Just smile and pull the donkey lever

By Mychal Massie

I recall a white, social-liberal Democrat arguing with me about what it was to be black. That’s right – a white, liberal college professor telling me what it was to be black. Growing weary of his pomposity, I explained that “I had been black for 50 years and inquired exactly how long he had been black.”

This is the arrogance of elite social liberals. They vilify white males, attempt to thwart Hispanic business progress (that they themselves champion when it benefits them) and convince blacks near en masse, that they will never get ahead without a handout – and that they will always be victims of some nebulous time past, that none today have lived and few can give accurate accounting of.

I was on that plantation at one time. For some unfathomable reason, when I became of voting age, I automatically registered Democratic. It was as if in my mind the Republican Party was not for me, even though my upbringing was based on values and traditions most compatible with the Republican Party.

The question that begs an answer is: What have the Democrats done for minorities, specifically blacks? Charles Barkley put it well, saying, “All liberals have done for the black man is give him an inferiority complex.”

It is a fact that “in the 26 major civil-rights votes after 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed civil-rights legislation in over 80 percent of the votes.” (“Republicans and Civil Rights” – Diane Adler, Dec. 14, 2002)

Democrats are adroit at race politics, but blacks should remember that it was the Republicans who helped a Democratic President pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is also a fact that 70 percent of the Democrats in the house and senate opposed its passage.

Republican President Richard Nixon was responsible for incorporating specific provisions to the Civil Rights Act that were designed to help blacks elevate themselves, not wait for the next handout.

Democrats come armed with lies, virulent hyperbolicism, the likes of Jesse Jackson and an elapidal chorus of “white Republicans are anti-black racists and George Bush is keeping the black man down.”

But, here again, the facts do not support them. It was the Democratic Party that was openly anti-black. The Democratic Party was responsible for “white-only primaries” and it was the Democrats who supported Jim Crow legislation.

Al Gore is the product (or byproduct) of a rabid segregationist. President John Kennedy was not only lukewarm on civil rights, he was reluctant to support them. He, too, was the offspring a rabid racist and segregationist.

Jimmy Carter, when first in office, made a practice of pointing out how well his mamma, “Miss Lillian” treated the “Nigras” that worked for them. (Slaved for them was probably more accurate.)

Then-Gov. Bill Clinton was one of three top Arkansas officials sued for intimidation of black voters under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Larry Patterson, Gov. Clinton’s bodyguard from 1986 to 1992, told of Clinton repeatedly referring to Little Rock black activist, Robert McIntosh as a “n—-r.” Dolly Kyle Browning, a Dallas attorney, told the hosts of “Hannity and Colmes” (Fox News Channel – Dec. 12, 2002) that she had personally heard Clinton reference McIntosh as that “g-damn n—-r.”

The Democratic Party claims to be the party of diversity, but it is the Republican Party that has blacks and Hispanics appointed to the highest positions in the Bush administration. Thanks to the Republican Party, the state of Maryland has the first black lieutenant governor in its history.

When President Bush steps from Air Force One, flanked by Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, it is a proud day for American meritocracy.

The Democratic Party and elite social liberals believe in black votes, but not blacks in key leadership positions. Consider Maynard Jackson, passed over for the leadership position of the Democratic National Committee; Isaiah Legget, passed over by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend for her lieutenant-governor running mate. It was said of Allen Page, a Supreme Court Justice in Minnesota, that Walter Mondale was a more viable candidate because Page was black and Minnesota was a predominately white state.

Democrats and the elite, social liberals are very adept at pitting one against another – it is one of their strengths: blacks against whites, rich against poor, labor against corporate and so forth.

The other question that begs an answer is what will it take for blacks to realize they are being used? It took the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings for me.

Mychal Massie

Mychal Massie is founder and chairman of the Racial Policy Center (http://racialpolicycenter.org), a conservative think tank that advocates for a colorblind society. He was recognized as the 2008 Conservative Man of the Year by the Conservative Party of Suffolk County, New York. He is a nationally recognized political activist, pundit and columnist. Massie has appeared on cable news and talk-radio programming worldwide. He is also the founder and publisher of The Daily Rant: mychal-massie.com. His latest book is "I Feel the Presence of the Lord." Read more of Mychal Massie's articles here.