On Friday, November 23, 2012, Yahoo!® News published an article, written by Suzanne Gamboa, entitled Black Voters Look to Leverage Their Loyalty.
In the article, Gamboa quotes liberal black activists Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP president Benjamin Jealous in expressing to President Barack Obama their particular view of how he should, essentially, “pay back” black voters for turning out and helping re-elect him to office on November 6.
An interesting word “loyalty”.
In human terms, loyalty is normally the result of our either having received or hope to receive a reciprocal benefit, either tangible or intangible, from some person or entity in one form or another. Loyalty is developed over time; it is never accomplished in a vacuum and it is always quid-pro-quo. Always. Loyalty never “just happens”. The credo of loyalty is, “I will do that for you if you do this for me.” This credo holds especially true in the arena of politics which, outside of the traditional marriage relationship between a man and a woman, is perhaps the one platform where the true condition of a person’s heart is tried and tested most.
Speaking of political loyalty, in the case of the vast majority of black voters their loyalty to Barack Obama in 2012 was, as in 2008, largely influenced by race and race alone.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Blacks have been looking to “leverage their loyalty” to the Democrat party for over 50 years now and yet, as a voting bloc, they have nothing to show for it in tangible terms. Nothing at all. Historically speaking, there is no evidence anywhere, either empirical or anecdotal, to support that argument that blacks have benefited in any way – economically or socially – from such a one-sided allegiance.
And, still, with each election cycle they continue to willingly offer their votes in exchange for political I.O.U.s which, in the end, leave them begging for the scraps from the government table. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone, because that’s exactly the position you should expect to be in when the impetus for your loyalty is racial and not ideological. Obama has simply used you to get from you what he wanted – your vote. He has now been re-elected, so he is no longer beholden to you for anything. Not one thing. Which is exactly why people like Al Sharpton and Benjamin Jealous are finding themselves having “remind” Obama that he “owes” his black supporters something.
This is almost laughable. Why? Because I, and other conservative blacks, were constantly speaking about this for several months leading up to the November elections only to find that, on the whole, black voters – at least the 95 percent who voted for Obama – didn’t care about such issues as taxes because, well, Obama is black so, surely that means he will “look out for us”, right?
Right?
The coming “Taxmageddon” (as it has been so aptly labeled) that is about to hit American taxpayers beginning in January 2013 is going to hit all Americans – blacks included – if for no other reason than that there just aren’t enough taxpayers who aren’t black to fully pay for all of Obama’s socialist entitlement programs.
This reality is compounded by a black unemployment rate that now exceeds 14 percent. Meaning, there aren’t enough jobs being created in order to generate enough tax revenue to permit the exclusion of blacks from experiencing the affects of these tax increases. Obama’s promise to tax only the “wealthy” was nothing more than a class-warfare lie. Is it any wonder, then, as the article notes, that Sharpton would specifically address tax increases as a primary area of concern for blacks in Obama’s second term?
But, um, I thought all the wealthy Americans were white and Republican?
Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that ba-zillionaire hip-hop mogul Jay-Z isn’t white?
Shoot me now.
Political loyalty can be likened to engaging in free-market commerce in that the thing you desire not only comes at a cost, it also comes with a price.
There is a difference, however, and it is not an insignificant one.
You see, when it comes to political favorites and favoritism, which is essentially what black Obama supporters have engaged in, the “price” is what the other person pays, whereas, the “cost” is what you pay. In this case, the price to blacks is their vote, but the cost has been 50-plus years of unfulfilled promissory notes (to use a financial term). Think about that. More than half-a-century of being handed over what has consistently amounted to one worthless I.O.U. after another.
This begs the question,“How much longer will black voters put up with this?”
Is the race-influenced loyalty (and that’s exactly what it is) of this 95 percent of blacks so deep as to compel them to remain content to vote for someone who merely looks like them irrespective of the consequences? Apparently so. It’s been two election cycles now and there is no reason to believe this mindset will change (at least not in the foreseeable future).
The poverty rate among blacks has not decreased as a result of their contribution toward America electing its first black President, nor has there been a declination in the murder rate among blacks, neither has the income level of blacks improved but, in fact, to the contrary has actually declined – and quite significantly – since Obama initially took office in January 2009.
Taxes are your money, not the government’s. Yours.
And to the extent that the I.O.U.s which people like Sharpton and Jealous are recounting to President Obama are payable to blacks, they are payable only because people like you earn enough income to actually have taxes confiscated from you in order to pay for the promises he has made to constituents like yourself. That’s right – confiscated. Taxes are always taken; they are never given or “contributed” (as Democrats would have you believe). Don’t be fooled. There is no such thing as “economic patriotism” when it comes to the government taking more of your money.
And take more of your money it will. You can rest assured of that.
All of this to say that President Obama’s I.O.U.s are not worth the paper on which they are written. Sadly, though, I fear it may be too late for many black voters to realize this as the ramifications of many of the President’s economic and social policies, not the least of which are those associated with his proposed tax increases, have already been set into motion and will impact every household in America.
Every single one – including yours my black brothers and sisters.
President Obama’s numerous I.O.U.s are coming due; not only to blacks, but to other of his core groups of supporters as well (e.g. Hispanics and women). And as they do, they will be paid for through higher taxes that will come out of your and your family’s pocket.
It will be too late then to yell “O.M.G!”
Think about it.
DBH
