Republican President Abraham Lincoln is widely known for freeing the slaves and for more than half a century blacks were reliable Republican voters. This changed when Franklin Roosevelt beat Herbert Hoover. Blacks were hit harder than whites by the Great Depression so it was natural for them to turn away from the failed efforts of Hoover to the extent that 71% voted for Roosevelt in 1932. Despite the failure of Roosevelt to support any meaningful civil rights legislation, black voters continued to support the Democrats, albeit in fewer numbers for his three reelections. Truman did even better, in part due to his action to desegregate the military.
Eisenhower was able to attract nearly 40% of the black vote when he ran for reelection in 1956 and Richard Nixon held onto 32% in 1960. Barry Goldwater, despite having supported prior civil rights legislation, made the political mistake of voting against the 1964 civil rights law (he had constitutional concerns) and ended up with only 6% of blacks voting for him. Republicans have never been able to recover.
With such strong black support, you would think that Democrats would take actions that would benefit their faithful black constituents. Sadly, after selling their votes to Democrats with promises that big government would help blacks, the black voters have bought a bum deal.
For example:
1. Democrat efforts to build affordable housing resulted in crime invested tenements overrun with drugs.
2. Democrat abortion policies with a concentration of abortion clinics in black neighborhoods has resulted in the death of 10 million black babies. 10 million people is more than the populations of half of the countries in Africa. Some states like New York see more abortions of black babies each year than live births.
3. Democrat welfare policies have destroyed the intact black family structure. More than 70% of black children are born to unmarried mothers and raised without their father in their lives.
4. Democrat social security policies penalize black men who because of shorter life expectancy are not able to claim as much social security benefits (perhaps $12,000 less) as their white counterparts.
5. Democrat support for incompetent public school teachers have resulted in too many black children receiving an inadequate education. Black parents are being denied support to seek out superior educational options such as charter, private, and religious schools.
6. Democrat support for minimum wage laws has hit young black people more than other groups. Studies have shown that when the minimum wage is increased, the unemployment rate for nonwhite teenagers also goes up.
So having bought black votes with the promise of government help, in reality blacks have been sold down the river and are worse off in many ways for supporting Democrat policies.
There is an educated minority of black that have recognized this travesty (Bill Cosby, Dr. Ben Carson, Thomas Sowell), but for the most part these honest voices are labeled as Oreos or Uncle Toms. As usually, Democrats are better at name calling than debating.
The reality is that we are living in a 21st Century version of slavery where blacks live as second class citizens as a result of government action. Poor housing provided by the master. The killing of millions of innocent blacks. Children raised without fathers. Not providing comparable retirement benefits for a life of labor. Inferior educational opportunities. Is this 2014 or 1854?
Black Americans deserve better than this.
The Fiddling Ant
