Thomas Sowell has long been one of my favorite columnists, and his latest piece [3] is a good example of why.
He weighs in on the phenomenon of Republicans who seem to be ashamed of, or want to distance themselves from conservatives. Or those who make disparaging statements about them. The most recent examples being new RNC Chairman Michael Steele and now, John McCain's daughter Megan McCain, (who seems to have a problem with Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham [4]...like father like daughter?).
Of course this has long been a problem in the GOP...almost since conservatives became an active part of the party's core constituency. But it seems that losing elections makes this crowd a little more sensitive to our presence, (or having to "explain" us to their friends, like Miss McCain). That and some conservatives playing the blame game [5] with one another.
Sowell points out that Republicans would be more successful if they would better articulate conservative principles and apply them to the lives of real people - rather than be ashamed of people who have those principles.
No segment of the population has lost more by the agendas of the liberal constituencies of the Democratic Party than the black population.
The teachers' unions, environmental fanatics and the ACLU are just some of the groups to whose interests blacks have been sacrificed wholesale. Lousy education and high crime rates in the ghettos, and unaffordable housing elsewhere with building restrictions, are devastating prices to pay for liberalism.
Yet the Republicans have never articulated that argument, and their opportunism in trying to get black votes by becoming imitation Democrats has failed miserably for decades on end.
There seemed, for an all too brief moment, that Michael Steele might have been the one to provide such much overdue articulation-- and possibly he still might, but only if he stays out of the Republican trap of trying to appease opponents by throwing supporters to the wolves.
I recently wrote an "Open Letter to Michael Steele [6]" making a similar suggestion, (that he keep quiet and focus on building the party machinery [7]). We'll see if he's listening.
