How Republicans Can Win Black Votes in One Easy Step

Could getting more black Republican voters be really simple?

Theodore R. Johnson believes a shift in perspective is all the GOP needs to secure black support. Writing for the National Review, he lays out the current problem facing the Republican-Minority gap:

“Everything the Republican party needs to know about the African-American electorate is bound in this one truism: Once civil-rights protections are guaranteed, African Americans will feel free to vote in accordance with their varied economic and social interests. This simple truth is mostly obscured by the party’s fundamental misunderstanding of black people and what motivates their voting decisions. Many Republicans have largely accepted, and even perpetuated, the false narrative that black Americans are beholden to the Democratic party because it supports them with social-welfare programs and unearned benefits. Blacks’ overwhelming support of Democratic candidates is assumed to be proof that the policy views of black voters are identical with those of the Democratic party. That assumption could not be more wrong.” “For the past 150 years, history has shown, black political allegiance is not to a party but to equality and the full rights of citizenship. It really is this straightforward and simple. And this obsession with equality is uniquely and inherently American, arising from the same revolutionary spirit that established the nation.”

Basically, black votes are withheld from the GOP on the foundation of a two-sided misunderstanding. Black voters need to know that their civil liberties will remain intact. Republican representation hesitates to reach out, assuming rejection based on politics. And there’s that gap… His solution for the GOP is simple:

“The Republican who is strong on bedrock conservative principles as well as civil-rights protections will win the support of black voters at levels the party hasn’t seen in generations — I call him the civil-rights Republican…If the Republican party can remove civil rights as an issue that distinguishes it from the Democratic party, black conservatism will find expression in politics…So, to attract black voters, civil-rights Republicans don’t need to champion liberal policies, but only to ensure that conservative policies don’t leave blacks behind.” “Civil-rights Republicans are the future of the party. They are the only candidates who will bring blacks and other minorities into the GOP in numbers sufficient to keep it competitive for decades to come.”

Although the principle of this idea is solid, these pretty words mean nothing without action. As Republicans we should be reaching into our roots, remembering that the Republican President Lincoln first championed civil rights.

Let’s remember that.

And not let others forget.

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