Sad Day For Diversity
When I read a nationally read columnist, and he's gloating that more African American's didn't make it in the elections as Governors or into the Senate, I've got to wonder what the hell he was thinking.
Eugene Robinson at the Washington Post is probably the worst kind of guy to have working on your side if you are concerned about moving minorities forward in the US. Instead of looking at the fact that there was a historically large number of minorities running for office this year, he wants to gloat about the one's who failed to make it. I guess William Jefferson is the kind of person he'd like to see more of in office; he's black, a democrat, and we'll just ignore that stash of cash in his freezer.
Eugene is a plantation type of guy, who evidently hates to see any black person who aspires to political office do it anywhere but in the fields of the Democratic party. That's too bad, because what attitudes like his do is discourage young black men and women, who don't believe in the liberal party mantra from trying to move forward in politics. Lynn Swann may have been a good roll model for a few when he was a pro ball player, but how many more would he reach as a Governor?
He conviently forgets that a number of items passed in the last five years have benefited minorities, in some cases more than whites.
Start with No Child Left Behind, which was a bipartisan success, until the Democrats realized it might be working; or more correctly, the teachers unions who fund the Democrats. Then suddenly it was mean spirited. But where does NCLB do the most good, not in the affluent suburbs and cozy middle class neighborhoods. The schools it causes to work the hardest are the inner city schools where the minority population is concentrated.
Another education initiative consistently blocked by the left (due to union pressure) is incentive pay to keep more qualified and experienced teachers in the schools that need them the most. Instead the lower income and tougher areas of most major cities have the lowest number of experienced teachers, and the highest rate of failure for students.
While the left likes to bitch all the tax cuts went to the rich, the truth is over five million low income homes came off of the tax rolls because of them. Households under forty thousand a year with children are now paying a negative income tax. That doesn't help low income minorities?
Income distribution has also gone up, with more blacks moving into the $50K+ income brackets in the last 5 years than were there before.
The economic policies of the last five years have minority (and white) home ownership rates at the highest they've ever been. Property ownership being one of the tenants the country was founded on, and where most of our wealth is stored.
And finally, the executive branch of government might be somewhere for Eugene to look at progress in the GOP for minorities. While Bill Clinton got the title of the "first black president", the fact is he had a cabinet of middle aged white guys. I understand it's not fashionable for Eugene (or Ted Rall) to think that the minorities in the Bush cabinet matter, but look at the positions they hold or have held. Bush has appointed more minorities to top cabinet posts than Clinton and Bush 41 combined.
Sorry Eugene, it's time to pull your head out of the sand, or where ever it is, and realize that it's not a sin for a minority to want to be a republican, and it would probably be better for minorities in the long run if more were. Instead of being beholden to a party that takes your votes for granted, and gives you squat, you might find some better leverage working both sides of the fence.
Technorati Tags: Eugene Robinson, Plantation Politics, Democrats, GOP, Bush, Minorities, Bill Clinton
Eugene Robinson at the Washington Post is probably the worst kind of guy to have working on your side if you are concerned about moving minorities forward in the US. Instead of looking at the fact that there was a historically large number of minorities running for office this year, he wants to gloat about the one's who failed to make it. I guess William Jefferson is the kind of person he'd like to see more of in office; he's black, a democrat, and we'll just ignore that stash of cash in his freezer.
Eugene is a plantation type of guy, who evidently hates to see any black person who aspires to political office do it anywhere but in the fields of the Democratic party. That's too bad, because what attitudes like his do is discourage young black men and women, who don't believe in the liberal party mantra from trying to move forward in politics. Lynn Swann may have been a good roll model for a few when he was a pro ball player, but how many more would he reach as a Governor?
He conviently forgets that a number of items passed in the last five years have benefited minorities, in some cases more than whites.
Start with No Child Left Behind, which was a bipartisan success, until the Democrats realized it might be working; or more correctly, the teachers unions who fund the Democrats. Then suddenly it was mean spirited. But where does NCLB do the most good, not in the affluent suburbs and cozy middle class neighborhoods. The schools it causes to work the hardest are the inner city schools where the minority population is concentrated.
Another education initiative consistently blocked by the left (due to union pressure) is incentive pay to keep more qualified and experienced teachers in the schools that need them the most. Instead the lower income and tougher areas of most major cities have the lowest number of experienced teachers, and the highest rate of failure for students.
While the left likes to bitch all the tax cuts went to the rich, the truth is over five million low income homes came off of the tax rolls because of them. Households under forty thousand a year with children are now paying a negative income tax. That doesn't help low income minorities?
Income distribution has also gone up, with more blacks moving into the $50K+ income brackets in the last 5 years than were there before.
The economic policies of the last five years have minority (and white) home ownership rates at the highest they've ever been. Property ownership being one of the tenants the country was founded on, and where most of our wealth is stored.
And finally, the executive branch of government might be somewhere for Eugene to look at progress in the GOP for minorities. While Bill Clinton got the title of the "first black president", the fact is he had a cabinet of middle aged white guys. I understand it's not fashionable for Eugene (or Ted Rall) to think that the minorities in the Bush cabinet matter, but look at the positions they hold or have held. Bush has appointed more minorities to top cabinet posts than Clinton and Bush 41 combined.
Sorry Eugene, it's time to pull your head out of the sand, or where ever it is, and realize that it's not a sin for a minority to want to be a republican, and it would probably be better for minorities in the long run if more were. Instead of being beholden to a party that takes your votes for granted, and gives you squat, you might find some better leverage working both sides of the fence.
Technorati Tags: Eugene Robinson, Plantation Politics, Democrats, GOP, Bush, Minorities, Bill Clinton
posted by Crazy Politico at 9:01 PM
0Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home