The following is a comment left by Symphony on her blog Essential Presence. I love the comment because it expresses exactly how I feel about the overwhelming support of the Democratic Party by African Americans.Here is Symphony's comment
"To me its like cancelling cable (you're sending a message). Register independent even. It says, "Hey, they are serious."
Right now, Black people saying the Dems take our vote for granted is just talk, we're not doing anything about it. Why are these same politicians who don't serve us continue to get re-elected?
Its crazy and self-defeating.
They may have some ideas but the fact that they can't execute (year after year after year) pisses me off.
GWB didn't need reaching across the aisle. He did what he wanted and in other times he did what he felt was right. The Dems are weak, they don't have the stomach to get the job done.
It took about 7 years for me to lose my ABSOLUTE disgust for John McCain for the way he supported GWB after the attacks McCain received in the 2000 primaries.
But I would vote for him. Tackling immigration and national security is important to me along with my civil liberties.
Implementing more laws for the sake of laws is garbage. The problem is we don't enforce them. McCain is a fiscal conservative, for campaign finance reform and a reasonable reaction to illegal immigration. (Sending 12 million people back isn't happening).
Now this is a post. I'll do a future post called "Should I be a Republican?" LOL
I just think we dont criticize the Dems enough--racism, bigotry and the likes are about race not party affiliation. Dems will screw you over just as quick as a Republican.
I.e Clintons and liberal bloggers and white feminists."
January 12, 2008 9:12 AM - Symphony of Essential Presence
What do you think? Do you agree with Symphony's assessment?
Read the original post and comments here: Essential Presence - What have they done for you?
8 comments:
MDC, I've pasted my comments from Symphony's post below. I'm not quite convinced that switching to the Republican Party is the best solution for me, but you guys do make good arguments:
I am a Democrat, but I think my party has been extremely inept in doing the people's business and playing the political game. Their values are mine; their execution sucks.
That said, I don't think a bunch of black folks switching to the Republican Party will give us the outcome we desire. Our aim would be to teach the Dems a lesson, but I think we would ultimately hurt ourselves.
1)I think giving your vote to a party with policies that actively work against you is worse than giving your vote to a party that is inept but has policies and ideals that favor you.
2)As a liberal, I think allowing four more years of Republican reign would be disastrous for our country. As a woman, I don't want a Republican president appointing another Supreme Court justice. I value my right to choose. As a stepmother, I don't want our young men and women sacrificed in endless war. As a citizen, I don't want my rights eroded in the name of a false war on terror. I don't want programs eliminated that were designed to give African Americans equal footing after years of racism. I don't want my tax burden to increase while big corporations with record profits get breaks. I don't want to see legislation that limits the rights of gay Americans. I don't want people to continue to suffer without affordable healthcare or for insurance conglomerates to decide who lives or dies. Those are the things I am confident WILL happen under another Republican administration. Is it worth allowing that just to send a message?
3) Registering or voting as a Republican, to me, sends a message that I support their policies and values...that I support the policies that would lead to the things above...that I support their pandering to bigots...that I support their gerrymandering lines to weaken the black vote, etc. I do not. Can you imagine how the rightwing media would spin a defection of blacks from Dems? They would trumpet it as blacks finally seeing the light, throwing off the shackles of victimhood and endorsing the Republican way of thinking.
I don't know, Symphony...seems like there just has to be a better way.
I have a post I'm working on,LOL. But if people are going to give total loyalty to the Dems AT LEAST demand they do what they said. How many decades do they get?
If Alcee Hastins isn't doing the job then vote him out and put in another.
Tami,
The repubs might indeed spin a mass defection the way you describe, but the long term benefit to Black Americans would outweigh any short-term rhetoric.
And it would be short-term because the repubs with any sense will be to busy trying to figure how to keep our votes.
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Symphony,
I'm really looking forward to your post!
The last seven years would belie Symphony's assessment that we African-Americans need to become Republicans.
That party is a totally owned subsidary of the Dixiecrats, bigots, racists, corporate types, miltia wackos, and evangelical zealots who want to wipe out what's left of our democracy and install a theocratic government.
What we need to do is demand more accountability from Democrats and use our ppositions in the party to gain more benefits for our people, and weed out the peeps who ain't doing what we elected them to do.
Hi Monica,
Here is my question; if a voter only has their vote to bargain with, how will African Americans make Democrats be responsive while not using their vote as a bargaining chip?
If the Dems know that no matter what African Americans will vote for them then why will they listen to us?
We might look at the Evangelicals as a model. The Republicans know that they have the rightwing Evangelical vote, but they sure don't take these folks for granted. Over the last eight years this group has had the Republican ear and nearly every candidate panders to them. Where Republicans used to be about fiscal issues, they are more and more about the Evangelical right's social platform. How did they do that? It wasn't by voting for Democrats en masse.
We need to study how the Evangelicals became the Republican base.
You know we all have different and interesting views on this. We should do a blog carnival of sorts. One day when we, and whoever else wants to join, blogs on this topic and links to the other persceptives.
Evangelicals are proof that you shouldn't vote by party.
They don't just vote Republican, they vote for certain Republicans with certain ideals.
Democrats need to wake up and realize all Democrats aren't the same and some aren't worth fighting for.
I'm with you on that, Symphony. It is important to me that I make my political decisions based on knowledge of all candidates and their platforms. Twice, in local elections, that led me to vote for a Republican. I guess that is the disconnect for me; I never feel as if I am just "giving" Democrats my vote. I generally select the Dem candidate because that is the candidate most aligned with what I think needs to be done for my city, state, country, etc. If I were to, say, vote for a Republican candidate for president in 2008, I really would be just giving my vote away.
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