Dr. Errington Thompson

My good friend, Timothy Johnson, Ph.D., was recently honored by the Buncombe County Republican Party. He has been elected party chair, and it did not go unnoticed that he is the first black to lead a major political party in Buncombe County. In an interview with the Weaverville newspaper, Tim commented on how many blacks are ignorant of the bedrock beliefs of the Republican Party. He believes that the party’s ideals line up very well with the ideals of the black community.

Before I go any further, le me say that no person or party has cornered the market on ethics or morality; both parties include good people and bad people, people who are motivated by greed and power and people motivated by pure patriotism. That said, let us look over the past 40 years and honestly begin to evaluate which party truly benefited blacks and continues to benefit minorities and the underprivileged. Let’s look at a few issues:

Civil Rights

This one is easy, and there is no contest.

While the Party of Lincoln abolished slavery in the 19th century, by the time of the modern Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, it was the Democratic Party that stood with blacks. Many southern Democrats who were opposed to integration and did not like the direction of their party left it and reregistered with the Republican Party.

They were wrong, but their party was right. Were there individual Republicans who believed that integration was inevitable?

Were there individual Republicans who believed that segregation was an abomination? I think the answer is yes on both counts. But did their party reflect those beliefs? No. Did the Republican Party change its platform in 1964 and 1968 to appease Southern whites? Yes.

The Economy

Republicans like to talk about cutting government spending, making government more efficient, and their fiscal responsibility.

I lived in Texas most of my life, and Republicans ruled in Texas. I saw the state government cut funding so deeply that some regulatory agencies had to stop regulating. There aren’t enough inspectors to regularly inspect tattoo parlors, so beware of getting a trendy new tattoo: you might tet a skin infection or even hepatitis because of those budget cuts.

Texas had to fire government workers from other departments, too. Republicans stood back and smiled, but when you go to the DMV and have to wait two or three hours just to talk to someone before you can register a car, there is nothing to smile about.

Conservatives talk eloquently about how masterful Reagan was with the budget, but in fact their control over the budget has always been anything but masterful. When Reagan took office he promised to cut the size of “big government” and government spending. But by 1989, federal spending was up 69 percent from 1981.

Conservatives forget to tell you that not only did overall spending GROW during the Reagan years but also that it led to huge annual deficits – and the national debt tripled during his administration. (The DEFICIT that you read about is how much we fall short each year – how much we spent more than we brought in. The DEBT is the sum of all the deficits year after year after year.) Even the conservative Cato Institute published an article by Chris Edwards asserting that Reagan’s failure was that he did not control federal spending growth.

No matter how the Republicans like to sugarcoat their policies, the fact is that under the Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II administrations, the annual deficit has grown and the cumulative debt is now more than 9 TRILLION dollars. At the end of the Clinton administration, we had a balanced budget and surpluses. Which party had a better grasp of economics?

More to the point, which party’s economic policies help the people who need it?

In my own book, “A Letter to America,” I criticized the Bush administration for its tax cuts for the rich. I believe that your tax policy should reflect your moral beliefs. The budget process is more than pushing numbers around; it should reflect the hopes and dreams of America and meet the needs of the American people.

A small and simple program like LIHEAP (low income heating and energy assistance program) provides assistance to the poor for heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. Who can be against this program? The Bush administration! In 2003, it took a Senate vote (88-4) to force the administration to release the funding. You can’t tell me this helps blacks, minorities, or the poor.

Race

When Ronald Reagan stood by and supported Apartheid in South Africa . . . well, that’s a completely different story, or is it? You don’t have to take my word for it, take Bishop Desmond Tutu’s.

In 1984, while visiting Capital Hill, Bishop Tutu blasted Reagan’s support of South Africa. In my view, the Reagan administration’s support and collaboration was immoral, evil, and totally un-Christian. You are either for or against apartheid and not by rhetoric. You are either in favor of evil, or you are in favor of good. You are either on the side of the oppressed, or on the side of the oppressor. You can’t be neutral. And Reagan stood on the side of the oppressors.

Domestically, right wing Republican think-tanks have been trying to reverse affirmative action programs for over 30 years. Affirmative action is fundamental to the progress that we have seen recently. It has opened up opportunities that were historically closed to blacks and other minorities, women, and those without the right connections. From Justice Clarence Thomas to Barack Obama, affirmative action has begun to equalize the playing field.

Both Barack and Michelle Obama and Michelle Obama’s brother benefited by opportunities to attend Ivy League colleges that, before affirmative action, simply passed over blacks and other minorities, qualified or not. The senator attended Columbia University and Harvard Law School; Michelle and her brother Craig Robinson both attended Princeton University; she also graduated from Harvard Law.

Justice Thomas came from a small town in Georgia where he was a good, not great student. Why would Holy Cross take him in 1967? To show that it had “equal opportunities” for blacks. In college, Thomas did well and then went on to earn his law degree from Yale. Even his appointment to the Supreme Court was an affirmative action: he was given the “black seat” held by Thurgood Marshall. He wasn’t the most accomplished or respected or capable black attorney in the United States, but he was that rare bird – a black Republican – and that gave him another affirmative action opportunity. (I can’t help wondering: Does he believe that his appointment deprived a better qualified white lawyer a seat on the Court?)

No matter how people try to spin affirmative action, it is an excellent program that has benefited blacks, whites, Latinos, women ... Americans.
Education

There are no guarantees in life, but education is the closest thing. It is the great equalizer. You can lift someone out of poverty by giving them the winning lottery ticket, or by giving them an education. Everyone has seen the numbers that the average income for someone without a high school diploma is about $23,000, while the average income for someone with a college degree is $52,000.

When President Reagan increased the low interest rates on student loans, it was clear that he really did not understand the needs of working Americans. With student loans harder and harder to come by and college tuition going up faster than the price of gas, college students need help. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has had none to offer – not a single major program designed to help college students. Can anyone spell potato?

No Child Left Behind

The fact that the program has never been fully funded should be considered a crime. The whole concept of “teaching to a test” just never sat well with me. There is no data suggesting that testing equals learning – which is the whole basis of NCLB. As a matter of fact, I think – and empirical data supports this – the opposite is the reality. When focusing on the information for a test, students and teachers miss great learning opportunities.

But Reagan and both Bushes have tried to suck funding out of the only government education program that has been universally praised and successful.

Head Start has been credited for helping minorities get out of poverty, and we need more programs like it, not fewer, more funding for it, not less. We need a Head Start-like program for middle school and for high school, so our children can get ahead and stay ahead.

Another conservative hoax played on the American people is school vouchers. The Republicans have been pushing this idea from coast to coast for some time. The idea is that if your public schools aren’t performing well, you should be able to take your child out of public school, and place her/him in some other school using public funds. It sounds great, doesn’t it?

But, of course, the Republicans don’t bother answering the logical question that follows: if you pull funds out of failing schools how are those schools suppose to get any better? These cash-strapped schools should get increased funding if they are failing, along with experienced teachers, better books, and better maintained facilities.

The other side of the voucher hoax is, where are you going to send your child? Can you pick out a top quality private or parochial school with lots of openings for kids from failing schools – and from minority communities? Black kids? I think not! School vouchers are just another way to help cripple the public educational system.

Tim Johnson, I congratulate you on your new position, but I don’t think that the Republican Party has been friendly to minorities in general, or blacks in particular. On television I saw Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, speak in Kenner, LA, just outside New Orleans, to an almost white audience. Aside from Governor Bobby Jindal, whose family came from India, I did not to see any faces of color in the crowd, and I’ve watched the video several times. I think that’s telling. You can’t tell me there aren’t any black faces in southern Louisiana – but it’s clear there aren’t many blacks who feel that they’re in tune with the Republican party!

Tim, I wish you good luck, and I hope you can change the Republican Party for the better.

Barack

Finally, I must say something about Barack Obama. It is simply amazing: a black man is the nominee of the Democratic Party for President of the United States! Six months ago I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but it was a thrill to see him win in Iowa. I was crushed when he didn’t win in New Hampshire and overjoyed when he won – and won big – in South Carolina! After South Carolina, I knew something different was happening.

I watched him rake in money over the Internet from more than 1.6 million donors. No one has ever done this – no one! I watched his speeches, but I also watched the enthusiasm that he generated: huge crowds of whites and blacks, young and old, women and men.

I just knew something bad, something awful, was going to happen. He never paid his taxes – or he has drowned baby seals – or …whatever, I didn’t know! I just felt something was going to trip him up! He racked up 13 victories in February, and the Democratic race was really over. Yes, there was “bitter-gate,” and Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but Barack Obama turned negatives into positives and kept on going. At last, there was a Democratic presidential candidate whom I enthusiastically run to polls and vote for – Barack Obama, Democratic nominee for president. Man, oh, man!

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