Michael Steele Give Dems Apoplexy!
By Doug Edelman (11/03/05)
The Washington Times recently ran a piece, "'Party Trumps Race' For Steele Foes" by S. A. Miller, which highlighted the hysterical and racist reaction that Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele - a conservative black man - is getting in his bid for the Maryland US Senate seat.
I find some of the statements of his Liberal opposition, as cited in the Times article, quite fascinating. Those supposedly Liberal virtues of tolerance, diversity, etc. seem to go out the window if a black adopts a conservative mindset. Let's examine:
[Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black.
"Because he is a conservative, he is different than most public blacks, and he is different than most people in our community," she said. "His politics are not in the best interest of the masses of black people."]
Hmm. Being "different than most people in our community" is unacceptable. The black constituency is monolithically Liberal and Democrat?
[Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican. Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.
Operatives for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also obtained a copy of his credit report -- the only Republican candidate so targeted.
But black Democrats say there is nothing wrong with "pointing out the obvious. There is a difference between pointing out the obvious and calling someone names," said a campaign spokesman for Kweisi Mfume, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate and former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.]
["This week, the News Blog -- a liberal Web log run by Steve Gilliard, a black New Yorker -- removed a doctored photo of Mr. Steele that depicted him as a black-faced minstrel. However, the blog has kept its headline "Simple Sambo wants to move to the big house." A caption beneath a photo of the lieutenant governor reads: "I's Simple Sambo and I's running for the Big House."]
Not only is it unacceptable to the Left to BE a black conservative - it IS acceptable to demean, harass, throw objects at and illegally pull credit information about a black person who dares to "leave the plantation".
The Democrats have presumed the black community was indeed a monolithic voting block. As long as they could be kept a permanent underclass. undereducated and dependent on the government; they would be a block of votes that would default to the Democrats. It was a formula that worked for decades.
But beginning with the Reagan years more and more persons of African-American extraction began improving their lot. (Someday we'll get rid of the hyphenated-American phraseology. but it must serve here!) Empowerment rather than entitlement began to see the light of day, and more and more blacks began educating themselves and advancing themselves into the growing ranks of the middle-class of color. While our society is not yet completely color-blind. the progress we've made so far would be enough to deny a pilots license to one with equivalent color perception. Opportunity for minorities to achieve is absolutely there, and more and more of them are laying hold of that opportunity and are succeeding. This in itself is frightening for the Dems, as regardless of race, successful people tend to move to the right of the political spectrum. When your name is on a paycheck instead of a government check. when money going to entitlements shows as a minus [-] on your paystub instead of as check in your name. your thinking shifts.
Steel is not an anomaly. He is representative of a growing contingent of black people who are no longer liberal by default. They are vilified because they are a threat to the power structure of the Left. For decades the Left has taken the black vote for granted (where else they gonna go?). But what has the left DONE for the black community? Yes, they carp about raising the minimum wage. but who works for minimum wage for more than a year? If they don't change jobs to something more challenging and better paying. don't they at least get a raise? They keep appealing to those at the bottom of societies ladder. but they never do anything to encourage anyone to CLIMB that ladder. And why not? Because their power comes from dependence and entitlement. The adage is true: "Liberals quantify compassion by how many people they provide public assistance to; while Conservatives quantify it by how many they've elevated to no longer need it."
What have the Dems done about education? The public schools everywhere are lacking, but in the black urban areas they are miserable. And fewer than 50% of the kids in those schools even manage to graduate. Yet the Dems DO keep throwing money at the problem. ".see, we're doing this to help you." but the quality of the education and the encouragement to complete it has not made any progress under decades of congressional control by Democrats. Conservatives, on the other hand, have been proponents of merit pay, teacher accountability, school accountability, performance based funding, school choice and competition and vouchers. all of which would improve the educational lot for all children, but none more than the urban black kids. Dems oppose these proposals vehemently!
Steele is representative of a growing black middle class which is educated and making it, and is exercising independent thought and analysis when it comes to politics. They are not liberal voters by default. They don't look at their skin and then cast a party-line (D) ballot. And the Dems are terrified that their "in their pocket" old-reliable voting block is splintering.
And it's not just the individual lost votes they fear. They see it as a cancer. This thing can SPREAD. As more blacks choose conservatism, more will question why they are liberals. More will realize the Democratic Party has just used them for 50 years. More will leave the ranks of the Left. And the Left has no counter. They don't know HOW to appeal to the disenchanted black who has sworn off Kool-Aid. They can't woo him back with the old promises. he knows they don't work. They can't actually DO anything to advance the black community - that would create less dependence and they'd lose even more to the Right. When cheap talk and no action no longer plays to cheering crowds in the black community - the Left is left without ideas. And they know it.
So as the Pharasees saw their power threatened by a new prophet and his followers, and conspired, "This man must die". the Dems must destroy any African-American who dares to seek office as a conservative. But as they raise these brave conservatives of color up on their crosses of defamation. they may well be simply accelerating their own demise - as the early church grew fastest under the Roman persecutions.
Copyright © 2005 by Doug Edelman
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