Those Rascally Racist Republicans (Part II)

Today’s class: History 101

In my first blog on this subject I made the statement that Democrats feel that blacks are better off enslaved. I made that statement based on not what they say but what they actually do.

When well intentioned white liberals went into poor black neighborhoods carrying promises of government assistance under LBJ’s Great Society. They also brought the news that “sorry, but you can’t get it if you’re married.” The "Great Society" plan poured billions of taxpayer dollars into a program that paid unmarried women based on the number of children she had. The part liberals didn’t understand was that this would result in millions of men leaving their families so they could get the “free money.” This was the beginning of what we have today, high unemployment, high out of wedlock births, high crime rates, and generation after generation of government dependence.

This program did nothing to lift blacks out of poverty and into self dependence. It only resulted in keeping them on the government plantation and a slave to the masters in Washington. You see, economic freedom is true freedom. You aren’t indebted to anyone but yourself. Today’s slaves, while not in the field picking cotton, are still beholden to their masters for all their needs; food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, etc., just as their enslave ancestors.

Star Parker puts it this way: “Lincoln took two great lies head on when he emancipated the slaves. The lie that one man should or could control another's life. And the lie that the African slaves could not be free.”

“It is the greatest of ironies that both these great lies animate the opposition of the Democratic Party -- and the NAACP -- to emancipating reforms like school choice and private retirement accounts. They believe that government and politicians should control the education choice of private citizens and should control savings and retirement funds of poor people. And they don't believe that African-Americans can be free and take care of themselves.”

“A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from ‘How do I take care of myself?’ to ‘What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?’ The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families."

There is obviously a belief among the left that blacks can’t improve their station in life on their own, either their not smart enough (Affirmative Action at colleges) or aren’t capable enough to get a job (hiring quotas) without the help of the Washington masters.

As Thomas Sowell sees it: “while most blacks lifted themselves out of poverty, the public image is that government programs were responsible. This has left many whites wondering why blacks can't advance themselves by their own efforts, like other minorities -- and left many blacks likewise convinced that without government programs they would be lost."

“Such myths help race hustlers but hurt the race that they claim to be leading.”

What’s not being said is that wanting to give someone the tools to lift themselves up, wanting government to get out of the way and let people succeed, both of which are at the foundation of conservatism, is not racist. The color of someone’s skin should never matter. Equality knows no color.

And finally here’s a fun little fact that I should have included in my first post:

How many realize that blacks founded the Texas Republican Party? It was formed on July 4, 1867, in Houston, Texas, by 150 blacks and 20 whites. Blacks across other Southern states founded Republican parties as well.

After 40 years of failed Democratic promises and programs, maybe it’s time for blacks to come home; back to the Republican Party. Believe me when I say you’d be welcomed with open arms.

Star Parker is the founder and president of CURE, the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education, a 501c3 non-profit think tank that provides a national voice of reason on issues of race and poverty - in the media, inner city neighborhoods, and public policy.

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute in Stanford, Calif. author, economist, and professor.