In 2002 the infamous Dixiecrat Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., celebrated his 100th birthday. During the festivities Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said, “When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either.”
Thurmond had run primarily on a segregationist ticket, and both conservatives and Republicans alike condemned these remarks. According to CNN, even President Bush remarked on the subject saying, “He has apologized and rightly so. Every day that our nation was segregated was a day our nation was unfaithful to our founding ideals.” His comments were met by cheers and roaring applause from a mixed crowd in Pennsylvania. But why let the facts get in the way when the Democrats have elections to win. Many politicians and pundits of the left have since used the incident to paint all conservatives as racists just like Strom Thurmond.
Left-wing attack dogs talk a great deal about the history of alleged Republican hatred for the black community. From Lott’s comments to the very existence of David Duke, race-baiting ideologues have taken the exceptions and made them the rule. For a group of people who preach understanding and condemn stereotypes, liberals certainly have trouble practicing what they preach. The New York Sun reported on Sept. 23, 2005, that Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., openly declared President Bush a racist during a town hall meeting in Harlem, stating, “George Bush is our Bull Conner.” Among the many things wrong with that statement is the fact that Bush is a Republican, and Sheriff Bull Conner was (drum-roll please) … a Democrat!
I wonder how many of Mr. Rangel’s constituents learned that detail in New York City’s wonderful public school system. I wonder how many people know that former Alabama Gov. George Wallace was a Democrat, or that the term “Dixiecrat” originated as a term for Southern Democrats during the Reconstruction era of the 1860s.
As for the Republican Party’s history on civil rights, I stand by the record. The GOP was founded in 1854 by abolitionists, and Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator himself, was the first Republican to be elected president of the United States. Throughout the late 1800s, Republicans and Northern Democrats fought against “Jim Crow” laws and the black codes. The child labor laws and anti-trust reforms of the early 1900s were led by Teddy Roosevelt, another Republican president.
In 1964, Democrats were the majority in both houses of Congress when the landmark Civil Rights Act was passed. Many left-wing pundits today give full credit to the Democratic Party and even suggest the Republicans were against it, but let us analyze the facts. The Senate passed the bill with 68 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of Republicans in favor.
The final version of the bill passed in the House with 63 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans in favor. Nevermind the almost half-heartedness of the Democrats at the time, the empirical data clearly shows the Republicans providing the solid support required to pass legislation necessary for equal rights in America.
Blacks seldom have any doubts in the Democratic Party’s commitment to their community, but they have sold the Republican Party far too short in that same commitment. The most successful argument used by the left to create distrust of conservatives and Republicans among the black community has been the opposition to the welfare state.
While charity for the less fortunate is desirable in our society, conservatives believe charity is not the proper role of government, and we have determined that many of our current government programs are not effective solutions to ending poverty. We believe that improvements to the education system and programs that assist in finding jobs are the best way to provide the struggling inner-city communities with the foundation needed to climb out of poverty. Conservatives believe that those who live using their own power are far more likely to escape poverty and remain out of it than those who depend on the government for help.
True conservatives believe in a “color blind” society. Despite the inevitable assertions that conservatives only see in black and white, what is meant by this slogan is that conservatives believe in a society where people see only other human beings. The color of one’s skin, while it can be connected to a person’s heritage, is effectively no more important in judging the physical or intellectual abilities of a person than hair or eye color. Conservatives believe skin color is a simple physical description, and not a judgement. There is much work to be done to help our African-American countrymen recover from centuries of slavery and oppression, and I would ask them to open their hearts and minds to true conservatism.
—–Contact Michael Schouest at [email protected]