By Lisa Fabrizio
web posted May 9, 2005
As if America's 'loyal opposition' didn't have enough trouble, another issue is quietly trickling its way into the public eye. An editorial piece in the Philadelphia Enquirer entitled, "Black Voters Warm to GOP," overtly states what, up to now, could only be whispered within Beltway confines: some black voters are leaving the Democratic Party.
Enquirer editorial writer, Harold Jackson, states that, "Republicans are now making measurable progress in weaning blacks from the Democratic Party." Although the number of blacks who identify themselves as Republicans rose only six percentage points in the last four years, the number who admit to being Democrats dropped from 74 per cent to 63 per cent.
But significantly, the fact that George Bush's black votes in Ohio doubled since 2000 (8 per cent to 16 per cent), and given the margin of victory at a little over 100,000 votes, these voters probably delivered victory for the president. If Republicans could similarly double their percentage of black votes in any of the other swing states, Democrat national hopes would be deader than doornails.
And don't believe in the total accuracy of polls, exit or otherwise when it comes to this issue. I recall reading somewhere after the 2004 election, the story of two black women in a New Jersey beauty parlor. The stylist quietly confided to her cousin, the customer, that she had actually voted for George W. Bush and urged her to keep her secret, until the cousin burst out laughing that she had done the same. There is still that much of a stigma attached to black GOP supporters.
Great conservative thinkers and writers like Alan Keyes, Clarence Thomas, Ward Connerly, Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell have sacrificed much for their beliefs. They have been excoriated through the years as 'Uncle Toms' and worse. Yet some minorities are not blind to the positions of real power President Bush has entrusted to Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Rod Paige, Alberto Gonzales and Elaine Chao.
Democrats, whose general appeal is to that of the very rich or the very poor, are unable or unwilling to realize that a great number of blacks are now in the American middle class. As people become members of an ownership society, they are more loath to part with their hard-earned money to support an entitlement society. When this occurs, the GOP usually benefits, especially in the South where the number of black Republican candidates reached an all-time high in 2004.
Besides an economic shift, a growing number of minorities are cozying up to the GOP on cultural issues as well. Though most Caribbean immigrants, Latino and black Americans are Christians, up to now this has strangely kept them from being included in the mythical 'Religious Right' -- the implied racism here belongs to the left and not to the Christian churches whose doors are obviously open to all.
It is true however, that many minority Christians have for years, voted with the Democrats on 'social justice' matters even as their religious beliefs have been contravened. But issues like abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage, shoved down their throats by unelected judges, are landing some squarely alongside their paler religious brethren. Should this unholy alliance spread, the Democratic spin machine may have to ramp up their demonization of those who seek only to defeat the real great Satan.
There is a great effort underway in the mainstream media to terrorize the country into believing there exists a dark movement called Dominionism, which is defined as, "a trend in Protestant Christian evangelicalism and fundamentalism that encourages not just active political participation in civic society but also attempts to dominate the political process." When practiced by the left however, this is often called Democracy.
There is also a constant chirping in the press of an 'American Theocracy', as if religious liberties were expanding rather than being litigated away in the courts and snuffed out by a secular elite. But the GOP is gaining allies in the fight to roll back the tide. One of these is black preacher and ex-NFL running back Rev. Herb Lusk of the Greater Exodus Baptist Church of Philadelphia, who wrote of George W. Bush:
I once heard the President say, "I understand the limits of government. The government can hand out money. But government cannot put love in a person's heart, or give a sense of purpose in a person's life. The truth of the matter is, that comes when a loving citizen puts their arm around a brother or a sister and says, 'I love you and God loves you, and together we perform miracles.' "
Perhaps there are some African Americans who believe him. I do.
Lisa Fabrizio is a columnist who hails from Connecticut. You may write her at
mailbox@lisafab.com.
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