One of the most satisfying aspects of writing this column is feeling like I’m contributing to a greater good. Many curious college students who seem fascinated that a black man has an opinion other than the narrow one in which they’ve been taught have recently approached me.
Aside from the televised C-SPAN appearance, I’ve also received questions from students, like the ones below from Mara Title, English major at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California for her college newspaper. She had to edit the interview down for space.
The following is the director’s cut….
“Starting off with your background, were your parents conservative, or did you develop your own conservative mindset?”
To my later surprise, the father who raised me to be a responsible, self-sufficient adult, was a proud Massachusetts Democrat. In his world, there were no entitlements. Education, excellence, and hard work were the ethic he instilled in me from a very young age.
While in the Navy I served onboard the USS Midway, a carrier homeported in Japan, we visited many countries that would be considered Third World. I came to realize, despite my “the-white-man-will-always-keep-me-down” view, that of all the places where I could have been born, I have the greatest opportunity for success as an American.
I became a conservative in the early 90’s after growing tired of having to play dumb and lie for Bill Clinton, a man who relished in the fact that people would lie for him and he never thanked them for their blind support.
“It’s somewhat understood that most African Americans are liberal. During the panel discussion at Stanford, the idea came forward that black people have conservative values, but continually vote for liberals. What is your reasoning for this?”
Peer pressure is an amazing thing. I can appreciate the reluctance people have to do anything that invites public ridicule.
As I said at Stanford, black people are probably the most loyal constituency in American politics, but we have little to show for that loyalty precisely because politicians take that vote for granted and thereby have no reason to “bring it back home.” In any other community with a competitive electorate, the incumbent has to bring home some kind of pork, hopefully the kind that can be justified, or be voted out. In the black community the Democrat vote is a given, and unfortunately the same issues blacks have been complaining about for decades still exist.
The reason blacks vote the way they do is the Democrat tactic of constantly calling Republicans racists. Since Democrats are in control of all sectors of government within the black community, how can they blame Republicans?
Because it’s easier to scream racism and blame them than admit they were used and hold their Democrats responsible.
“What has been your biggest challenge in persuading other black people that the true meaning of conservatism differs from being wealthy, white and selfish?”
Nobody recruited or attempted to indoctrinate me into conservatism. After listening to conservative logical arguments, I made the conscious decision to switch sides.
It’s very hard to try and persuade people who assume you are either a race traitor, misguided, and are ready to dismiss any point you try and deliver while busy laughing at you. The Republican Party has consistently reached out to black people while receiving an undeserved middle finger in return.
One has to decide for themselves and have to make that move on their own.
“You serve as an amazing contradiction to what the media portrays as being a Republican. How do you think being Republican will benefit other African Americans?”
I don’t care for racist liberal-assigned designations like “African-American.”
BTW: who is the only group in this country not hyphenated…?
Don’t get me wrong. Being a Republican isn’t the answer to success. I’d be willing to bet there are some broke-dick white Republicans out there.
But as for black people, being willing to admit that slavery ended nearly 200 years ago and not last week is a start. I hear multi-millionaire black celebrities citing slavery as a reason blacks are held back. Funny how they are capable of hard work handsomely rewarded, but think so little of other blacks that they have to fall back on racism to explain their inability to succeed.
“You mentioned inner-city schools quite a bit in the discussion. Could you explain your reasoning as to how run-down, inadequate public schools continue along the same path, regardless of more state funding?”
Although Republicans almost always get the blame, I’d redirect your question to the Democrat congresspersons who represent those states, the Democrat city councilors that represent those neighborhoods, the Democrat school superintendents who supervise those school districts, the Democrat principals who manage those schools, the Democrat teachers and unions who teach those kids, and the Democrat parents who make no independent effort to change that system.
No matter how many times black parents say they want vouchers to get their kids out of terrible public schools that no black Washington lawmaker sends their own kid to, paid puppets like Jesse Jackson come in and say “no.”
I hate to admit it, but it’s not a problem anyone else can address. Change must come from within.
“What is your vision to eliminate the poor education predicament?”
Simply, competition.
Like black politicians, schools have no incentive to improve while bad teachers cannot be fired, disruptive students cannot be easily disciplined and/or expelled, and frustrated parents have no power to opt out of the system without a world of headache and brick walls.
I believe vouchers are the next best solution. When failing public schools start losing students, thus dollars, they’ll have one choice: improve or go out of business. Losing a job usually wakes people up and improves their job performance.
“One black Stanford student said that the priority you placed on helping inner-city schools through a conservative mindset wasn’t a convincing enough reason for him to become a Republican. I just remember that, although he thought he was being smart, you gave him a very good reason.”
That student had no intention of becoming a Republican and I wasn’t about to verbally get down on my knees and beg him to do so.
By the time a kid gets to college, the logical thought process should have been, at the very least, primed. I don’t tell people to join the GOP because Democrats are evil, racists, killers, Neanderthals, as they consistently and tactically do us. That alone would only persuade people with limited logical thoughts who are primarily governed by their emotions.
My answer, I believe, was the same logical one: blacks have voted Democrat for decades and still bitch and moan about the same things they have for decades. What would trying something different hurt? If things didn’t change for the better, one could always go back.
“Do you think that this country/the media talks down to black people, in the assumption that they need the government’s help in order to survive?”
Of course they do. One of my more controversial conclusions is that liberals treat blacks like pets. A cat can pee in the corner and you don’t get mad at it because it doesn’t know any better. When a black person commits a crime, for example, how many times have we heard that the perpetrator is simply a product of their socio-economic environment instead of an intelligent person who knew right from wrong?
Without a rationale that keeps worthless “programs” like midnight basketball (designed exclusively for blacks) funded, a lot of union voters will lose jobs.
Also, I am personally tweaked when I hear a media person say a certain black person is “articulate”, as if they’re amazed black people are actually capable of speaking proper English.
“Why is continual dependence on welfare destructive to a person’s character?”
It removes the incentive to succeed and uses an unearned check to keep one in a state of government sponsored slavery.
Just look at the cycle of out-of-wedlock birth in the black community that exceeds 70%. Men impregnate women and the government steps right in and becomes Daddy. In fact, it’s more beneficial (as far as government benefits go) to the mother and child if the father’s identity is kept secret.
But the offspring only knows government as Daddy and when they get older are more inclined to enter the only world they know: one of welfare entitlements, thus dependence.
Democrats are threatening (should they ever regain power in Washington, D.C.) to reverse Welfare Reform in an attempt to return it to it’s old open-ended form.
When you are dependent on a government that tells you, in essence, how and where you will live on how much, you are rendered incapable of developing character.
“One of the panelists was a libertarian. How do his views (in a nutshell) differ from yours?”
Libertarians want open borders, all drugs legalized as well as other policies that are, for lack of a better word, impractical.
Also, there are no Libertarians in any meaningful kind of power in the United States. What does that tell you?
“The other panelist was a noticeable liberal. He claimed, however, that most of his peers are even more liberal than he is. He described them as Marxists. Would you say that there are a large amount of black Americans that are Marxists, or was he exaggerating a bit?”
First, I believe he said that because the word “liberal” is almost in the same class now as an epithet.
A black Marxist believes that a communist-style government distribution system would alleviate the inequities in the black community. But again, these are people, like liberals, who believe government and not free enterprise is the answer to the acquisition of wealth and security.
“What do you think is the biggest barrier separating the liberal panelist’s views from yours?”
That he believed I didn’t have legitimate views that differed from his and that I had a right to those views. He believed I was “misguided” and said as much. It’s hard to engage someone who has so little respect for the fact you too have an opinion as valuable as his.
But liberals, in general, believe they are blessed with superior compassion, tolerance (I invite you to look up the definition of that word), and intelligence. Therefore, they feel they know what’s best and can craft policy for a populace they deem inferior.
“Do you think that, in all actuality, he understands your outlook, but is too fearful of labeling himself as conservative? If he isn’t, do you think that other black Americans are?”
Yes, definitely.
As a columnist, I accept the fact that some people will disagree with me and I invite the brain sparring. But I can understand how some black people wouldn’t want to be publicly ridiculed and thereby stay silent.
This professor works in a highly liberal environment and liberals can be quite vindictive. In Hollywood, conservatives have to stay in the closet because “open-minded” liberals will see to it you lose your job if you’re outed. That’s why Hollywood’s “Wednesday Morning Club” exists for conservatives to meet and network in private.
“You mentioned the fact that Republicans were the first abolitionists fighting for the ending of slavery. Why is this fact never discussed?”
For example, the 40th anniversary of the passing of the Civil Rights Act is coming up in June. Have you noticed thus far the media silence?
Wouldn’t it just suck if the fact that the majority of Democrats voted against the Act were highlighted? That would mean Democrats would have to explain that while they still fraudulently call themselves the “Party of Civil Rights”. The reasons these facts are omitted are that they’re potentially hazardous to the Democrats and every media person who’ve repeated the lies for this long. One day the truth will come out (it usually does) and it could well spell doom for the Democrats.
Other minority groups follow the lead of black people. A mutiny could be disastrous.
“In your line of work, you’ve presumably dealt with many white Republicans. Have you experienced any racial discrimination or bias from any of them?”
Not directly.
There are boneheads in both parties who say things that embarrass us, but I’ve never personally been treated like anything but an equal.
“Are you treated as a minority in the Republican Party?”
Not at all.
The Republicans are in control in Washington and I doubt there would be a Congressional Black Caucus for us if there were more. Democrats still seem to believe (at least their actions show) in separate but equal. I’ve always been made to feel like was one of the team and not some mascot.
I’ve been asked several times to be a candidate and represent white districts simply on the merit of my positions. Black Democrats are relegated to the black community (where they belong?).
“What can you say to young, impressionable college students, who want to do the most amount of good in society?”
Take care of your own business and as my father said to me, “clean hands.” Society will take care of itself, one way or another.
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