When blacks gave 80 percent of their vote to the Democratic Party in 1964, black activist Malcolm X called them political chumps. White voters, X said, are so evenly divided that every time they vote, the race is so close they have to go back and count the votes all over again. Which means that any bloc, any minority that has a bloc that sticks together is in a strategic position. Either way you go, thats who gets it. Yet Democrats, said Malcolm X, failed to deliver on a promised and much anticipated new civil rights bill, knowing the party could still count on their blind support in the next election. You put them first, said Malcolm X, and they put you last. Cause youre a chump. A political chump! ... Any time you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that party cant keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you are dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that party -- youre not only a chump but youre a traitor to your race. What would Malcolm X say about todays 95 percent black vote? Did the Democratic Party keep its promises to promote family stability, push education and encourage job creation? The black community, over the last 50 years, has suffered an unparalleled breakdown in family unity. Even during slavery when marriage was illegal, a black child was more likely than today to be raised under a roof with his or her biological mother and father. According to census data, from 1890 to 1940, said economist Walter Williams, a black child was slightly more likely to grow up with married parents than a white child. What happened? When President Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty in 1965, 24 percent of black babies were born to unmarried mothers. Today that number is 72 percent. Then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said in 2008: Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or become teenage parents themselves. Not only has family breakdown coincided with increased government spending, but the money has not done much to reduce the rate of poverty. From 1965 until now, the government has spent $15-20 trillion to fight poverty. In 1949, the poverty rate stood at 34 percent. By 1965, it was cut in half, to 17 percent -- all before the so-called War on Poverty. But after the war began in 1965, poverty began to flat line. It appears that the generous welfare system allowed women to, in essence, marry the government -- and it allowed men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility, while surrendering the dignity that comes from being a good provider. Psychologists call dependency learned helplessness.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 22:23:52 +0000
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