received the expected outrage and criticism from the teachers' unions and so-called Black leaders like D.C. congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, but he knows that education and doing all he can to provide a better future for D.C.'s children is more important than politics.
I also must mention Andrew Young, a pioneer with Dr. King in the fight for civil rights and equal opportunities and a former mayor of Atlanta, U.S. congressman, and U.S. ambassador. Mr. Young has told me more than once, "Black people have to learn how to be bipartisan. We don't have a permanent party. We have permanent issues and interests."
Fortunately, encouraging trends are emerging in the Black electorate. More and more Blacks are realizing that the road to personal economic security does not go through the Democratic Party or another big government social program. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found in its 2004 National Opinion Poll that more Blacks than ever are indicating a desire to support Republican candidates and identify themselves as Independent or Republican.
The statistics listed in the text box on the following page show that a significant percentage of Blacks are beginning to see past the decades-old negative perceptions about the Republican Party and the conservative political ideology. They are moving from rhetoric to reality ; from groupthink to you think . Individual Blacks are questioning the logic behind continuing to believe in the same leaders, lawmakers, and policies when conditions for many Blacks have stayed the same for years or become even worse.
Due to the influence of Black churches, the political views of most Blacks are more conservative than they realize. Studies show that most Blacks are opposed to same-sex marriage, are eager to curtail the high Black abortion rate, and anxious to reform the big economic issues that have a disproportionately negative effect on Blacks. Conservative values and ideologies on social and fiscal issues are a natural home for Blacks.
Blacks can no longer look at conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an outlier or aberration. In the recent past we have seen the rise of many successful conservative Blacks, such as the aforementioned Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Rod Paige, as well as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, Texas Energy Commissioner Michael Williams, political and economic commentators Thomas Sowell, Star Parker, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, and Walter Williams, and scores of others throughout the business world and state and local politics. The common denominator of all the aforementioned great Black Americans is that they think for themselves. That's the result of knowing the facts and understanding the history of the political parties.
In the late 1800s, Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute and the first Black ever to dine at the White House with the president, envisioned Black self-reliance when he stated that a Black citizen "should acquire property, own his own land, drive his own mule hitched to his own wagon, milk his own cow, raise his own crop, and keep out of debt, and when he acquired a home he became fit for a conservative citizen." Booker T. Washington's vision is for the same "Ownership Society" President Bush talks about today . . . one hundred years later.
Blacks have been told by their so-called leaders that the Republican Party is the home of "rich white guys" and that conservatism is inherently racist. Thus, the majority of Blacks over time have come to perceive all political issues through the lens of race. They see race as the root of all issues and the cause of all their problems. In reality, conservative policies are colorblind. For example, a tax code and regulatory policies that unburden small businesses, allow them to grow and hire more employees, and
I also must mention Andrew Young, a pioneer with Dr. King in the fight for civil rights and equal opportunities and a former mayor of Atlanta, U.S. congressman, and U.S. ambassador. Mr. Young has told me more than once, "Black people have to learn how to be bipartisan. We don't have a permanent party. We have permanent issues and interests."
Fortunately, encouraging trends are emerging in the Black electorate. More and more Blacks are realizing that the road to personal economic security does not go through the Democratic Party or another big government social program. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found in its 2004 National Opinion Poll that more Blacks than ever are indicating a desire to support Republican candidates and identify themselves as Independent or Republican.
The statistics listed in the text box on the following page show that a significant percentage of Blacks are beginning to see past the decades-old negative perceptions about the Republican Party and the conservative political ideology. They are moving from rhetoric to reality ; from groupthink to you think . Individual Blacks are questioning the logic behind continuing to believe in the same leaders, lawmakers, and policies when conditions for many Blacks have stayed the same for years or become even worse.
Due to the influence of Black churches, the political views of most Blacks are more conservative than they realize. Studies show that most Blacks are opposed to same-sex marriage, are eager to curtail the high Black abortion rate, and anxious to reform the big economic issues that have a disproportionately negative effect on Blacks. Conservative values and ideologies on social and fiscal issues are a natural home for Blacks.
Blacks can no longer look at conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an outlier or aberration. In the recent past we have seen the rise of many successful conservative Blacks, such as the aforementioned Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Rod Paige, as well as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, Texas Energy Commissioner Michael Williams, political and economic commentators Thomas Sowell, Star Parker, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, and Walter Williams, and scores of others throughout the business world and state and local politics. The common denominator of all the aforementioned great Black Americans is that they think for themselves. That's the result of knowing the facts and understanding the history of the political parties.
In the late 1800s, Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute and the first Black ever to dine at the White House with the president, envisioned Black self-reliance when he stated that a Black citizen "should acquire property, own his own land, drive his own mule hitched to his own wagon, milk his own cow, raise his own crop, and keep out of debt, and when he acquired a home he became fit for a conservative citizen." Booker T. Washington's vision is for the same "Ownership Society" President Bush talks about today . . . one hundred years later.
Blacks have been told by their so-called leaders that the Republican Party is the home of "rich white guys" and that conservatism is inherently racist. Thus, the majority of Blacks over time have come to perceive all political issues through the lens of race. They see race as the root of all issues and the cause of all their problems. In reality, conservative policies are colorblind. For example, a tax code and regulatory policies that unburden small businesses, allow them to grow and hire more employees, and
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