Godspeed To You, Barack Obama

There is no way for a conservative party to appeal to non-whites in the U.S. How can a conservative party talk about limited government and then support race based affirmative action, race based set asides, and unequal standards?

The current trend is for the U.S. to become a single party state much like virtually every urban government in the U.S. Senator Obama is just confirmation of the path being taken in the U.S.

The historic nature of the moment, however, becomes a historic trivia question if he fails to seal the deal and win the presidency. The electorate is in flux right now. Polls are all over the place. I, for one, wouldn't care to hazard a prediction as to who will win the election right now.

There is no way for a conservative party to appeal to non-whites in the U.S.

Shaun mentioned the Republican Party, not a conservative party.

Jazz,

Do you really think that the polls are wrong on the percentage of the black, Hispanics, Jewish, Gay, or Asian vote that Senator obama will receive. The only question about the polls is what affect will voter turn out have and what percentage of the white vote will Senator obama receive. When you see that McCain is going to have to spend limited campaign funds in Virginia, North Carolina, and Indiana, it should be apparent that McCain has no chance of winning.

Ok, Chris, if the Republican party collapsed today (with a VP pick of Lieberman it may well happen) and a new conservative party takes it place, it there anyway that a conservative party can ever appeal to non-whites versus the existing Democratic Party's appeal to quotas, set asides, race based political districts and affirmative action?

superdestroyer, are you making the case for a new conservative party being the white party? I'm white but I find that pretty grotesque. That aside, I think it is setting up conservatism for a pretty long time in the wilderness. Demographic trends are not on the side of a party that would only appeal to whites. I am hoping I am misunderstanding you, please explain further.

Hey, SD, I'm not arguing with you. But as you correctly point out, it most certainly will come down to tournout and who can get the GOTV game moving on the ground come November. One thing is for sure, our electorate is aging as lifespans increase, and the "old white folks" will turn out in at least their usual numbers to vote. Obama will, I'm sure, carry a very impressive percentage of the minority and youth vote, but looking at the national poll numbers, I don't see either of those factions amounting to a landslide for either candidate. Personally, I'm still predicting a nailbiter.

kathryn,

Then the question becomes how does any conservative party appeal to non-whites when the big government party will be promoting race based government programs. Is there anyway that any conservative party or politicains could appeal to blacks and Hispanics to give up race based set asides in order to support lower government spending or greater freedom. I do not think so.

"Given the historic vitriol of this presidential campaign"

Oh, come on Shaun. You are a better historian of political campaigns than that. As of yet, this one isn't even in the top 10.

SD,
If conservatives can come up with an alternate solution to help historically oppressed minorities rise out of their economic dire straits, then they'll be fine. If they can't come up with that alternate solution, then for the good of the country, they should support affirmative action for as long as it's necessary.

chris,

The best thing the country could go is treat everyone the same. I guess the idea that people are responsible for their own action, a conservative idea that the republican failed to promote, is something that cannot be promoted in today's climate.

How can a political party ask whites and Asian to accept the results of their own life decisions but then try to compenstate for blacks and Hispanics making the same poor choices?

Basically what you are confirming is that no conservative party can ever appeal to blacks and Hispanics.

I guess the only way that the politics in the U.S. will change is when whites have the same level of poverty, criminal conviction, adademic failures, and out of wedlocks births as blacks and hispanics so that whites will not be a source of government funds to transfer to blacks and Hispanics.

How can a political party ask whites and Asian to accept the results of their own life decisions but then try to compenstate for blacks and Hispanics making the same poor choices?

Yes. Blacks chose to be brought on ships from Africa to be slaves. And after that was over, they chose to be lynched and institutionally discriminated against for another 100 years.

Chris,

Half of the blacks at Harvard were either born outside theU.S. or the children of individuals born outside the U.S. The Democratic party makes no distriction on whether people are decendents of slaves or not? See Barack Obama being the first African-American nominee even though he has more slave owners in the ancestory than slaves.

SD,
That sounds like a reason to better target affirmative action, rather than dismantle it.

Or how about Obama's actual plan, to assure that ALL Americans who qualify for college can afford it? Our future depends on improving American education. The GOP "you're on your own" plan won't cut it, and the push for vouchers is a nonstarter. Our tax dollars going to send American kids to a private madrassa? Dumb idea.

And if this country is to be a minority white nation, wouldn't we do better in the future to assure that kids of ALL colors can get a world-class education? We can afford it when we stop pissing away our fiscal health on handouts for the rich, unnecessary wars of choice, no-bid contracts with crooked cronies and lucrative tax breaks for taking American jobs and corporate profits off-shore. True believers in so-called "conservative" fiscal policies consistently miss the giant issue of corporate welfare while railing against any safety net for ordinary working people, or government programs that increase opportunity for the MAJORITY of Americans, who are not in the rarefied economic stratum of the CEO and board chair.

Greendreams,

It is hard to believe that the Democrats can ensure every child gets a world class education when they keep making the public schools less like the private prep schools that their own children attend. I fail to see how eliminating corporate welfare (I do not remember that line item in the budget) will fix inner city schools. Did you not see the HBO special on the Baltimore Public Schools. It will take more than a few more dollars to fix those problems.

Well, SD, then we better get to it. Education is essential, and many of the readers here are students who know very well what's at stake. Our global competitors provide very strong education for all their citizens. Europe, Japan, China and India are whupping butt in science and technology. We will catch up and keep up. Or we won't. That's one of the things we'll decide in November.

And most Democrats don't go to elite private prep schools. Most Americans (as in over half, you know, like in a democracy?) need good public schools. Let's make sure we provide that. We can afford it. We cannot afford NOT to keep up in education.

Heheh. SD, you aren't really going to challenge me to enumerate the cost of corporate welfare, are you? You already know, don't you? Your Halliburton stock is up 800% since the no-bid contracts, and it's 100% tax-funded dollars from our collective pocket. I could fill this website for a week with page after page of tidbits and outrages of our magnificent largess to those least in need.