Blogs

Baltimore and Ferguson, symbolically represent the failure of liberalism throughout the U.S.  Liberalism has been weighed in the balances and has been found wanting.  Liberalism has been tried in the court of public opinion and now it’s time for its public sentencing.

As I am fond of saying, when all is said and done, there’s more said than done.  This is very appropriate for the crisis surrounding the city of Baltimore after the murder of Freddie Gray.

Have you noticed that with all these riots over the past year, the Black businessman has been totally invisible?  They know what it takes to deal with the pathologies that affect the Baltimores all over the country, but tragically no one ever reaches out to them. 

Am I the only one that noticed the irony of Baltimore being the city where the national headquarters of the NAACP is located?  Did they not notice the unemployment rate in the Black community, or the teenage pregnancy rate, or the high school dropout rate, or the housing problems in Baltimore until Gray’s murder?

Isn’t it amazing that groups like the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the Congressional Black Caucus have spent more time promoting homosexuality, amnesty for illegals, and increasing the minimum wage than they have dealing with issues that directly affect the very communities they claim to represent?

In pondering the spate of deaths of unarmed Black males during the past year, there are some striking similarities that can’t be ignored.

You have had recent killings by the police of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York, Oscar  Grant in Oakland, Ezell Ford in Los Angeles and now Freddie Gray in Baltimore, just to name a few.

The common thread among all these cities is that they have been controlled by liberal Democrats for decades, both Black and White.  In the case of Baltimore, you have not had an elected Republican mayor since 1967 and what’s even more ironic is current day Baltimore has a Black mayor, a Black police chief, a Black prosecutor, a black president of the city council, a Black congressman and an almost fifty percent Black police force; yet the Black unemployment rate in Baltimore among those 25-64 years of age is 41%. 

According to the latest census:  25% of the residents of Baltimore live in poverty compared to the national average of 17%; 18% of Baltimore’s housing stock is vacant compared to the 13% national average.

It’s not about party, it’s about agenda.  Most reasonable people would agree that the liberal approach to urban policy has been put on trial and has been found guilty in the court of public opinion.  Guilty of being an abject failure.  So, doing more of the same is definitely not the solution.

The above indicators don’t just show up overnight; but rather are the culmination of gross negligence with malice aforethought.  Remember, the core tenet of liberalism is intent; not results. 

So, what was the liberal response to Baltimore?  It was very predictable, “we need more money spent in our communities.”  If money was the solution, then Baltimore would be a shining example of the virtues of liberalism.

They spend almost $ 15,000 per student for education, the second highest in the country; but yet remain near the bottom of every index for results (only 10% of Baltimore’s residents have a college degree).

Maryland is the wealthiest state in the country in terms of income according to the latest U.S. Census      ($ 70,000 median household income).  In 2007 and 2012 then governor and former Baltimore mayor, Martin O’Malley raised taxes on the wealthy and wondered why the wealthy started leaving the state.  In 2014, he then raised the minimum wage from $ 7.25/hr to $10.10/hr.

So, let me make sure I understand this liberal approach.  Liberals want to further tax those who are generating all the jobs and paying the most into the state’s coffers; then they want to increase the cost of labor for those who have the least amount of education and skills; thereby guaranteeing that employers will hire fewer of them.

Baltimore, Ferguson, Oakland, etc., present a great opportunity for the Republican Party to speak directly to the Black community about Republican solutions to the pathologies that plague these communities.

The first thing the Republican Party, especially the congressional leadership, should do is meet with key Black businessmen.  In the Black community, the businessman is typically the head of the trustee board and the deacon board within the church.  So, if you get the businessman on your side, he will bring you the preacher and the congregation.

Under Obama, the Black business community has been devastated.  The Wall Street Journal reported last year that under Obama, “1.7% of the $ 23 billion in SBA loans went to Black owned businesses in 2013,” the lowest level on record.  The Journal went on to report that under George W. Bush the rate was 8%.

The other issue that plays to the Republican’s strength is education.  I have previously written about how Obama’s policies have decimated Black colleges.  Based on conservative estimates, HBCUs have lost       $ 150 million in funding during his presidency and caused at least 28,000 students to drop out of school due to lack of money.

Why the Republicans don’t use their congressional majorities to address these issues is perplexing to me.

I have said before and I will say it again, Blacks are begging Republicans to give them a reason to vote for them.

Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC is an internationally recognized political consulting, government affairs, and PR firm based in Washington, DC.  Jackson is an internationally recognized radio talk show host and TV commentator.  He can be reached at:  www.raynardjackson.com.