GOP has long exploited race for political gain
Re: “GOP should fire Steele for sake of racial equality,” April 8
On the future of the beleaguered Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, Chris Stirewalt writes, “Republicans have a claim on racial equality stretching back 154 years.”
Either Stirewalt is being disingenuous or breathtakingly ignorant. In 1968, then Republican presidential nominee Richard M. Nixon successfully exploited race as a wedge issue to win the support of white Southern voters disenchanted with, and threatened by, the gains of the Civil Rights Movement. That shift in voting patterns paved the way for Ronald Reagan, Bush I and Bush II and placed the South solidly in the Republican camp.
In 2005, then RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman admitted it was wrong for the GOP to exploit race for political gain: “By the ’70s and into the ’80s and ’90s, the Democratic Party solidified its gains in the African American community, and we Republicans did not effectively reach out. Some Republicans gave up on winning the African American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.”
Stirewalt should heed the admonition of the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan: “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.”
Craig Taylor
=”text-align:>
Some Ron Paul supporters are also social conservatives
Re: “Don’t trust anyone under 30?” March 2
As an avid supporter of Rep. Ron Paul and a staunch believer in a non-interventionist foreign policy, I have strong objections to Mr. Healy’s assertion that our movement is opposed to various social conservative principles. The strong constitutional nature of the Ron Paul movement gravitates toward a pro-life stance. And though we may personally oppose it, many of us see same-sex marriage as a state, not a federal, issue.
As a Conservative Political Action Conference attendee, I was appalled by Ryan Sorba’s outburst and took great pleasure in booing him for his complete lack of class and respect. We constitutionalists see it as our duty to ensure equal rights for all. However, marriage is not something we view as a federal right.
The neo-cons may have hijacked the culture wars, but remember that the original culture warrior was a paleo-conservative constitutionalist: Patrick Buchanan.
Mr. Healy’s idea that the 9/12 march was for the middle-aged is also incorrect. Many young people were at the march, and some were supporters of Dr. Paul.
=”text-align:>=”text-align:>=”text-align:>
