The loneliness of Black Conservatives

One of the major problems today is that when we look at Blacks in politics, we are often overrepresented by one Party and under represented by the other Party. African Americans are the Democratic Party's largest, most conservative and most loyal constituency. Yet, it seems when election years roll around, the Democratic party is much more keen to talk about getting out the vote while actively courting constituencies whose values directly contradict those of African-Americans. We have always been a church going people-from the spirituals born out of freedom, to the church leaders that led us through the Civil Rights movement, to today where African-Americans clergy have warned against the dangers of abortion, which kills 450,000 black babies every year. But with the Democrats actively courting the pro-abortion feminists in a campaign to preserve the Roe v. Wade Court decision that they could never pass in a legislature, Blacks are being left behind. And with a wave of illegal aliens coming in, taking away jobs from poor Americans, one would think that the Democratic Party would stand with Republicans in supporting the construction of a border fence and preserving jobs for American citizens. Instead the Democratic Party has courted the illegal non citizen vote, and Blacks are being pushed out of the Democratic Party's Small Tent, which begs the question, are Blacks ready for the Big Tent?
President Bush stated before the Urban League in 2004 when he came to court African-American voters, "Blacks are gagging on the donkey, but don't seem quite ready to swallow the elephant." Indeed Mr Bush, fair or unfair, the perception of the GOP as hostile to African-Americans is one that the GOP must actively work to get past if the GOP is to erect the permanent majority that it claims to want. Indeed it is why former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman has spoken at over 500 Black events since 2004, and why the GOP ran 2 African American candidates for governor, and 2 for Senator, doubling the Democratic Party's efforts on both counts. Now to quickly answer the question what about Obama? Obama is the Democratic Party's hero more for his story than who he is-a man with a white mother from Kansas and an African father from Kenya, than for his positions. Obama has called the idea of removing God from public life ridiculous, and called for the Democratic Party to embrace evangelical Christians. The on top of that, he campaigned for Harold Ford Jr, the Black pro-life Senator that tried to out conservative his Republican opponent in the election, yet was defeated by the Republican in extremely Republican Tennessee. So what are Blacks to do-leave the Party that has historically been the Party of Civil Rights? Well, yes-and some are starting to here that message.
Losing Senate candidate Michael Steele was able to capture some of this Black disaffection gaining more than 30 percent of the Black vote, well over what Republicans have garnered in recent elections. If Harold Ford ran his same campaign as a Republican, he would have won in a landslide. The fact is, the GOP is trying to reform its image as the racist party by giving minorities more opportunities than before. From Bush's Cabinet where he appointed the first Black and Black female secretaries of state, the first Black National Security Advisor, the first Black secretary of education and had a Black domestic chief advisor, to the elections where the GOP tries to recruit Black Republicans to run for state and national offices, the GOP is trying to grasp onto disaffected Black conservatives whoa re lonely within the Democratic Party and give them opportunities in the Big Tent where Blacks belong. Remember, Blacks started out as Republicans, and should end up as Republicans. In the words of Ken Mehlman, "The Republican Party will not be complete until more African Americans come back home." It's time to go out of the lonely wilderness into the open arms of the Big Tent.