Why do we need enemies when we have friends like these?
Speaking to 200 DePaul University students on Tuesday, Steele basically stated that there is no reason for blacks to vote for the Republican party. "You really don’t have a reason to, to be honest — we haven’t done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True."
For this, he was chosen as the Chairman of the RNC? Isn’t he the man that’s supposed to articulate why people should be voting for Republicans or if they are not, why those people are missing out?
Blaming the "Southern Strategy" that has made the GOP competitive in the political battles, Steele said, "We have lost sight of the historic, integral link between the party and African-Americans," Steele said. "This party was co-founded by blacks, among them Frederick Douglass. The Republican Party had a hand in forming the NAACP, and yet we have mistreated that relationship. People don’t walk away from parties, Their parties walk away from them." Implying that the current attraction of the GOP to Southerners is based on race is sure to motivate the African American members of our great country to vote GOP. I truly hope that he decided to keep his message simple, and does not believe this. The south votes for the GOP because it claims to be the party of principle, honor, pro-life, small government, and pro-defense. Our stated color-blindness matches the words of Dr. MLK.
"For the last 40-plus years we had a ‘Southern Strategy’ that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South. Well, guess what happened in 1992, folks, ‘Bubba’ went back home to the Democratic Party and voted for Bill Clinton."
Hmmmm, I seem to remember that we "lost" the "black vote" somewhere around the mid 60’s prior to the "southern strategy." And Bill Clinton would have won even if he hadn’t gotten one single electoral vote from the South. However, all that is history and irrelevant.
"Bubba." So that’s what he thinks of the southern vote, the southern white male…..really. Great. "Bubba didn’t vote for Clinton. Clinton got 4 southern states. And 43% of the votes, about 28% of the voting population. Perhaps if the GOP hadn’t picked "Read My Lips" Bush as a candidate, we might have gotten a better turnout. I will admit that our choices in the primaries were terrible and Bush was the best of a bad deal. As it is, Steele conveniently forgets Perot. A huge part of that 18.9% of the vote was conservatives turned off by the big government (precursor of "compassionate conservatism?) GOP.
Steele’s job is to make TODAY’S GOP attractive to voters, not to declare that we haven’t pandered enough to any group. It is his job to present the message of the GOP, saying, "Here is our message and our principles. If you like what you hear and see, join us. If you don’t, why not?"
If a pro-life, color blind, equal opportunity, pro-liberty, pro-business, low tax, pro-defense message doesn’t attract you, then, why would we want you? If he can’t articulate it then he needs to copy it:
As the great Ronald Reagan said,
Americans are hungry to feel once again a sense of mission and greatness.
I don ‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, "We must broaden the base of our party" — when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.
It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?
Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?
Let us show that we stand for fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end to deficit spending, with ultimate retirement of the national debt.
Let us also include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people’s earnings government can take without their consent.
Let our banner proclaim a genuine tax reform that will begin by simplifying the income tax so that workers can compute their obligation without having to employ legal help.
And let it provide indexing — adjusting the brackets to the cost of living — so that an increase in salary merely to keep pace with inflation does not move the taxpayer into a surtax bracket. Failure to provide this means an increase in government’s share and would make the worker worse off than he was before he got the raise.
Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people. Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.
Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.
Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.
And we must make it plain to international adventurers that our love of peace stops short of "peace at any price."
We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.
A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.
I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.
This message was true then and its true today. If this message is unattractive, then let them go their way.
|
