Republicans And Blacks

by Thomas Sowell - January 31st, 2006 - TownHall.com

The Republican Party has not had much success attracting black votes in recent decades and conservative blacks have not had an easy time in the Republican Party.

Blacks have voted so overwhelmingly for Democrats for so long that Republicans have few incentives to try to gain black votes -- and little success when they do.

Political inertia can be powerful. The "solid South" voted consistently for Democrats for more than a century. Today, the Jewish vote is just as automatically for Democrats as the black vote is, and with even less reason, since Jews have little to gain from the welfare state and Israel's strongest supporters are religious conservatives.

When Republicans from time to time try to reach out to blacks, they tend to do so ineptly, if not ridiculously. For reasons unknown, they seem to want to appeal to black voters in the same ways that Democrats appeal to black voters, by adopting a liberal stance.

Why would anyone who wants liberalism go for a Republican imitation when they can get the real thing from Democrats? Republicans do not have a snowball's chance in hell of winning the votes of liberal blacks.

I think the reason that I have always admired Thomas Sowell is that he never soft pedals his views. He is straight forward and blunt. Unfortunately, even as the Republican Party has attracted more Libertarians and Neo-Conservatives, a certain number of "moderates" have come along with them. "Moderates" are so wishy washy that they do not understand what Sowell so eloquently expresses here. In recognizing that many blacks belong in the Republican Party, they think that they must reach out to current African-American leadership and their political positions. These are not the African-Americans who belong in the Republican Party. It is the great number of conservatives, libertarians and neo-conservatives who belong.

When is Republican leadership going to get this? Part of the reason I think is that most liberals as well as liberal blacks, immediately brand Republicans "racist" if you disagree with them. In order to avoid that label "racist", moderate Republicans tend to reach out to blacks with liberal programs. I wonder if a better strategy would not be to simply label this attack for what it is. Black racism. When liberal blacks have to resort to hurling the "racist" charge, it is usually because they have lost the argument.

There are a huge number of conservative, libertarian and neo-conservative African Americans. These are the natural Republican members who are starting to come to the Republican Party. In coming years and in many places they will become the dominant force in the Republican Party. Like here in the Inner Banks! We welcome conservatives to the party.