Quote: (10-02-2012 05:10 PM)jammer Wrote:
So what are you Athlone? I can't see why a black intellectual would want to be liberal (or be part of the Republican party for that matter).
Independent. I fall strongly conservative on some issues and strongly progressive on others, and very moderate on a few. I simply don't fit neatly into any kind of Republican or Democratic categorization.
Quote: (10-02-2012 04:49 PM)rakishness Wrote:
Quote: (10-02-2012 01:28 PM)Athlone McGinnis Wrote:
The words "black" and "Republican" (in the modern sense, anyway) really shouldn't go together in a sentence.
"Black" and "Republican" makes as much sense as a Republican Gay rights activist.
Bingo.
Quote: (10-02-2012 07:05 PM)P Dog Wrote:
I present to thee Margaret Hoover, Herbert Hoover's granddaughter.
![[Image: foxnews-body-7-19-11.jpg]](http://www.thegavoice.com/images/stories/7-8-11/foxnews-body-7-19-11.jpg)
Still makes no sense.
Quote: (10-02-2012 06:04 PM)Blackhawk Wrote:
Quote: (10-02-2012 04:49 PM)rakishness Wrote:
"Black" and "Republican" makes as much sense as a Republican Gay rights activist.
For most of US history, Blacks have voted Republican.
First, there was President Lincoln, who freed the slaves.
But then it was the Republican party that got the first two black Senators (look up Hiram Revels) and the first 21 House of Representatives members elected to Congress. Even the first black Governor was elected by the Republican party.
Meanwhile the Klu Klux Klan was part of the Democrat party, and created to repress Republican voters. Blacks were not even permitted to attend Democrat Conventions before 1924.
The change of black voters to the Democrat party is a relatively new phenomena, tied to union control of the Democrat party and union control over membership telling them which party to vote in exchange for access to jobs. There is today "a fairly long-term pattern of decreasing identification with the Democrats by younger African Americans." Republicans like Jennifer Carroll, Tim Scott, Allen West, and Mia Love continue to find support and success in the Republican party.
This conclusion is inaccurate.
The support of the Democratic Party today by blacks is primarily a result of the democratic party's shift in focus to more progressive social justice/welfare concerns prior to World War 2.
New deal relief programs and the more steady support democratic figures (like Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman) offered for civil rights initiatives got them to switch. This occurred during the middle of the 20th century, and had little to do with Unions at all (which, Democrat or otherwise, blacks largely remained locked out of until much, much later in the century-blacks were not allowed to partake in all of those lovely reforms).
This notion of blacks being strong-armed is typical of conservatives arguing on the issue, and is a highly patronizing, insulting, and inaccurate characterization. Blacks are not merely voting for democrats because they are gullible fools, nor did they originally favor Republicans for the same reason. Blacks have their own agency as voters, and vote according to their interests like anybody else. Until the early 20th century, they supported Republicans because the Republicans had freed them and welcomed them into the political conversation (though they failed to make them equal citizens).
The switch resulted as Democrats moved to create a few programs that benefited poor blacks and also took steps to desegregate America, steps that Republicans were not taking. This support grew as the Democrats continued to show the most concern for issues of civil rights (as they do today) and stays strong today as a result of Democratic focus on other socio/racial and urban issues Republicans simply don't pay much mind to (and, in many cases, seem woefully uneducated on).
Quote: (10-02-2012 06:41 PM)Smitty Wrote:
Quote: (10-02-2012 01:28 PM)Athlone McGinnis Wrote:
The words "black" and "Republican" (in the modern sense, anyway) really shouldn't go together in a sentence. When they do, the result (a black republican**) is usually less than ideal.
Exhibit A: Allen West
**: Trust me, I used to be one.
![[Image: attachment.jpg7970]](https://rooshvforum.network/attachments/attachment.jpg7970)