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Arthur Lewin; Should We Ever Consider Voting Republican…

August 25, 2011 by  
Filed under Misc., News, Opinion, Politics, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) The Democrats say the Republicans are the reactionary party and that their candidates occasionally encourage racist sentiments. The Republicans counter that the Democrats are the ones who instituted segregation and that many of them fought violently against the civil rights movement. Which side is telling the truth? Both of them are.

Abraham Lincoln, president during the Civil War that ended slavery, was a Republican.  Many believe that is why he was assassinated. John F. Kennedy,  president during the civil rights movement which ended legal segregation was a Democrat. Many say his support for equal rights led to his killing.

After the Civil War the Republican dominated US government set about reconstructing the South and putting whites and Blacks on equal footing. Reconstruction ended in the late 1800s, and the Ku Klux Klan was established to terrorize the Black population in the South under Democratic state governments. As a result those Blacks who could vote, those in the North, for generations voted solidly Republican, while the whites in the South voted solidly Democrat.

However, in the 1930s during the Great Depression, Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt established Social Security and other social welfare programs that benefited Blacks as well as whites. And so, Democrats began to gain a following in the Black community. Their influence greatly expanded after Democratic president John F. Kennedy came to power in 1960. The man he succeeded, Pres. Eisenhower, a Republican, appeared reluctant to enforce the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that any form of officially sanctioned segregation was illegal. Kennedy, on the other hand, began to take at least modest steps to end segregation.

After JFK’s  assassination in Dallas, Texas in 1963, his successor, Democrat Lyndon Johnson, vigorously pushed through comprehensive civil rights legislation infuriating white Southerners and winning widespread Black support. Subsequently, Blacks left the party of Lincoln en masse as white reactionaries, all over the country, began to eagerly embrace the Republican Party.

(It is worth noting that Republican Ronald Reagan kicked off his successful 1980 presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the town where, in 1963, three civil rights workers were brutally beaten and killed by the Ku Klux Klan. Also, Democrat Bill Clinton made a point of interrupting his 1992 campaign for the presidency to rush back to the capital of Arkansas, where he was the governor, to sign papers authorizing the execution of a retarded Black youth.)

Other groups, like Latinos and Jews, for example, generally split their vote between  Democrats and Republicans forcing the two parties to vigorously compete to get a bigger slice of each group’s vote. Blacks, for quite a while now, traditionally vote overwhelmingly Democratic. (In fact, in 2008, with Obama heading the ticket, the Democrats received well over 90% of the Black vote.) As a result, the Republicans do almost nothing to attract us, and the Democrats give us very little especially considering that we are their most loyal constituency. 

And that is the problem. We are so faithful to the Democrats they can virtually ignore us. Hence, both parties pretty much take us for granted. We must split our vote say those of us who still remain under the Republican banner. What for, say Black Democratic leaders, when the Republicans offer us absolutely nothing.

And so there you have it. Can a Black woman or man, in good conscience, vote Republican? It reminds me of the game, good cop, bad cop. The suspect always complies with everything the kind, “good” cop says out of fear of the “bad,” brutal policeman. But in reality they are both working together. Is that what the two parties are doing to Black America? And if that is really the case, is there anything that we can do to get out of this trap?

Staff Writer; Arthur Lewin

This talented writer has also self published a book which is entitled; Read Like Your Life Depends On It.

 


Comments

20 Responses to “Arthur Lewin; Should We Ever Consider Voting Republican…”
  1. David says:

    Republicans and democrats are putting down the red carpet for Hispanics, if blacks aren’t careful we may not even be influential in the Democrat Party! Illegal immigration aling with their legal kids in black areas will force black interest out the door!! WAKE UP!! GOP and Democrats are trying to promote cheap labor and a new, less racialy sensitive constituent!!

  2. Arthur says:

    Ron Paul’s policies may, or may not, make a lot of sense regarding fiscal policy, but since he is for severely limiting the reach and power of the federal government, individual states will be allowed so much discretion that groups and needs that have for decades been protected, and provided for, by the federal government certainly would no longer be. This is discussed at length below.

  3. Shayne O says:

    I would advise in looking at candidates, pay very close attention to their policies on Hispanic brothers. Many of the race hatreds directed at black folks have been redirected towards hispanic people, notably undocumented. Hispanic people supported black folks all throughout the civil rights era, and morality dictates folks repay that favor.

    I’d strongly advise you make your decisions based on that. I’d be a fan of ron paul, but I’m not sure what some of his statements mean for hispanic americans and haven’t liked some of his comments on the matter so far at all.

    Nobody is free until everybody is free.

  4. AgentWu says:

    Very good article. As an American who happens to be Black, I’d like to think I have evovled past the whole Republican/Democrat debate. Voting for someone soley based on the color of their skin is idiocy as well in direct conflict with the leasons of Dr. King. It is clear to me neither side serves the “people”. Instead they serve coporate interests in exchange for money to expand or maintain their power base. The commoners are called upon to vote them back into office based on promises that almost always go unfulfilled. The cycle continues endlessly. Enough is enough.

    I’m a Ron Paul supporter. Liberty is the right of all men, not just the priveledged few. End the wars, the fed and all foreign aid now. No more income taxes and enforce property rights now. End the drug war and free all people incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses. I am a man. I don’t need government help to take care of my family.

    Please take time to review the candidates for yourselves. Just because we look alike doesn’t mean we have to think alike. . . .

  5. Arthur Lewin says:

    Brother Victor, thanks for the detailed response. I wrote the article mainly to provide context for the arguments and exhortations of the two parties for the Black vote. And so I covered the last 150 years of their positions on issues directly facing the Black community. If this might lead to some of us not voting or voting Republican, so be it. Should I censor my thinking processes for fear that people may reach a conclusion on an issue that may be different than what we think is best?

  6. Victor Langhorne says:

    A well written essay, but fatally flawed argument! The mixture of the historical stances of the two parties with their present and future proclivities invites the reader to answer the topical question, should I vote republican, on the basis of an inadequate analysis of the factors that should be taken into consideration. I recognize that the title of your article includes the qualifier “ever”. If that is to be taken literally, then the point of the article would be moot. For “we” have voted, do vote, and will vote GOP again when the circumstances warrant. I take the real question, in the context of your article, to be should “we” (90% or more African Americans) give Democrats in 2012 our vote by a substantial margin.

    The appeal for a decision to vote Republican or Democratic mainly on the basis of a recitation of racial factors (appealing to the stances taken by specific civil rights’ icons and leaders while leaving counterarguments unanalyzed) without consideration of specific economic and class ramifications that the victory of one party over the other has had in the past and is likely to have in a contemporary context can be misleading.

    We owe it to readers not to equivocate, not to put forth a “strawman” argument lest we lead readers astray, causing them unintentionally to act or not act in way that will be contrary to their self interest. I predict an unintended impact of your essay on a number of potential African American readers might be to suppress voter turn out or to encourage and give comfort to others to vote contrary to their perceived and ultimate self-interest by voting for the GOP on the unspoken premise of your article that African Americans “might” be better served if their vote was not as consolidated in its support of the DEMS as has been in recent years.

    I am one African American who is decrying the efforts of African American elitists who are castigating the common sense of African Americans voters and unintentionally confusing them aoubt how to vote in 2012 based on the factors that are theoretical.

    Moreover, why should “we” even read what our elite African American brothes are writing since “they” are going do whatever they want whatever “we” do. My “read” on history informs me that the collective political commonsense of 90% of Afrrican Americans would be much better served by our African American leaders if they did more listening to and deeper analysis of that commonsense. An argrument in 2011 for African Americans to join the Tea Party in support of the GOP, stay home and not vote, or vote for the DEMS is a “no-brainer” for those with commonsense. Now for the Black Elite, that’s another story!

  7. Ted Bayer says:

    Politicians in general, more so Democrats since LBJ, have played thy black man to get the black vote. Corrupt politicians take money from the middle class to buy very expensive minnows from their cronies and hand them out to poor folks around election time, when they should allow the middle class to teach the poor folks how to fish.

    The corrupt politicians also take money from the poor folks (and middle class) indirectly by countefeiting money to pay for their wars, such as the War on Drugs and the War on Terrorism, which are mostly waged on the backs of the blacks and other poor folks. They wage these wars under false pretenses to funnel profits to their campaign contributors and post-service benefactors, the super rich that control the lobbying special interest groups.

    Isn’t it time for the Black population and the poor to throw off the yoke of their true oppressors? Join with liberty folks of all cultures and class that believe in truth, liberty, and respect for all individual humans. Join the Liberty movement to complete the American Revolution (a peaceful Lovelution). Let every one of us enjoy true equality as individuals. Pegister and vote for the only candidate that will surely end the Wars. Please consider the idea to register Republican for this presidential election to vote for Ron Paul.

    This is a time for all Americans of all colors to make a stand, our last chance at a peaceful stand, to reassert the American Dream of liberty and justice for ALL.

  8. John says:

    Ron Paul is also the only candidate that will protect the poor and middle classes by protecting the value of our money. He has consistently described how the poor and middle class are hurt most by inflation. He has also gone to great lengths to educate people on the topics of abortion and federal drug laws, which he believes unfairly target the African-American community. If you want to learn about his policies, rather than the mainstream media’s false impressions of him, please read his books “Revolution: A Manifesto” and “Liberty Defined”. They describe his views in great detail, and I think will open people’s eyes to the importance of personal liberty.

  9. Arthur Lewin says:

    Regarding Lincoln and Kennedy, there are many, many parallels. But here is one that nobody has ever mentioned. Yes, it is quite a coincidence that both were succeeded in office by Vice Presidents named Johnson, Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson, respectively. But what is absolutely astounding is that the two Johnsons look exactly alike! Take a look at each of them on Google Images.

  10. Dell Gines says:

    Again, for those of you who support Ron Paul, I ask…how can you support a libertarian candidate? Do you not understand the how libertarianism reinforces social inequity?

  11. smokey2222 says:

    JFK and Lincoln were both assassinated for the same reason, but it’s nothing to do with civil rights or equality.

    It’s because of bankers.

    Lincoln started printing his own money during the war, debt free just issued it as he wanted. The bankers absolutely hated him for it. He was assassinated, and where did they go?

    Kennedy did something similiar as well. He had the treasury issue it’s own money, which completely bypassed the federal reserve and banking system. Executive Order 11110. This was repealed within 6 months of his assassination.

    But these aren’t the only ones.

    Andrew Jackson had an assassination attempt on him – but it failed as the guns jammed. He was the only president ever to get rid of the banks. His assassin admitted he was employed by wealthy European interests.

    Reagan before he entered office was also a bit against the banks and the system, formed the Grace Commission and was going to try and tackle it. After his assassination attempt, he pretty much reversed course.

    It’s a long history of it.

  12. Arthur Lewin says:

    Did Ron Paul vote for or against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act? Also, what is his stance on a woman’s right to choose? Two key questions that must be answered in order to obtain a balanced understanding of this candidate. . . Regarding Lincoln, we said that “Many people believe” he was assassinated because he was in favor of equality. That is not necessarily this writer’s opinion.

  13. Eve says:

    How ’bout this? Both parties suck and are corrupt to the core.

    There is one man who doesn’t tow the party line. He does what’s right, regardless of whether or not the rest of his party agrees.

    Ron Paul is the only Republican candidate who has regularly voted with the Democrats almost as much as he voted with the Republicans.

    It’s time to stop looking at black/white or Dem/Repub. It’s time to look for someone with principles and the only one in the horizon is Ron Paul

    Please look him up. Don’t just follow the sensational sound bites that the corporate controlled media tells you. They want us to fight, and they want us to keep electing the establishment candidates. If you find a position you disagree with, search for WHY he holds that position. The information is out there. Do your part!

    Then, join the r3volution!

  14. Matt says:

    Also, Abraham Lincoln did not get assassinated due fully to racial equality. Although, at the time it played a role… Remember, that if Lincoln wanted to, he could have freed the slaves on day one of the civil war, but notice he waited until the union was struggling to fend off the confederates, and then he issued freedom to the slaves so he could increase his armies.

    What got Lincoln assassinated were his political decisions. He suspended habeus corpus, he had political opponents imprisoned. He also killed the economy of the southern states. The southern states were more prosperous (due in part to the free labor they were using) but also the north was struggling badly, so when the southern states got tired of supporting the northern states, they tried to succeed from the union, Lincoln started a war that killed the confederation.

    It was inevitable that slavery would end at one point or another in the US. But making Lincoln out to be such a great guy for freeing the slaves is fairly inaccurate. Once the industrial revolution set in, crops could be harvested with less need for so many people to do the harvesting, thus eliminating the need for slaves, thus reducing it to the point that if the north wanted, they could end it without any sort of uprising…

  15. Matt says:

    JFK was not assassinated due to his support of equal rights for minorities… JFK was intended to do something that one Ron Paul has been touting, JFK wanted to end the federal reserve (you know, that private entity that is bankrupting the country and has been buying the president the last 20 or so years?)

    JFK, although a democrat at the time, would likely be either a liberatarian or moderate in today’s political climate. Republicans (like the ones in the 50’s and 60’s) don’t exist. The GOP has shifted to the center or left of center and are essentially what democrats in the 50’s and 60’s were. The democrats have shifted so far left, that they’d make Adolf Hitler look moderate. Ever notice that its always democrats and progressives who toute class warfare, minority inequality and various other problems with the world, rather than treating everyone as an equal?

  16. Rodney says:

    I’m in complete agreement with Cynthia Stark. The Republican candidates and the Democratic incumbent all seem to have the same views, save the exception of Dr. Ron Paul. This man KNOWS that we are all equal and expects us to act like it. We cannot be equal as long as one group gets special treatment over another. It’s time to band together and pick a candidate that has been consistently telling us what is going to happen to our country if we don’t make some serious changes, instead of just saying it’s time for change without showing us a way to do it. This man is for real and has a plan to make America strong again. Look into his policies and you will see that you will agree with him more often than you agree with other candidate’s policies, or even the President’s.

    I’m supporting Ron Paul in the Primary and the General Election.

  17. Xenuism says:

    Minorities in general are disregarded.

    I am Native American & Chinese mixed and am backing Ron Paul. Not that I like Republicans or anything, but I believe that his is the most honest man running and at least always says/does what he believes. Leaves little room for any surprises.

    Although, the majority of political landscape either ignores or placates to minorities. Just to ignore them anyway in the end. But, minorities still think there is a party for them. The idea and not the party is where they should vote.

  18. Staff says:

    So true Vincent… We just need more free thinkers instead of going with the norm… Some of my people will forever fall for the democrat lingo… Mostly talk these days… Not much action…

    Staff,
    ThyBlackMan

  19. Cynthia Stark says:

    I would like to point out that one candidate running is for equal rights for everyone! No one person can have more rights than another, it can’t get any better than that. It just so happens he is on the Republican ticket and his name is Ron Paul. I urge anyone tired of the direction this country is going in to research him before you cast your vote.

    “Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their parties.” Winston Churchill

  20. It seems to me that the civil rights movement and the ideas of Martin Luther King have resonated to a degree in both parties. But in both parties there is also the tendency that you describe of the good cop/bad cop pandering. To distinguish pandering politicians from the thought leaders of our time is not allways easy.

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