Throughout
the GOP primaries leading up to the convention proper, I had observed, and been
bothered by the lack of diversity in the crowds that attend the rallies. Aside
from Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, none of whom were serious contenders to begin
with; the rest of the field, especially Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, consistently
pulled crowds of almost 99% white audiences with a handful of blacks and other
minorities. In contrast, during the campaigns of both Bushes and John McCain,
the attendant crowds were more mixed and broad-based than what we are
witnessing in the GOP today. Curious minds are right to wonder what happened
from 1988 to this day.
One reason,
at least from 2008, was the emergence of a black presidential candidate who
drew almost all the black voting population, who were determined to elect the
first black US president, and a considerable percentage of Hispanic and Native
Americans who feel a kinship with Blacks, in terms of their social status in
America. Secondly, the emergence of the TEA party fringe of the GOP, after the
2008 elections, and their anti-government, anti-poor, anti-social services, and
pro-business-or-nothing rhetoric turned off a lot of minorities who mostly
populate the government workforce at all levels, and are less likely to own
businesses than their white counterparts.
Compounding
the party’s problems were the ultra-conservative arm who took control of the
party and grew more vitriolic, hateful, derogatory, and explicitly divisive in
their messages. Their fierce and unrelenting attacks on the poor, women, gays
and lesbians, immigrants, and avowal to either eliminate or drastically cut
government services that benefit the poor were not endearing to a huge voting
sector of the public. The poor, immigrants, and minorities – not the two wars
we have been fighting for over ten years - were consistently blamed for the economic
downturn the nation has been mired in for five years now, and accused of living
free on the government hog. They advocated agendas that will remove the rights
of women to determine their health and well-being; drive them back to the stone
age, where they will revert to being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen;
sadly, in most cases, with the support of rich and powerful women.
Conservative
Republicans, under the pretext of supporting the provisions of the
constitution, and state laws, gave tacit support to heinous crimes and state
legislations designed to disenfranchise women and minorities, disband state
union workers, destroy industry unions, and institute racial profiling in
counties. To be poor and homeless became disdainful, even though most
Republicans are poor and on welfare; the bible quotations were used as
justification for hateful crimes against gays and lesbians. Women in
Republican-controlled states used their offices to push laws that will deprive
fellow women of health and well-woman care, just because they were poor.
Conservative,
GOP-leaning pastors openly preached hatred against other religions and
cultures; radio and TV stations and personalities upped the ante with hateful
and derogatory messages and name-calling that deeply polarized not just the
races, but the genders as well. The Black president, and by extension, all
blacks were blamed for everything that ails the country today; and some
republicans in Congress did not help stem the divide with their public vow to
ensure the president did not win a second term. All of these, inadvertently,
pushed minorities further away from the GOP, in spite of the reality that a
minority stands a better chance of winning elective office as a GOP than a
Democrat anywhere in the South today. Unfortunately, that would have meant
buying into, believing, and practicing the hateful and divisive message of the
GOP conservative wing. That is how we got to where we saw ourselves with two
conventions showcasing two parties, one for mostly white America, and the other
for everyone else.
It was
personally troubling to notice a smattering of blacks and other minorities that
graced the GOP convention, compared to the sea of mixed race and cultures at
the Democratic event a week later. For a party which was responsible for some
major civil rights laws benefiting blacks and minorities to allow itself to be
hijacked and dictated to by TEA party constitutionalists, Puritans,
ultra-conservative far-rightists, and anti-social elements is bad enough; but
for its candidates to go along with this divisive agenda, just to win
primaries, spells doom for this party of Lincoln. Eventually, these self-styled
Puritans and conservative elements (though there is nothing conservative about
their behaviors) will help drive minorities further away from the GOP,
eventually turning it into either Le Pen’s Nationalist Party, or Hitler’s Nazi
party.
The choice
is up to the GOP leadership.
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