“I’m trying to tell you, I can’t do a damn thing for you if I don’t get elected”-Ronald Reagan, August 1980.
Yelling at and disparaging minority voters will never work. Former President Bill Clinton, tried that last week, in what he thought was a passionate defense for his wife, in his effort to redirect her support and the resulting consequences of his 1994 Crime Bill. Senator Bernie Sanders continues to make the case that Hillary Clinton’s Primary victories are minimal wins because her votes came from the South. As an African American voter, with a son who was born and votes in the south, I resent the implication, that my son doesn’t really’ count. These subconscious racial signals are what is wrong with progressivism. President Barack Obama solidified his base of support with his southern strategy. Minority Liberalism in the south, is a key demographic.
I AM A LIBERAL…
When Ronald Reagan surrounded himself in the bubble of white America and yelled at a group of protesters in the South Bronx of New York in 1980, liberals saw the insult immediately. He wanted to show his White supporters he could stand up to a growing brown scourge. Former President Reagan had made his first Presidential campaign appearance in Philadelphia, Mississippi. The context, of course, was that this was the place of three of the most infamous murders of the civil rights movement. Michael Henry Schwerner, James Earl Chaney and Andrew Goodman, who were savagely killed and buried in Neshoba County, Mississippi. Liberals were enraged and brought the conscience of America along. Republicans tout the brilliance of Ronald Reagan all the time; so I am to believe his appearance in Mississippi was not a calculated move?
Bill Clinton tried a minimizing tactic, by declaring Mr. Obama’s South Carolina win in the 2008 Primary there, as another Jesse Jackson anomaly. In other words, not much meaning.
This hedging and making sure not to alienate voters on the edge of bigoted thinking, is a direct result of the cowardice of progressives allowing themselves to be weakened, because Republicans have demonized the word Liberal. From the constant courting of, the White working class and Middle class white guys, you would think there is not a Black working class or any Black Middle class guys. I feel like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills with my protest. I see the continued concessions to Conservatives publicly calling me a member of the “Democrat Party,” without push-back, or President Obama being called a failure and the lie that the economy would be better with more tax cuts and a heavier load on the backs of the poor. Let’s get back to Liberalism, its brought us change. When allowed, its brought us the real American dream and most of all its brought us safety, security and peace. Ronald Reagan began America’s thirty-year dissent into economic middle class regression only to be interrupted by two Democratic Presidential administrations. The first, pushed forward equity and the second saved the world’s economy. If we get back to real, unabashed Liberalism, we will stop being afraid. If you Hillary supporters or Sanders supporters believe this is about you, you have missed the point. I am a Liberal and I vote that way.
