Very interesting story on race, religion, and voting patterns at The Hill. Here's the skinny. Hispanics vote faith before ethnicity. African-Americans vote ethnicity before faith.
The logjam absolutely must break at some point here. Bush did better with African-Americans in 2004 than in 2000, but he did better with just about everybody. The simple question is this: When will African-Americans become so dismayed by social leftism and uber-secularity in the Democratic party as to make a decisive break?
It wouldn't take much. If the GOP were able to reliably take in a mere 20% of the African-American vote, the Democrats would be relegated to second party status for a long, long time. My proposal is that President Bush hold a major meeting with influential African-American leaders and offer the following deal. Affirmative action is off the table for twenty years. In return, he would expect greater backing from the black community, particularly on social issues. Call me crazy, but I think it would be Nixon goes to China and that it would work.
Hunter, I agree that there should be a summit (and I have written an as-yet-unpublished article making similar arguments), but I don't think we should buy into the worldview that affirmative action is the big goodie that should be the focus of political advocacy by blacks for blacks.
ReplyDeleteI don't buy that Aff. Action is what blacks should be seeking, either, but large percentages of the community think they should be seeking it. Taking it off the table will draw massive attention from both the press and African-Americans. Hide and watch, as my mother used to say.
ReplyDeleteGentlemen:
ReplyDeleteCount me as a faithful and grateful reader. This discussion inspired me to refire my own blog.
Ideally there is something of a unique contribution on this issue there, but for good or ill, you are to blame.
Cheers,---Philosodude
Wow, tvd, I read your piece and it's wonderful.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work and thanks for alerting us.