Democrat Grip On Black Vote Starting To Loosen

October 6, 2004

I can't say for sure but we may be in the midst of a paradigm shift when it comes to black voters in American politics. The bloc of voters the Democrats have taken for granted over the past half century or more may be dissolving before our eyes and very few are paying attention. Those who will be blind-sided by this voter trend, if it continues, will be the very Democrats who have taken these voters for granted.

Al Gore garnered 90 percent of the black vote in 2000. Just prior to the Republican convention, John Kerry had around 83 percent black support, according to one poll. That number dipped to 73 percent just after the convention and has remained steady. The black support of the Democrats is still very high but a 17-point slip in just four years is nothing to shrug off.

It's not just the polling data. I can feel the momentum shifting in the black segment of our society. An unbelievable number of black listeners call my show. Sure, there are still some die-hard liberals among them but most are converted conservatives who have grown tired of the class warfare waged by the left. Even more encouraging are the numbers of blacks who are opening up the back door of the Democrat party and checking to see how the weather is outside.

Amber, a recent caller to my show, came in on the tail end of remark I made about the NAACP and convicts. At first, she was offended until I told her about the NAACP registering inmates at the local jail. She and her friends were volunteering for the NAACP in college and she was a bit belligerent at first. I asked her if she wanted to be associated with an organization that saw no problem in pulling criminals to the polls. We ended our conversation still in disagreement but I could tell she was thinking hard about what I said.

The following week, Amber called in about the vice-presidential debate. She remarked that John Edwards talked about a “plan” for Iraq and a “plan” for the economy but produced no details of the “plan.” She was not impressed. She was, instead, struck by Dick Cheney's command of the issues and his straightforwardness. The back door was open and she had stepped outside.

Why have so many blacks stayed with the Democrats for so long? Former Congressman J.C. Watts refers to government entitlements as the “liberal plantation.” Too many black Americans have been trapped on this liberal plantation and feel beholden to the Democrats for keeping the gravy train rolling.

There are two types of people who escape the trappings of this liberal plantation. There are those who break the shackles or who have rejected them all their lives. These are the J.C. Watts, the Colin Powells, the Clarence Thomases. Those too frightened to make a run for it call these people “Uncle Toms.”

The others who escape the trappings become the foremen on the plantation. They crack the whip on those below them, keeping them too scared to leave and becoming rich in the process. These are the Al Sharptons and the Jesse Jacksons. What these purveyors of fear don't realize is that there are a lot of people like Amber who now realize that the key to their happiness rests within themselves and not with the government. These people are slipping out the back door. It's time the Republicans stepped up their efforts to build a political underground railroad. Before too long the plantation will be empty and our country will be stronger because of it.