Race and politics part two

I would never have thought that I’d be writing two columns in a row about race and politics, but it seems like people are more race-conscious for this election than they were in 2008.  It would seem, for example, that if you are a black person and you do not support President Obama’s reelection you are subject to being called some pretty nasty names.

An actress named Stacey Dash found that out this week when she took to the Twitter-verse to proclaim her support for Mitt Romney.  Big mistake, Stacey!  After this young lady (who is of black and Mexican descent) failed to show support for Barak Obama (who is of black and Caucasian descent) some of her Twitter followers were outraged and thundered back in protest.

I won’t repeat the names Ms. Dash was called, but I will quote a young college student who scolded her by saying that “you got a lil’ money and you forget that you’re black and a woman, two things Romney hates.”  (Twitter is a great place to find enlightened discourse such as this, apparently.)

And that young college student isn’t the only one who thinks that race should be the deciding factor at the ballot box.  Actor Samuel L. Jackson will also be casting his vote for Obama because “that's why other folks vote for other people -- because they look like them.”  That’s so true!  And it’s why I never vote for blondes.

For the final word on the subject, let’s check in with rapper Snoop Dawg, who listed the following as his number one reason for voting for Obama on his social media account: “He’s black.”  To round out the argument, he also listed the primary reason he won’t be voting for Romney: “He’s white.”

To be fair, we should recognize that there are many Americans out there, of every race, who will vote for someone who “looks like them” if they have that option.  Far too many white people have the same attitude, they just can’t openly admit to it without risking public scorn.  Imagine the firestorm that would erupt if some white celebrity announced they were voting for Romney just because he is a white man.

In any case, I think it’s foolish and short-sighted for anyone to use race as the primary factor in determining their vote.  We are electing someone to do a specific job – to act as Chief Executive for our federal government.  There are no doubt people of every race who would do that job relatively well and plenty of others of each race who would make a complete mess of things.

Imagine if you had a chance to pick the pilot of a plane you were going to fly on and your choices were to pick a person of your own race who had a habit of crashing the planes he tried to fly or someone of a different race who had a spotless flight record.  Would you choose the one who was less likely to kill you or support the one who “looks like you”?

It probably wouldn’t matter if there weren’t many whatever-race-you-are pilots out there, you’d just want to get to where you were going in one piece.  That’s the same attitude we ought to have when choosing a president – supporting the candidate who is least likely to wreck the country.

Let me tell you something – if there was a black lesbian atheist running for president (we’ll call her Anita) and she respected the Constitution and had a detailed plan to get our country back on its feet financially, I’d be voting for Anita this year.  Maybe Anita and I wouldn’t have a lot in common, but I want to vote for someone who will be an effective president and not someone I want to be my best friend or my life partner. 

Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a country where people were more interested in what a candidate wanted to do as president and less about what they look like and how “relatable” they are?

GOP running out of angry white males

If you believe the opinion polls, and in this case I think that I do, President Obama is looking more and more likely to be headed for a second term.  The worse news for Republicans is that their chances of retaking a majority in the Senate are not looking very good either, so we may well be looking at another four years of Democrats setting the agenda in Washington while the Republican-dominated House of Representatives either goes along for the ride or continues to drag their feet.

A look at the long term doesn’t provide the GOP with much room for optimism, either.  The party is not what you’d call racially diverse, but America is and is becoming more diverse every day. 

About 92% of registered Republicans are Caucasians.  In a few decades the majority of people in the US will something other than Caucasian.  You can do the math yourself.  If the party does not figure out a way to attract more non-white voters into its fold, it is going to become a minority itself.

In the words of Sen. Lindsey Graham, “we’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.”

Frankly I don’t think that quotes like that are helping the Republican cause very much.  And I don’t think Mitt Romney is doing much to change the party’s image as being a club for well-to-do white males either.  This is more than just an image problem though – it’s a threat to the GOP’s long-term survival.

So what should they do about it?  First they need to recognize the problem, and judging by Sen. Graham’s quote I think that we’ve probably reached that point.  The next step should obviously be to try and attract more minorities to join the party, but how can that be accomplished?

In general I’m not big on things like affirmative action, but in this case I think Republicans do need to make a genuine effort to reach out to non-white voters and make them feel welcome.  I’m not talking about pandering, and I’m certainly not talking about changing their values to become more acceptable to people who genuinely prefer the Democrats’ ideas about government.  I don’t think that’s necessary.

I know for a fact that there are plenty of Americans who are not Caucasian who believe in smaller, less intrusive government, low taxes, and fiscal responsibility.  Those are (or should be) the core values of the Republican Party, and I believe there are millions of ethnic minorities in this country who would be willing to consider getting involved with the party if they were made to feel welcome there.

So Republicans need to reach out to black, Hispanic, Asian, and other non-white voters and invite them to join the party, assume positions of leadership, and run for office.  The more people of color get used to seeing people of color holding important positions within the party and running as GOP candidates, the less likely they are to see the party as unconcerned about or even hostile towards them.

I know some Republicans wanted to see Condoleezza Rice as Mitt Romney’s running mate this year and if Romney loses I’m sure she’ll be encouraged by many within the party to run as the nominee in 2016.  I think that’s a good idea, but it’s not a silver bullet.  A much broader outreach effort is required.

At this year’s GOP convention they did make an effort to include black and Hispanic speakers, but those speakers looked out at an audience of delegates that was 98% white.  No one watching at home was fooled.  If the party wants to stay relevant, that cannot happen again in 4 years.