Topic: Racism
Sins of the Conservative Father The Left has dominated the discussion on race for far too long...and conservatives have no one to blame but themselvesby R.J. Moeller
(conservative)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The prevailing lack of concern towards matters of race and ethnicity has been holding the conservative movement back from convincingly making its case to the entire American electorate for some time now. It is difficult to say it, especially in light of the fact that so much of the "racially insensitive" stigma that we on the Right remain shackled with has been purposely perpetuated and exaggerated by those who have vested interests in seeing certain opposing political parties and ideologies succeed. But where there is smoke there is fire, and our shameful track record of failing to care enough to genuinely reach across ethnic and cultural lines has been smoldering among supporters of conservative, libertarian, and Republican principles for decades
.Understandably, few issues are more sensitive than those related to race. For this specific reason, my intent today is simply to offer some sober reflection on what I see as some of the root causes for the cultural and political chasm that unmistakably exists between the white religious conservative demographic (that I myself am apart of), and the black and Latino communities that exist all around this great nation of ours.
Why is it that when we agree on so many core moral and social issues with black and Latino voters, when we share so many common values, that the conservative movement has not made any serious in-roads with black and Latino voters? Why it is when people of color such as Condoleeza Rice, Thomas Sowell, or Alberto Gonzalez boldly proclaim their conservative beliefs, they are immediately lambasted by the race-obsessed media as near-traitors, or largely ignored among their own ethnic and racial ranks? Why are there no conservative think-tanks, or so few GOP offices, in the same neighborhoods where ACORN and Obama have community-organized their way to political victory?
My theory, in short: we’re suffering from the "sins of our (conservative) fathers."
One of the best writers in history, Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, deeply believed in the biblical idea of "generational sin." In what I consider to be his finest work, The Possessed (a.k.a. The Devils), Dostoevsky goes to great detailed lengths to show how the moral decisions of one generation irrevocably alter the lives and culture of those in succeeding ones.
Through characters such as Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky and his son Peter we see how the offspring of intellectually and morally irresponsible people often suffer the unintended consequences of their forbearers. Stepan was a professor and intellectual who helped to promote among the youths of Russia the idea that to undermine and ignore authority, specifically in regards to the institutions of the Church and the traditional family, was an exciting and beneficial thing. Consequently his son, the depraved Peter Verhhovensky, decided to do his old man one better: He actively seeks to violently hack Russian society’s anchor away from its moral and cultural mooring in favor first of senseless and eventually atheistic communism.
Although The Possessed was a novel written in the 1860’s, Dostoyevsky correctly identified the cultural "sins" of his beloved country that would eventually, some 50 years later, lead Russia towards the devastation that is totalitarianism. He wasn’t Nostradamus; he simply saw the danger in the contemporary trends and ideologies of his time, and was discerning enough to be able to predict their consequences.
Culturally speaking, the last 50 years in America have seen some remarkable changes for the better. Civil Rights legislation in the 1960’s finally put a legal end to institutional . There is today a black President sitting in the Oval Office, and black celebrities from Oprah to Will Smith to Tiger Woods are appropriately in the nation’s headlines given their talents and success.
Before Tiger and Will there was a man, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who challenged the conscience of a nation with his compelling and prolific speeches and writings. He and so many others, whites and blacks, worked tirelessly to see a day when the standard for judging another human would be the "content of their character" instead of the color of their skin. The Civil Rights pioneers used deliberately, unapologetically religious terminology and understood that hatred and bigotry are written on the sinful human heart. They also understood that while it was so important for all Americans to be equal under the law, true social harmony and acceptance is an on-going process that can incrementally improve but will never be entirely completed "in this world, but the next."
The pleas from abolitionists, from Civil Rights activists, were appeals to the distinctly American value system. They were appeals to a standard envisioned and articulated by our Founders: free men and women living in the type of true freedom that emanates from the recognition that their rights are Creator-endowed, not State-endowed.
As a Christian and a conservative, someone who identifies with the politics, faith and worldview of great men such as John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan, I look back on the racial sins of my nation, my ancestral fathers and mothers, with astonishment, grief, and even horror. I experience the same type of sorrow and moral outrage one feels when you hear of the nightmares that were the Holocaust or the more recent Rwandan genocide.
The idea that men and women could (and did) treat other human beings with such cruelty, inhumanity, and degradation, including the and lynching that took place, is repulsive to the sensibilities of any sane person. It is so at odds with the common desire for simple human decency most Americans have today that stories of past violent from -filled eras become surreal, other-worldly historical events and perhaps unavoidably little more.
This disassociation with our past, something all humans in the modern, civilized world seem to struggle against, is also a real problem among many white conservatives today. The past is either too distant from our busy, self-obsessed lives, or in many instances simply too painful to accept given how we wish to see ourselves (and our proud history as a generous, courageous nation otherwise). Therefore we so often instinctively consign all recognition of our racist legacy to a small corner of our collective and individual consciousness.
In other words, we live as if it never happened.
This emotional detachment from the shocking realities of the sins of are, I believe, perhaps the primary factor explaining the great divide specifically between white traditional, conservative Americans and their black (and Hispanic) brethren.
Few Americans in 2009, regardless their skin color, can actually claim to know what it felt like to have been a slave. But many continue to feel the enduring hurt and pain of bigotry. Many are still mistreated because of the way they look and for no other reason. Sadly, some will be refused consideration as a viable political candidate because of the perpetually destructive climate of race-infused "identity politics" that so tes our cultural landscape these days.
Yet, despite these grim present day realities, it is also wrong to paint any entire demographic, whether it is Caucasian conservatives or inner-city blacks, with one giant bigoted brush. While there are definitely still those among us who readily drink from the racial toxins of the past, the overwhelming majority of the people I know across the color spectrum are anything but racists.
In my own life, what I am far more familiar with are the loving, kind, and caring conservatives that raised me; that surround me at my church; or that write the books and articles that further inform me about my faith and brand of politics. They struggle, as I struggle, with the indisputable fact of America’s troubled racial history, but are often unsure as to how best to deal with those facts. Therefore the mainstream media’s popular script that all conservatives are bigots (or closet ones) who personally care little for blacks and Latinos is not true, any more than the erroneous claim that all liberals are innately free of .
But the fact that we’re not all bigots can by no means get "my people" off the hook when it comes to the causes of current racial tensions. As I said, the most glaring failure of (predominantly Republican-voting) white religious conservatives these past five decades has been the almost entirely hands-off approach we’ve taken to in dealing with minority groups. This separation from engagement in the lives and concerns of minority groups can be explained (not excused) by a number of potential causes.
Part of the problem is that white conservatives feel brow-beaten by the media, Hollywood, and Democratic Party strategists and end up accepting the premise that only liberals love the "little guy" and aggrieved minorities. It’s also partly because minority groups have so completely and openly aligned themselves with the liberal Democratic policies and programs that conservatives find unacceptable.
But the most serious cause of our unfortunate retreat from serious and sustained bridge-building efforts between our communities and theirs is that we simply haven’t cared enough to try.
Perhaps we have been too filled with apprehension or fear of failure (or guilt), or perhaps too self-assured that we could win the political day without the support of minorities, or perhaps we have been just too absorbed in our lives and personal agendas. In any case we have failed to reach outside of our familiar voting blocks to those in other ethnic circles. One clear consequence of this sin of omission is that we conservatives have dug ourselves into a demographic pit which we may not climb out of for a generation. Not unless there is a serious, heartfelt, altruistic, and unselfish effort to build personal relationships and genuine coalitions with members of the black and Hispanic community will we see a shift in voting patterns, demographics, and big-government policies at the local, state, and federal levels.
The traditional, conservative movement is not going to change course until we as individual white conservatives change course and actively begin building individual friendships person to person – rather than only just voter to voter – with those who are different in skin color and cultural background than we are. Things won’t change until we have credibility among groups of people who largely feel white conservatives don’t care.
The fact that the Republican Party was created primarily over the moral imperative to free the slaves is one of the great historical ironies of our time. How is it that the party that stood up to such a monstrous institutional evil of slavery is today the same party identified with racial polarization and isolation? How is it that the same party which produced the first black Senators and Congressmen during Reconstruction today struggles to find candidates of color to serve as standard-bearers for the conservative movement? Why can’t the same values and principles that spurred the white conservatives who led the abolitionist movement be a force for good and truth in minority communities today?
Though we can take some solace (even pride) in our origins as conservative Republicans, the real question comes back to this: What are we doing today to connect with the lives and needs of our fellow black and Latino citizens? Sure it is historically accurate to note that it was Republicans, and not the Southern Democrats, who helped President Lyndon Johnson pass the historic Civil Rights legislation in 1964. But how many black and Hispanic families can point to white conservatives today and say, "They are genuinely interested in me as a person. They reach out to me at work, at church, in politics. They want to learn my life’s story and build a friendship for friendship’s sake."
Let me put it another way: All of the economic or social good white conservatives may have attempted for minorities, for all Americans, in the past 50 years has been too easily negated by the failure to instill in this next generation a genuine desire to personally connect with people of different skin color and socio-economic background.
Please understand that I don’t have the audacity to think I know exactly how to best bring people together. I leave such self-important thinking to community organizers from the Southside of Chicago. In all honesty, I can only claim one black person in my life that qualifies as a true personal friend. He and I are connected not through a government cultural sensitivity training program, but through our shared values and mutual interests.
But if we’re talking about the beginnings of a real shift in the relationship between white conservative Americans, and the minority communities around us, we’re going to have to think bigger. We’ll have to do more than just sit around hoping for a black or Hispanic person to catch our eye at Starbucks and ask what our Milton Friedman book is about. I’m not entirely sure how to go about it all, but I do know this much – we need to change course and do so now. We need to start talking about this issue with a real urgency. Not primarily to regain some future political demographic high ground, for that would be using relationships simply as a utilitarian means to an end – and such bald insincerity would be sniffed out for what it is in a moment.
Rather, as conservatives we should focus on building friendships across ethnic lines and accepting others into our lives with cultural differences because it is the right (dare I say biblical) thing to do.
Yet, politics impacts people’s lives for good or ill so we must not dismiss it entirely from the issue at hand. Votes matter and in no way is it wrong or immoral to try and persuade members of any ethnic community that the conservative philosophy of life holds much more promise for lasting advancement and prosperity than does the liberal one. But again, what we truly struggle with is that the sins of indifference from our past have caught up with modern conservatives. Liberals have seized upon our largely apathetic legacy and now set the terms of the debate by being proactive with their bad ideas.
We have the better, more American ideas, ideas that could absolutely change the entire socio-economic landscape for blacks and Latinos, yet our idea on the Right of engaging minorities in the political realm is sitting back to wait and see who Colin Powell will vote for. At that point, you’ve lost the minority vote.
The tragic paradox in this is that as a white, evangelical, conservative American I likely share more in common when it comes to family values and Judeo-Christian beliefs with the typical black and Hispanic voter than does a secular-progressive liberal such as Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). But what good does our common ground do if I choose never to set foot on it and extend my hand? In practical, political terms, when is the GOP going to set up offices in inner-city neighborhoods and go door to door with their message of genuine empowerment and hope with even half of the same zealotry that ACORN did in 2008?
The fact that our first black president was not a conservative Republican, but a far-Left, pro-choice, Euro-socialist is disappointing, but it isn’t a surprise. Ignore any group long enough and they will go elsewhere looking for friends – even if those friends prove to be radicals whose policies perpetuate the problems minorities face.
One can only wonder what would have happened if white, evangelical conservatives had reached out to Barack’s single mother and the young Obama in those difficult and lonely days they were literally on their own? What if instead of feeling that he needed to prove his black identity by joining radically Leftist activists, Barack had been attracted to the multiple organizations comprised of black and white conservatives working on the Southside of Chicago to bring messages of entrepreneurship, personal responsibility, job training, and all the other things that could really change these impoverished neighborhoods?
While there are undoubtedly other reasons I’m not aware of, reasons I intend to seek out and learn more about, I do understand in part why many black and Hispanic people feel alienated from white conservatives. We’ve not seriously pursued a relationship with them. We’ve not made our case directly to them. We’ve not been genuinely interested in being friends for friendship’s sake, nor have we attempted to get any feedback from them.
Until we do, until we change the dynamics of this largely non-existent relationship, until we begin to seriously make amends for past sins of indifference and ambivalence, and do so with the solemn intent to build lasting relationships across cultural lines, we can expect only more of the same. The economically-crippling, socially-destructive, morally-incoherent liberal worldview that currently tes our politics, media, and academia will continue to push us away from the ideals and values that the majority of Americans, regardless their skin color, still hold dear.
We can blame our parents no longer. As Civil Rights marchers in the 1960’s used to chant, "Do right, white man. Do right." The time is now, and much more than a political election here-or-there is at stake.
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Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2009-07-29 12:52:02
First, I take issue with you grouping libertarians and conservatives on this issue. Libertarians are equidistant between liberals and conservatives on most issues, and this issue is no different. While some libertarians self-identify with Republicans, an awful lot of libertarians do not. Many, like me, find the Republican Party to be repugnant.
Having said that, I strongly disagree with those who assert that we must continue to address issues of racism. To the contrary, until we stop thinking in terms of race, racism can never go away. Racism is literally reducing a person's essence to the color of their skin. I have long refused to do that. To this day, I don't think of someone as being black or white or green or brown or pink. I think of them as people and only as people because I want to end racism. The only way to end racism is for people to stop thinking of each other in terms of their skin color.
I also reject the idea that racism and culture are equivalent, as some liberals like to suggest. They are not equivalent at all. For instance, "whites" are often called "caucasian," yet how few "whites" come from the Caucasus region? Almost none. Similarly, while "blacks" come primarily from Africa, they do not do so exclusively, and even within Africa there are wide ranges of different cultures. So claiming that culture equals race is, itself, racist.
Even more importantly, pure mathematics and genealogy teaches us that there is no such thing as being purely "white" or purely "black" or even purely "Hispanic." Over the course of 80 generations, the number of parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and great-great-grandparents, etc., etc. increases exponentially (by powers of 2) the farther back you go. After 80 generations of begatting, we find that we each have literally trillions of ancestors. Simple logic tells us that there must be some significant intermarrying of races among all those ancestors, and geneticists verify that assumption routinely. It's highly doubtful to "n" decimal places that there could be even one, single person alive today whose family tree is racially "pure."
On the other hand, contrast my belief with that of liberals who want to perpetuate racism and conservatives who allow themselves to be repeatedly trapped by either the earned guilt of thinking as a racist or by the unearned guilt of being falsely thought a racist. Unlike conservatives, libertarians don't worry about false accusations. We're satisfied with knowing that they're false and saying so. Most libertarians don't get bent out of shape over racism, because we don't normally give it significant credence one way or another in our own minds.
Finally, I had to laugh when I read your claim that conservatives have failed to attract blacks and Hispanics. Not only does the statement set you up for being called racist (because you insist on dividing political support along racial lines), but poll data from recent elections shows that blacks and Hispanics have voted Republican a whole lot more often lately than ever before in the past.
Since the total number of people who have ever lived on earth is only a little over 100 billion, and many -- perhaps the majority -- of them did not live to a reproductive age, and they didn't all live at the same time, it would be impossible for each of us to have "literally trillions" of ancestors.
I once read somewhere that it only takes about 10,000 years for distinct racial features to develop in an isolated group, and common racial features do not necessarily imply a close genetic relationship. For example, unrelated peoples who live close to the equator tend to have dark skin.
I agree with you, however, about libertarianism and race. For a libertarian, race -- and racism -- are irrelevant.
RJ,
You made some good points in this article, but when you got to
One can only wonder what would have happened if white, evangelical conservatives had reached out to Barack’s single mother and the young Obama in those difficult and lonely days they were literally on their own?
you lost me. As Obama has stated, his mother was an atheist. She was also about as close to a communist as you could get without actually joining the Communist Party, as were her parents (who mostly raised Barack). Obama's mother would not have listened to evangelical conservatives and, in fact, would not have had anything to do with them.
I hear what you are saying...I realize that Obama's mother was not a religious woman, and that Barack did not "find God" until he was seeking to make in-roads among the church-going communities on the Southside of Chicago...but my point is really just that there are basically no conservative alternatives for someone like Barack and the people in those communities to turn to or even consider turning to. Don't get me wrong, there is fantastic work being done with homeless shelters and volunteers and all of that in a place like Chicago. But here I am specifically saying that when it comes to ideology and worldview, because of a complete lack of conservative presence (and therefore lack of legitimacy) in the inner city and among minority communities, the Center-Right values/principles (yes Walt, that do encompass most libertarians) are non-existent. There is no alternative to the corrupt Chicago politics that both parties are guilty of, but that Democrats hold a patent on in minority communities.
I'm not intending to say that conservatism or libertarianism will fix every problem in these communities and that everyone in those communities should or will come flocking to the Center-Right position on things like gun control, role of federal government in our lives, taxation, welfare, etc...but as of right now, there isnt ANY of that thought being presented and lived out in those areas and among those groups. I personally think that is a shame, and, for my part, am actively seeking out ways that I might be able to get involved in such intiatives.
We're losing our country to ACORN and ignorance. There are ways of combating both, but its going to take strong coalition building between like-minded Americans and actual elbow-grease in getting our message out (even if everyone we're getting that message out with doesn't agree with everything we do, Walt).
i for one refuse to take blame or guilt for "the sins of my father".in fact was it not the ultra conservitive quakers who spearheaded the abolitionist movement?on top of that,i'm irish-italian,and my family has only been in the country about a hundred years or so.anybody remember the phrase"irish need not apply"?or the term guinea used to slander italians?in fact i've read books that state in terms of overall damage to a population based on the slave trade,it was the irish who suffered most,not the african.i not here to whine about who has suffered the most either.if this is about resposibility for a lack of minorities in the republican party the only ones to truly blame are the media.for the past forty years they have spread lies about white on black crime and racism in general.
Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2009-08-03 17:16:07
Hi RJ,
I think your theory is an accurate, obvious, observation of our lives. We are suffering the sins of our fathers...Except I don't identify with the notion of sin so I prefer to simply state we are suffering the consequences of decisions made in the past.
Where I take issue with your article is what you propose as a reaction to one specific consequence.
First, I'll tell you why I disagree. I believe the demographics of party affiliation are better defined along the lines of urban versus rural, income levels and education than they are by race or color of skin. It is pretty easy to see that the minorities tend to live in areas that characterize non-republicans in these aspects.
I agree with Walt regarding the use of labels and mixing apples and oranges such as confusing political parties with ideological clubs like the LP. There are many people who make very emotional rationalizations for abandoning the most powerful political tool on the planet, the GOP, into the hands of their enemies. Repugnance apparently trumps the defense of liberty for some people ever time. Fortunately, the very few of us who are determined to undermine the liberal neocons who run the GOP, the tide is turning. After years of disdain and shunning, our efforts locally are finally beginning to be taken seriously in the GOP. Ron Paul's audit the FED bill is opening people's eyes to the value in the consistency of his conservative Republican political views. It is wonderful to see folks who labeled Dr. Paul a "libertarian kook" come to embrace him when they can be shown his views are more conservative than libertarian. Once they understand why he didn't abandon the GOP through his presidential bid the word "kook" never comes up again.
Just this morning, the attendees at a local GOP club coughed up over 50 bucks to support my wife's activist magazine, The Citizen Enabler. The Enabler reprints articles from LewRockwell.com, my very opinionated pieces, her own sassy, biting articles and a feature from Ron Paul in every issue along with local political and community event coverage. A year ago, mentioning Ron Paul in these meetings would elicit boos. Now they are chipping in to promote our activism. Those who do not participate would be amazed at the changes taking place. Too bad they are too emotionally sensitive to the repugnance they themselves have created and inflated into a boogeyman as an excuse not to do something they are afraid to do. I'm sure with more folks willing to do the hard work the pace would accelerate.
I have been writing variations on the same theme since my first Nolan Chart article. This fundamental change in attitudes within our local GOP is living proof that I'm telling it like it is. A tiny handful of people have caused this while many large handfuls remain in their choir, mooing in unison about the purity of their vision of individual liberty. I encourage you, one by one, to abandon the herd and so promote you individuality loudly, clearly and regularly in your local GOP.
How the heck does this comment relate to your article RJ? Like this, we don't have to focus on befriending minorities or changing our individual behavior. Instead, we need to promote the value of liberty in effective ways, from within, and those who also value it will join, regardless of race, or color or sexual orientation. When you promote liberty and show individual easy ways they can promote and defend their liberty by participating in local community activities instead of nationally organized public spectacles, many people are so relieved. Most people aren't willing to self-marginalize or out going enough to make self-righteous rationalizations for their herding behavior...so joining the LP doesn't make sense for them. They are so relieved to find out that self-marginalization and voluntary futility are not their only choices. Campaign for liberty has been making great impact with this tactic. We Fire Eaters have been doggedly and publicly promoting this tactic since our first encounter with the Ron Paul's poison fans back in May '07. We have registered people of all colors and backgrounds, people who had never actually heard a conservative perspective before and who previously had no idea that political parties were tools rather than choirs. Usually, once they understand the process of attending meetings and challenging candidates to promote their principles they bring their friends and neighbors. We conduct seminars to help people voice their opinions in public. We set examples at every meeting we attend; I don't have to go out and befriend anyone, just help them become politically effective and they are in. Help them align their actions with their stated goals. Not do things like say "I'm a defender of liberty." then give the control of the country over to the arch enemies of liberty. I don't know how this possibly makes sense to anyone but the LP has the market cornered on those for whom it does.
Since the first wave of libertarians abandoned the GOP and took much of its conscience and integrity with them, the defense of liberty has suffered dramatic losses until now we are on the brink of total collapse into a socialist nightmare. I blame the LP almost entirely for this current low point.
I think your proposals are terrific ideas for you to pursue. Personally I'll stick to simple, repeatable things that yield results...promoting conservative principles: Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, Limited Government, Free Enterprise and the freedom to defend these principles against all enemies both foreign and domestic. Without these things, freedom of thought, diversity of manner and the spectrum of political beliefs are not possible. I'd no sooner desire a socialist utopia than a libertarian one. Homogeneity doesn't suit me and it can only be attained by force for that reason. I refuse to submit.
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