UnExpected Outcomes (1)

"In 1960, [Democratic] Senator John F. Kennedy defeated sitting [Republican] Vice President Richard Nixon in the bid to become President. The Black vote swung the tide!"
 — Alveda King, Niece Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ¹

Why Black America Votes Democractic

"Nearly all (95%) Black voters cast their ballot for Democrat Barack Obama. Among Latino voters, 67% voted for Obama while 31% voted for Republican John McCain. Among Asian voters, 62% supported Obama and 35% voted for McCain. In contrast, white voters supported McCain (55%) over Obama (43%)." — Pew Research Center Publications ²

The first Black man to vote in America was Thomas Mundy Peterson. He was a member of St. Peter's Episcopal Church and is buried in its graveyard. Mr. Peterson voted in the Perth Amboy mayoral election on March 31, 1870, one day after adoption of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution. ³ The 15th Amendment was the final of three (3) post-war Civil Rights amendments and the first ever constitutional expansion of voting rights that recognized Black Americans. It is important here to note that out of the 56 Democrats in Congress at that time, NOT A SINGLE ONE voted for the 15th Amendment. ⁴ Ever wonder why Black America votes Democratic? Ever wonder why Black America votes for the party founded by the Ku Klux Klan? Every wonder why Black America votes for a party that authored "Black Codes" (i.e., "Jim Crow" legislation) making it illegal for Black Americans to hold office, own property, travel without permission, serve on juries, marry interracially, vote and own weapons? Ever wonder why Black America votes for a party that vigorously opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965?

Here's the story.
Please listen to Alveda King in her own words:

This Was The Last Straw For The Republican Party

"It wasn't until Harry Truman garnered 77 percent of the Black vote in 1948 that a majority of Blacks reported that they thought of themselves as Democrats. Earlier that year Truman had issued an order desegregating the armed services and an executive order setting up regulations against racial bias in federal employment." — Brooks Jackson, FactChecked.Org ⁵

"My grandfather, Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr., or Daddy King, was a Republican and father of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was a Republican. Daddy King influenced a reported 100,000 Black voters to cast previously Republican votes for Senator Kennedy even though Kennedy had voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Law. Mrs. King had appealed to Kennedy and Nixon to help her husband, and Nixon who had voted for the 1957 Civil Rights Law did not respond. At the urging of his advisors, Kennedy made a politically calculated phone call to Mrs. King, who was pregnant at the time, bringing the attention of the nation to Dr. King's plight. Moved by Mrs. King's gratitude for Senator Kennedy's intervention, Daddy King was very grateful to Senator Kennedy for his assistance in rescuing Dr. King, Jr. from a life threatening jail encounter. This experience led to a Black exodus from the Republican Party. Thus, this one simple act of gratitude caused Black America to quickly forget that the Republican Party was birthed in America as the anti-slavery party to end the scourge of slavery and combat the terror of racism and segregation.

[Black Americans] quickly forgot that the Democratic Party was the party of the Ku Klux Klan. Banished from memory was the fact that the Democratic Party fought to keep Blacks in slavery and in 1894 overturned the civil rights laws of the 1860's that had been passed by Republicans, after the Republicans also amended the Constitution to grant Blacks freedom, citizenship and the right to vote. Forgotten was the fact that it was the Republicans who started the HBCU's [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] and the NAACP to stop the Democrats from lynching Blacks. Into the dust bin of history was tossed the fact that it was the Republicans led by Republican Senator Everett Dirksen who pushed to pass the civil rights laws in 1957, 1960, 1964, 1965 and 1968. Removed from memory are the facts that it was Republican President Dwight Eisenhower who sent troops to Arkansas to desegregate schools, established the Civil Rights Commission in 1958, and appointed Chief Justice Early Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ending school segregation. Meanwhile Democrats in Congress were still fighting to prevent the passage of new civil rights laws that would overturn those discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws that had been enacted by Democrats in the South.

There would have been no law for President Lyndon Johnson to sign in 1964 had it not been for the Republicans breaking the Democrats' filibuster of the law and pushing to have that landmark legislation enacted. No one batted an eye when President Kennedy opposed the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King. Hardly a ripple of protest was uttered when President Kennedy, through his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated on suspicion of being a Communist. Little attention was paid to the fact that it was a Democrat, Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Conner, who in 1963 turned dogs and fire hoses on Dr. King and other civil rights protestors. No one noted that it was a Democrat, Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, who waved ax handles to stop Blacks from patronizing his restaurant. Nor was heed paid to the fact that it was a Democrat, Alabama Governor George Wallace, who stood in front of the Alabama schoolhouse in 1963 and thundered: 'Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.'

None of those racist Democrats became Republicans. During this time of turmoil, completely forgotten was the fact that it was Democrat Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus who in 1954 had blocked desegregation of a Little Rock public school. To their eternal shame, the chief opponents of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act were Democrats Senators Sam Ervin, Albert Gore, Sr. and Robert Byrd, a former Klansman. All of the racist Democrats that Dr. King was fighting remained Democrats until the day they died. How can anyone today think that Dr. King, my uncle, would have joined the party of the [Ku Klux Klan]? There is a law of unexpected outcomes. Who could have predicted that the Black exodus from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party in the 1960's would have also ushered in decades of destruction which continue to plague our communities today?" ⁶

Cost-Benefit Analysis

"Cost-benefit rule imputes little value to democratic processes of decision making, preferring calculation to consent as the basis of public choice. It ascribes no special importance to the ideals of democratic freedom and justice, reserving ideal status instead for the purportedly objective and efficient decision. Ultimately it is right reason, not democratic participation or values, that is cherished and nourished under cost-benefit government." — John Bryne, Confronting Values in Policy Analysis: The Politics of Criteria ⁷

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) or Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA), is a numbers game for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project, policy or decision. There is but a single purpose for either CBA or BCA:

To determine if the investment required by a project, policy or decision outweighs its perceived benefit.

Today, as I look at the political landscape, I wonder if the Republican National Committee (RNC) has performed its own CBA or BCA and determined that the cost of winning the Black vote outweighs the benefit of having the Black vote? I can easily see the Democratic Party's nominal investment in the Black community paying large dividends today. I can easily see Margaret Sanger's hate filled, racially motivated and eugenic minded investment in her Negro Project paying large dividends today. I can easily see Planned Parenthood's cheap, sleazy and illegitimate investment in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy by awarding Dr. King the Margaret Sanger award in 1966 paying large dividends today. I can easily see President Barack Hussein Obama's 100% approval rating from Planned Parenthood paying large dividends today. ⁸

Election Day, Tuesday, November 6, 2012 is seven (7) months and eighteen (18) days away from today and what's not easy for me to see … is the Republican Party's response to the Democratic Party's investment in Black America.

Or am I just blind to the obvious?