For years now, Republicans have been demonized as “racists” and Democratic National committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) just 14 months ago said that Republicans “want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws.” But it is the Democrats party’s long history of using the government-dependent African American vote that shows that Republicans might not be the ones all too concerned with race.
The question begs to be asked: Are liberals the ones that actually exploit color to their voting advantage whereas Republicans are sincerely colorblind?
Democrats promised blacks jobs and better education, yet statistically the unemployment rate for African Americans is exceptionally high and their need for government assistance continues to rise. The Labor Department reported in June that the unemployment rate for blacks was an astounding 14.4 percent.
African Americans make up about 12 percent of the U.S. population and as of 2007, approximately one in three persons receiving food stamps is black. That equates to 9 million African Americans receiving food stamps each month, which is about a quarter of the total African American population in the United States. But instead of helping to get blacks off of food stamps, the Democrats answer is to engage in the vicious cycle of government assistance. Yet, Republicans counter that it’s not working, it’s only getting worse.
Liberals pander again and again to the African American vote promising special programs or incentives that either just don’t work or make things worse. What’s worse however is that the Democrats know it won’t work. It’s a political ploy and nothing more.
The Democratic Party would cease to exist if not for the help of the African American vote. Republicans treat every individual the same regardless of color, and Republicans don’t want blacks or any one individual beholden to the government. The Constitution assures us of equal opportunity, not necessarily equal outcome; yet Republicans know there’s something greater not just for struggling African Americans, but for all individuals struggling and that the government is not the solution.
The Democrats need a larger government to sustain its party, which can only be accomplished by pandering to certain groups of the American electorate. It’s an unimaginable concept, but by keeping blacks and other individuals dependent on the benevolent government, Democrats know that they will remain indefinitely dependent; thus, securing the African American vote while offering them little to nothing in return. Republicans believe in smaller government and individual success. Republicans have no reason, electorally or otherwise, to keep or widen the disparity between black and white, nor to keep any one person dependent on the federal government.
Democrats, on the other hand do. As Michael Barone said of segregationist Democrat George Wallace, he was “a man who really didn’t believe in anything – a political opportunist who used opposition to integration to try and get himself ahead.” That’s precisely the truth of the Democratic Party–their loyalties lie where the vote are.
This problem of course dates back to history. Democratic majorities only began supporting civil rights for blacks by 1964 based on the simple fact that more blacks were voting. And more blacks were voting, thanks to the Republican led Voting Rights Acts. Democrats knew that they would not be able to keep winning elections if they didn’t start pandering to the African American voting base.
The Democrats’ position on civil rights depended on where the votes were, and we see the Democratic Party continuing to bend to where the votes are, even today. Have Democrats purposely created an environment that encourages blacks to be dependent on the government? The truth is not always a pleasant one, especially to a liberal’s ears. The real battle isn’t between race or class as the Democrats would have you believe. The real uphill battle will be fixing this economy for every individual.
