I long for the day when conservatives/republicans will discontinue the rhetorical soft bigotry of low expectations where the voting allegiance of the black electorate is concerned. I got into a running debate on Facebook with other conservatives about how best to argue the conservative case to all sectors of the black electorate. While I blew my portion of the argument as to their characterization of the black electorate, I had a real point to make where the language they use is concerned. Way too many conservatives use rhetoric of this sort:
The enslavement of the African people of this nation by the Dumbacrat party has been weighting heavily on my heart for a few months now
There are those who do not have a reasoned basis for their behavior. They believe what they are told by other Democrats, whether it's true or false. In effect they are enslaved by misinformation.
I see now the some disenfranchisement of the African American Democrat voters as the party starts to chase the ever growing Hispanic vote. As I keep looking at this situation in our society I keep seeing very similar tactics being used now as was done to the slaves in the south. The brutality is not there but, the strategy is similar. For instance the education of inner city kids is horrible. The slaves were not allowed to read. Not the same, but similar having much of the same result.
This is not the rhetoric you use to win the black electorate. Attempting to reach blacks, poor or otherwise, with an argument that says "hey, you are being fooled, bamboozled and enslaved by a conspiracy of liberal democrats" is a LOSER approach. Why? Because you're telling them they are VICTIMS again! Its condescending and disempowering and the exact opposite of what conservatives have often complained was a culture of victimhood within the black community as it relates to racism. This is the argument we should use to persuade blacks to the conservative banner? That they should trade one ideology of victimization for another? America is a country that believes in the individual, in personal merit and being responsible for one's own self and one's own choices, but with this liberal democrat conspiracy argument, you take away all the responsibility and power of choice and place it in the hands of some vast left wing conspiracy.
I believe the black electorate to be completely and totally capable of CHOOSING more conservative policy prescriptions which are thoughtfully brought forward to our community and I submit that as conservatives/GOP, we do not attempt this in any serious way. It is not a serious approach to the deep and troubling issues in the black community to tell them the answer is to throw off the yoke of the vast left wing conspiracy. The answer is to bring forward policy prescriptions that address the issues and put them into action.
The church provides a good analogy for what conservatives ought to be doing. In the church, there are missions, where people go out to the lost and live among them, addressing the very real issues they deal with and by making a difference in their lives, their communities, create a heart receptive to the Word and thereby an opportunity to win the lost. In that same fashion, conservatives must go into the black community as political and policy missionaries, making a difference and thereby creating the opportunity to win this portion of the electorate. Trying to convince them they are merely victims of a liberal conspiracy is not a winning argument; showing them a better policy approach that solves the political and policy challenges in their lives t is.
