My Two Cents for Chairman Steele

I want to send my congratulations to the new RNC Chairman Michael Steele. I am guardedly optimistic that Steele will successfully open up the good 'ol boy network and affect real and necessary change within the party apparatus. I am not overly optimistic - because like any bureaucracy - the pencil pushers and the bean counters are who really run them. They are always still there, long after a "reformer" has left the scene.

To be candid, I don't understand why Mr. Steele would even want this job. Steele will be the face of the party and the media will find and create opportunities to have him bash the president. Justice Clarence Thomas must have released a big sigh of relief after Saturday's vote because he knows he will no longer be the sole poster child for us "Uncle Tom's," "Bootlickers," and "sell outs." I have two pieces of advice I'd like to offer our new Chairman.

One, If you attempt "real" African American outreach, please don't take the tact that too many well meaning African American Republicans and conservatives take, and that is overloading people with 150 year old facts about the Republican Party and African Americans, or, that the Civil Rights bill wouldn't have passed without Republicans. Yes, that is true, and the history shouldn't be glossed over, but let's be honest, the Dixiecrats of yesterday simply changed parties and became the Republicans of today. This does not mean that I'm saying they're racists but moderate Republicans are the ones who stood up for Civil Rights.

Using this argument is akin to me (a St. Louis Rams fan) trying to convert a newcomer to St. Louis to become a Rams fan because of the players we had during the "greatest show on turf" era ten years ago. Or, a new car salesman trying to sell me a model car that was "Motor Trend's Car of the year" in 1971! Seems pretty foolish doesn't it? Choosing your political philosophy is usually never an intellectual exercise. Peers, family and friends often influence our political leanings. When you inundate people with facts, you are simply telling them they are stupid or uninformed. They will never change their minds under those conditions. Every time I read or hear this attempt at outreach it makes me cringe like fingernails sliding down a chalkboard. We have plenty of current winning issue like school choice, the Second Amendment, same sex marriage, etc. I'd much rather look forward than in the past.

Two, you must make sincere efforts to bring back the moderates. For full disclosure, I am not a moderate, I am pretty far to the right on the political spectrum, but I agree with former RNC Chairman and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. Here's an excerpt from a recent Weekend Wall Street Journal article dated January 10th:

"There's a temptation after a loss like this, he continues, "to purify our party by running off the people that aren't with us 100% of the time, or the people who aren't social conservatives, or the people who aren't this or the people who aren't that." He says party purges like that would be catastrophic. "This is a time for the party to be figuring out how to multiply. Politics is about addition and multiplication, not division and subtraction." He fumes that efforts to evict moderate Republicans in primaries is counterproductive. Wait, I say, aren't the big spending Republicans who act like Democrats -- people like Ted Stevens of Alaska or Jerry Lewis of California -- the people contaminating the GOP brand? His view is that Republicans need to elect a lot more moderates from the Northeast to regain operating majorities."

I firmly believe in the famous Ronald Reagan mantra: "Your 80% friend is not your 20% enemy." Good luck Mr. Chairman and Godspeed!

OAKLAND EXECUTION

By Erin Giddens

I found this on a Facebook group dedicated to the young man who was murdered by the police.Yet another 'Sean Bell' case. However, this time it was caught on camera. I will copy & paste the information to spread the word.This kind of mess really makes me angry. There is no need for events like this to occur;The officer responsible should be put to death! This was NOT an accident. Anyone that tries to make an excuse and stick up for this sorry excuse for a police officer is out of their right mind. Some news reports say he was trying to reach for his TAZER, what a bunch of bull. A trained officer would know the difference between a gun and a tazer. Where is the NATIONAL coverage on this? Wow, the national media really likes to push our issues to the back dont they? Let that have been an officer excuted or a young WHITE man killed by a brotha and it would be all OVER CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS,etc. There has been riots all throughout Nor Cal because of this event. Justice better be served or you're going see a revolt against the police. May you Rest In Peace Oscar Grant,Sean Bell, && others victims of police brutality.

"This tragic event happened almost 2 weeks ago, and I am astonished by how few people even know about this story. Please help spread the knowledge to all you know, this is something everybody should be aware of.

Oscar Grant, 22, Was detained by police at a rapid transit station, with others on New Years day. While onlookers filmed from the train, The police put Oscar, who was handcuffed and compliant, face down on the ground.

what happens next is almost unbelievable, so please watch the included video.

A cop then stands up, draws his gun, and shoots Oscar in the back, killing him execution style. The police officers then drag his body as the BART doors close, so we cannot see what happens next.

Oscar was unarmed, And recently became a Father.

My heart goes out to his family, I can't even imagine what such a loss is like."



News Footage:

Open Letter to Future RNC Chairman: Re: Talk is Cheap

Originally published in 2005

By Sherman T. Parker

Chairman Mehlman
Republican National Committee
310 First Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003

Re: Talk is Cheap

Dear Chairman Mehlman:

You and President Bush are spending a considerable amount of time talking to African-Americans, coining phrases such as the "party of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass." What does that mean if your only goal is to marginally break off the African-American vote? It is embarrassing and you are doing the African-American community a disservice. You are not creating a political infrastructure that competes with the Democratic party. Packing the podium with minority faces at Republican events is meaningless from a black perspective. The African-American voter is more sophisticated than that. The Republicans’ only budgeted one to two million dollars to reach black voters, (less than the cost to produce one Super Bowl ad). The fact that there are no major black elected policy makers serving in any state capitol, the United States Senate or the House of Representatives, leaves African-Americans no alternatives to the Democratics.

Conventional wisdom would have us believe that African-Americans began their defection from the GOP for economic reasons during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s social-welfare programs of the New Deal, thus becoming a reliable component of the big-city Democrat machines. The African-American embrace of the Democratic Party became even more prevalent during the 1960's; blacks voted overwhelmingly for Presidents' John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. The black vote led to the sweeping civil rights programs, which transformed a nation.

While it is true in part, that Democrats were successful in the battle over African-American voters by presenting them a convincing message, that message may have never been received had it not been used in conjunction with the Democrat Party’s considerable effort to legitimize that message by electing African-Americans to office. Any electorate is naturally skeptical and distrusting of politicians and their promises. Given this, the objective of any candidate is to get the electorate to relate to the candidate on a personal level in order to gain their trust, and therefore trust their message. In electing African-Americans, Democrats gained messengers capable of relating to the communities that they were asked to persuade. Democrats drew majority African-American districts, raised money for African-American candidates, provided grassroots mechanisms, and advanced the stature of their African-American officials. Through the gain of African-American officials, these communities were also privy to the same political graft that was so prevalent in Democrat machine politics, which in turn, solidified support among their community leaders.

During the Great Depression, we saw the rise of African-American Democrats such as Adam Clayton Powell of New York and William Levi Dawson of Chicago in city halls and in Congress. Does anyone think Mayor Daley cared about African-Americans in Chicago? NO! Does anyone really think FDR cared about the problems African-Americans were facing in the South? If so, why didn’t President Roosevelt make one public statement or one speech pertaining to the disgraceful lynching of African Americans during his nearly four terms? The Democrats' focus was to keep a safe majority for the Democratic Party and to stay in power. During this period, the Republican Party took the African-American community for granted, because they were the party of the great African-American emancipator, Abraham Lincoln.

Tomorrow Part two: The Solution

Representative Sherman Parker represented part of St. Charles County (District 12) in the Missouri House of Representatives. He was the first African American elected to the Legislature from St. Charles County. He was elected to the House in November 2002 and was re-elected in 2004 with 73% of the vote. Sadly, on September 18th, 2008 at the age of 37, Mr. Parker died unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm.

Why Move-On-Up.org?

In the past, whenever I met a fellow African American Republican or conservative, it was always a bitter sweet moment for me. On the one hand, I was elated to meet another African American who shared my cultural values and view of the role of government in our lives, but the elation subsided rather quickly when the realization set in that there wasn't an efficient mechanism to connect them with my conservative African American friends from around the country, or vice versa. There are millions of us out here! John McCain only received 2% of the African American vote, but how many millions of African Americans does that translate too? That was the initial purpose of organizing the Move-On-Up.org social network; to have a centralized meeting place for us to network, share ideas, and let the closet Republicans and conservatives among us know that they are not alone.

The second purpose of this site is to grow a true grassroots, un-bureaucratic organization that will be a force on the national scene to advance our agenda within the party and in the national debate. I do not consider myself the leader of this social network. I would much rather prefer that every member of this network take ownership for this site's success and it's mission to empower ordinary individuals to do extraordinary things. That is what true grassroots activism should be all about.

Most of us will attest that the outreach efforts by the Republican Party have been pretty anemic at best. Past history tells us that they're probably not going to improve much in the future, especially now that an African American will be our next president, and Hispanics now comprise the largest minority group in America. To be candid, the party is somewhat justified in ignoring us because we bring nothing to the table; no organized numbers, no ability to raise large sums of money. In politics, numbers and money are the squeaky wheels that gets your cause attention, not your past loyalties. We have a choice. We can either continue to complain and keep experiencing neglect during and after the campaign season, or, we can build an organization that literally has hundreds of thousands of members and that advances our agenda due to its sheer size and influence.

A third purpose of this site is to find tomorrow's future leaders and candidates for elected office at the local, state and federal levels. I envision in the very near future, a Move-On-Up.org 501c4 PAC that will provide needed funds so that these candidates can wage credible campaigns. I also envision the PAC being heavily involved with issue advocacy through the use of 30 second videos and the new media. The late Missouri State Representative Sherman Parker wrote in 2005 about the need to elect more African American Republicans to expand the base of the party.

"Electing African-Americans to legislative, statewide, and congressional office is the only way we are going expand the base of the Republican Party...Democrats were successful in the battle over African-American voters by presenting them a convincing message, that message may have never been received had it not been used in conjunction with the Democrat Party’s considerable effort to legitimize that message by electing African-Americans to office...In electing African-Americans, Democrats gained messengers capable of relating to the communities that they were asked to persuade."

In future posts, I will expound further on my ideas and vision I have for Move-On-Up.org, but as i wrote earlier, this is your site. I heartily encourage you to spread the word and invite others! Be relevant. Join the revolution. Make history!

President Obama?

Can I fix my mouth to say President Barack Hussein Obama? Help me.
I am not looking forward to January 20th,but life goes on.
There isnt much to say about America's choice.What's done is done.
As citizens of this beautiful country all we can do is make sure Mr.Obama does everything he promised us.Wait,wait.Do we want that? Goodness.Let's just make sure he doesnt destroy what our people built.His first speech after his victory showed me he had no clue what he got himself into;can he handle the pressure? Hmmm.
And as far as our side is concerned,we must re-focus,re-group,re-order,re-everything(LOL) and get our stuff together because we've lost what our party really stands for.
While I continue to pray for America,I'll get a jump start on 2012.
Romney/Keyes 2012 would be my dream choice!!
Let's go!

ENJOY!! :)

Thought you guys might enjoy this!! :)

ALLEN WEST FOR CONGRESS

Allen West: A brotha thats trying to make REAL change in America.

Allen West for Congress!! Click the picture to be directed to his website. :)

QUICK QUESTION

Be honest, how do you all feel about this election? Do you all believe Obama can win this or will McCain pull it out?
I had a conversation with my father not too long ago and we both agreed that the first BLACK President of the United States will be,and should be,a Black Conservative.How awesome would that be? ;]
My Opinion
I hope(by faith) Obama gets stomped on by the Maverick.I think Obama has a good chance but McCain will pull this out.If Obama becomes President I will be very disappointed,as if I'm not already.However,it will just make me fight even harder for what's right.
It's got to be bad when God-fearing Christians vote against the word of God just to have a Black president.Those people are what I would call the real sellouts.No Man before God,not even a Black man that's running for President of the United States.If you don't believe me look it up in the Bible.Jehovah Jireh aka God our provider.Why is everyone relying on Obama or McCain to change their current situation?Turn to God!Anything that occupies the place of God in our lives is an idol.The more America pushes away from God the worse it will get.We NEED God in our government.Why wouldnt one vote for the candidate who upholds morals and values?I'm far from being a perfect Christian but I understand that God needs to be at the helm of this country.I guess others will forget the word of God to "...get a nigga in office!!" (refer to earlier posts).I'm not trying to judge these people in no way,shape,or form but It Is What It Is.
But anyways,let me know how you guys feel!
Be Blessed! =)

CHANGE..LITERALLY.

By Erin Giddens

Since Barack Obama's nomination I've seen many college students,more so Black students, get into the Presidential election process.As much as that excites me, I wonder if their excitement will last.I find it pathetic that most [black]students only care about what's going on in our country because a Black man is running. What happens if Barack Obama doesnt win;Will you continue to care?? Highly doubt it.They rock the Obama Tshirts and buy the bumper stickers but most have no clue what Senator Obama represents.
They shout "OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA!!" and focus on his theme "CHANGE".With a good percentage of [black] college students working to pay bills they are going to throw a fit when most of their paycheck is gone.Thanks to Mr.Obama all they'll have left in their pockets IS Change;pennies,nickles,dimes,and IF they're lucky maybe a quarter.The first step to Change is to stop complaining and start doing.The whole mindset of our community is going to have to make a 180 degree turn.I have a hard time believing that the community will stop complaining if Obama is in office. I guarantee we'll hear more of it when these Obama supporters realize that his job entitles him to be the President of the UNITED STATES,not the President of the Black Community.I walk around campus and see every other person Obama-fied and it becomes amusing for me.Boy,are these students in for a rude awakening.

Fringe "Group" Plans 50 "MLK was a Republican" Billboards for Democrat Convention

Col. Frances Rice, (ret) founder/president/dictator of the National Black Republican Association.

Why won't these people -mainly "Col. Idiot" - go somewhere and stop embarrassing legitimate African American conservatives and Republicans. Boy, am I ever sorry that I was ever associated with these clowns!

From a recent NBRA email:

HELP RAIN ON OBAMA'S PARADE!

This is a campaign like no other. With your help, we will put up 50 - that's right - 50 "Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican" billboards all over the City of Denver, where the Democratic Party is having their national convention.

What a way to upset the "coronation" of the Democratic Party's "messianic" presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama. Arrogant is the word for Obama, a far left-winger, who is attempting to assume the mantle of Dr. King by giving his political acceptance speech on the anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" inspirational civil rights speech. History shows that Dr. King was a minister who embraced the traditional values that made our country great. Obama has the most liberal voting record in the US Senate. Obama is no MLK.

Join the fun. Donate now to our Denver billboard campaign and help make history. No amount is too small.

Related: Leader of black Republicans sparks a backlash