and
invest those funds in a private retirement account.
School choice programs permitting real education
freedom and liberate black kids from teachers’
unions and failing public schools. And getting rid
of minimum wage laws that do nothing but increase
unemployment among minority youth.