The Slow and Meticulous Rise of The Black Conservative Movement

If you were like Joe Chandler, the man who went for days not knowing who had won the presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton until it was recently revealed to him, you'd probably have a hard time dissecting the numbers and statistics surrounding the 2016 election as well. Between race, age, non-Hispanic whites, income, education, and the other precise categories the polling companies adhere to, there was one section that was at best marginally discussed. In Donald Trumps victory over Hillary Clinton, he won the office by going after the voters from the rust belt states and the rural votes, predominately white middle class constituents. Clinton's votes came from the urban areas and the ever consistent minority voter. But inside that voting sector came a surprise that neither she nor others in the Democratic wing foresaw or for that matter, the mainstream media has failed to acknowledge with any sustenance. It was a significant rise of black voters voting for Trump.

Let's look closely at that closely. In 2012 when Mitt Romney ran against Barack Obama, he received 6 percent of the black vote. In 2016, Donald Trump received 8 percent of the black vote. Basically, that is a 35% increase in voters that Donald Trump received. On the surface, it may seem insignificant to the average pollster but imagine if the candidate wasn't someone who was divisive as Donald Trump who was running for the highest office in the land. In that 8 percent, did they see Trump as the candidate, despite all of his bluster, as the genuine article? Did they look past the controversial statements, the grabbing her by the pussy remarks, and saw him as this businessman who moves forward despite the bankruptcies and failed business dealings and still wind up on top? For whatever reason, he struck a cord with this core group, this growing silent minority.

But what about the Democrats, shouldn't they be taking notice as well? Let's take a look back in history to see where and how this ll began. It started with Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves in 1862. The freeing of slaves open up the passage into the political arena and many freed black men immediately associated themselves with the Republican party thanks to Lincoln. 

 The Southern Democrats at the time, opposed any rights to blacks of any kind. It was only until Franklin D. Roosevelt's term in office did things start to evolve when FDR entered into the New Deal era which saw some economic prosperity for blacks even though discrimination was still in full force. 77 percent of the black vote went to the Democratic party while only 44 percent described themselves as members of the Democratic Party. Those numbers would increase when Harry Truman came into office and ended desegregation in the military and the end to racial discrimination to federal employment.

John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson brought the black vote home for the Democratic party with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. This piece of legislation brought broad sweeping change to not just black Americans but to every citizen in the United States. The Democrats had the black vote locked in and could count on it for many years to come in hopes of garnering the necessary votes to carry a candidate or to sway a piece of legislation. But history is a lesson we usually forget and of late, memories have become short termed. The George W. Bush Administration is about as far back some would rather go. The Clintons would like that.

When Obama won in 2012, he had 93 percent of the black vote compared to Clinton who had only 88 percent. Some of the details to that were that she failed to energize enough black voters, there was apathy on their part, the issue of her being trustworthy still was in play, given these and perhaps a few more points to debate, the black vote was easily up for grabs and the election was not as solid as Clinton had imagined. All the polls showed her ahead but these polls were skewed.

They were skewed because the people who were responding to them weren't being truthful or honest. Supporters of Trump were being targeted just for merely backing him. And there has been a silent dissatisfaction with the way things have been going under the Obama Administration. The Affordable Care Act wasn't what it was promised. Premiums are going up and even those who were attempting to qualify for the program saw the cost of their premiums and couldn't afford to pay it. Over the course of Democratic promises for the minority community, the community has received lip service. Ever since the so called war on poverty touted during the Johnson Administration, the historically disenfranchised community remains the historically disenfranchised community. Unemployment for blacks still remains high, double the rate next to their white counterpart. The gap for education has gotten wider between blacks and whites with blacks being the ones at the disadvantage. Even with have a black president did the status quo remain the same. And let's not talk about crime and punishment and race relations are tenuous at best.

If there is a silent rise to the black conservative movement, why aren't we hearing more from them. Well, there is no face to put on it. Unlike the Democrats where you could toss a rock and hit one in a Hollywood gathering where it would ricochet off Whoopi Goldberg's head and hit twenty more, the same couldn't be said about a celebrity black conservative. Michael Steele is not the face or Ben Carson. It would be somebody who could withstand the verbal beat down Whoopi Goldberg would elicit on her talk show where she shouts down any semblance of a rationale discussion.  Anything or anyone that is diametrically opposite to Whoopi Goldberg's panel of Democratic values, they are treated like scourges and reprobates unworthy of being in the presence of the general populous.

If I was representative of the black male vote, my choices were Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump and I didn't care for either choice. I am neither Republican or Democrat. At one point, I could have been described as being a Democrat but as each presidential prospect emerged, I found my views were more and more conservative. As I told a colleague of mine, “If I had to choose, I'd rather vote for Donald than her.” Apparently that's what a lot of people did and a lot of black votes didn't show up for her as well. Hillary Clinton had been in politics for way too long and hadn't realized that her stint with the American people had reached it's expiration point. 

 She can blame FBI Director James Comy for her loss if she wants but there are a myriad of issues that she needs to confront and the first is to look in the mirror and find the cause. If she wanted to make this about gender politics, 54 percent of white women voted for Trump. It wasn't about that. The country is ready and has been ready for a woman to be president but not Clinton. I believe one of the labels that she put on herself was that she was a grandmother. Trump is a grandfather but he never made such a public declaration. Grandma is running for president, vote the geriatric ticket. It now becomes a generational issue just by the branding. Bernie Sanders had the youth vote and he's 75 years old. I wouldn't necessarily call it sexist when she referred to herself as that, more like a self inflicted wound. And you have to acknowledge that she's been a part of the American psyche since 1992 when Bill Clinton first ran for president. We're not counting the time he was governor of Arkansas.

Unlike the black Democrats who have squandered their votes on empty promises time in and time out because the Democratic National Committee has conferred a presumptive nominee on them and that candidate has issued a grocery list of promises that has failed to garner any traction, black conservative will be more measured with Trump because they see him as business like and he will attempt to run certain aspects of the government like a business. How much he will succeed is the $64,000 question.