No Neutrality

The GOP and the Black Vote

I posted the following in the comments section of a popular Conservative blog, Right Wing News. It more or less captures what I think about the issue so I'm re-posting here:

What I find is what Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele articulate so well: the current "definition" of what it means to "be black" (even that concept ITSELF) has now come to mean shorthand for the more backward and self-defeating pathologies that used to be--by-and-large--confined to Southern blacks before the Great Migration.
Nowadays, it's important to "be 'authentically' black" and the definition of "blackness" is eaten through with corrosive elements like: downplaying education to the point of ridicule; valuing style over any substance (e.g., having a "serious ride" but living in apartment, or having great clothes but a low-paying job, or looking cool at class, but failing, (or even being Republican!)); and always, as a knee-jerk first reaction, using racism to explain any difficult event that happens to include a white person. This and so many other negative things have come to define what it means to "be black." Anyone who seeks another way is making a de facto choice to cease being "authentic" and the ensuing emotional and cognitive pain that that thought brings keeps many black folks "on the plantation."
And even those black folks who don't succumb to the pathologies themselves are strongly influenced to "represent" in order to keep themselves in good with fellow blacks. As I've mentioned before, I'm a USAF Reservist, but I work at a software company full-time and in both arenas I've seen so many black folks who make Steve Urkel look "ghetto" still trying to "kick it like they in the hood" replete with the language and appearance. I've seen the most nerdy software developers turn on a dime and send e-mails so laden with slang I had to send to a fellow black conservative who was more hip than I to translate. That same developer lives in a MUCH different place than the folks in the Central District in Seattle, eats more cosmopolitan fare (Indian anyone?), and highly values education, but at the end of the day feels so concerned to maintain authentic blackness that he will "pretend" to himself and others that he's one of the homeys. It is an amazing thing to witness.
I can't tell you how often, when I was growing up in the 70's and 80's, I was ridiculed for trying to get A's in class, or for changing from slang to business English when in school or interacting with the public at work. I know personally what it feels like to say, "I don't want to 'be black', I want to just be me and follow my own path."
And it's not like I don't see similar things in white or hispanic culture; the problem is that it's so disproportionately represented in the "black community."
So in a way, D-Vega is right--it really sucks when you get included in a generalization and you aren't even remotely like the people that gave rise to the generalization. I know from firsthand experience how frustrating it is. But the painful truth is that there are ENOUGH folks, too many folks, that give the generalization legs.
The GOP will not "get" more black votes until more black people themselves stop willingly remaining in the psychological chains of "being black."

Excerpt Of The Day: The GOP's Biggest Problem With Minority Voters - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)

Quote of the Day:

Ann Coulter...

Democrats' claims of poverty merely serve to show how out of touch elected Democrats are with actual incomes in America.

At the Democratic National Convention, for example, there were heartfelt tributes to the daunting self-sacrifice of both Barack and Michelle Obama for passing up lucrative jobs to work in "public service" -- which apparently is now defined, such as in Michelle Obama's case, as "working as a 'diversity coordinator' at a big city hospital for $300,000 a year."

Seriously, even with a company car, full medical benefits and six weeks' paid vacation thrown in, how do people live on that?

Ann Coulter : Are 'Hope' and 'Change' Still Tax-Deductible? - Townhall.com

One of the First Lines of Attack Against Palin

Will be the fact that Sarah Palin was raised in a Pentecostal church in the "backwoods" of Alaska. (As if Wasilla really represents the "backwoods" for anyone that's lived in AK.) The same line of attack was used against John Ashcroft as well. "It's a theocracy! Voltaire, come quickly!"

Through The Sneer, The Truth Comes Out

I was looking up something regarding Chuck Colson's efforts to pass the Prison Rape Elimination Act when I ran across a 2005 NY Times article that discussed Colson's conversion to Christianity and his subsequent work (for decades now) around prison reform. They mention Colson's work with respect to the Prison Rape Elimination Act,

There are signs that, at least on the issue of prisons, that could be changing. In the last few years, evangelical Protestants and their allies in Congress have become more interested in prison reform, and Mr. Colson deserves much of the credit. In 2003, by a unanimous vote, Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, mandating an extensive study of the problem of rape in state and federal prisons. It was not as good, certainly, as a well-financed program to stop prison rape, but it was still a dramatic recognition of a problem that has long been hidden from view.

But Mr. Cohen also also manages to get in a snarky crack on the motivation behind Colson's interest in prison reform (in fact, he calls into question the motivation of most Evangelicals),

It is tempting to attribute Mr. Colson's interest in prison reform to his own stint behind bars. If a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged, a prison reformer may just be a law-and-order conservative who has spent time in jail. Mr. Colson doesn't entirely disagree. "What I experienced in seven months in prison," he said, "was the total futility of that system." But he insists that his views about criminal justice are firmly rooted in his faith: "The biblical model says the way you deal with offenders is to redeem them." [emph mine]

As if to suggest that a "law-and-order conservative" only has his views about justice because he hasn't been on the receiving end--yet. I think it's quite possible to hold that the current prison system needs reform without ever having been a prisoner yourself. I do think it interesting that the columnist inadvertently credits Conservatives with being that end of the political spectrum more likely to be concerned with law and order, though.

Republic Unfazed

I figured this would be the outcome. The average American seems to have a forgetfulness about current events and so as long as Obama rides this one out, he should be OK. Most people will have forgotten by the 4th of July.

A new Wall Street Journal-NBC poll shows that Barack Obama has escaped serious damage as a result of his association with racist preacher Jeremiah Wright.

HT - American Thinker Blog

Break One Law To Uphold Another

OK, help me out here: the boy is an illegal immigrant, meaning he's not here lawfully (if I understand the story right) and yet he's being encouraged to come back and "cut a deal" that would allow him to break the law with no consequences so they can go after the teacher? Why aren't both the boy and his family AND the teacher prosecuted?

The boy remains in Mexico because of his immigration status but might be able to return to Nebraska, at least temporarily, if he is granted a “U” visa. The visas are used to encourage illegal immigrants to report crimes against them.

“To prove their case, they have to have him come back here,” Davis said. “They’re going to have to cut him some deal to have him testify. In exchange for the promise of bringing him into the country, he may be anxious to please them and do what they say.”

MSNBC

I Guess He Really Is the "Terminator"

Of vestiges of biblical influence in the culture, anyway.

In my frustration, I want to lay this travesty at the feet of folks like Hugh Hewitt and the "electability" crowd:

"Mom and Dad" as well as "husband and wife" effectively have been banned from California schools under a bill signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who with his signature also ordered public schools to allow boys to use girls restrooms and locker rooms, and vice versa, if they choose.

WorldNetDaily: 'Mom' and 'Dad' banished by California

Looking Down From the Ivory Tower

Is this really even debatable anymore? Certainly it's more established than that "Global Warming is caused by humans": 

As Gary Tobin observed: "If a majority of faculty said they did not feel warmly about Muslims or Jews or Latinos or African Americans, there would be an outcry. No one would attempt to justify or explain those feelings. No one would say, 'The reason they feel this way is because they don't like the politics of blacks or the politics of Jews.' That would be unthinkable."

HT: Dr. Albert Mohler

Technorati Tags: bias, evangelicals, academia, bigotry, religion

Evel Pursues Christ?

 Evel Knievel got saved!!

On Palm Sunday, hundreds responded to Robert "Evel" Knievel's testimony by asking to be baptized on the spot at Crystal Cathedral. Speaking alongside the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, Knievel told the congregation in Orange County, California, how he had refused for 68 years to accept Jesus Christ as Lord. He believed in God, but he couldn't walk away from the gold and the gambling and the booze and the women.

...

"I don't know what in the world happened. I don't know if it was the power of the prayer or God himself, but it just reached out, either while I was driving or walking down the sidewalk or sleeping, and it just—the power of God in Jesus just grabbed me. … All of a sudden, I just believed in Jesus Christ. I did, I believed in him! … I rose up in bed and, I was by myself, and I said, 'Devil, Devil, you bastard you, get away from me. I cast you out of my life.' … I just got on my knees and prayed that God would put his arms around me and never, ever, ever let me go."

HT: Reformed Chicks Blabbing

 

Technorati Tags: christianity, conversion, faith, knievel, revival, sovereign grace

One-issue Voter? You Bet I am!

 John Piper puts it best:

No endorsement of any single issue qualifies a person to hold public office. Being pro-life does not make a person a good governor, mayor, or president. But there are numerous single issues that disqualify a person from public office. For example, any candidate who endorsed bribery as a form of government efficiency would be disqualified, no matter what his party or platform was. Or a person who endorsed corporate fraud (say under $50 million) would be disqualified no matter what else he endorsed. Or a person who said that no black people could hold office—on that single issue alone he would be unfit for office. Or a person who said that rape is only a misdemeanor—that single issue would end his political career. These examples could go on and on. Everybody knows a single issue that for them would disqualify a candidate for office.

Read the whole thing.