"The Right Angle"

Heidi Parent

Failing King's Dream

And other examples of Democrat betrayals

by Heidi Parent
10/01/03

Recently we saw the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. This speech is lauded, and rightly so, as a landmark moment in the civil rights movement. But over the last forty years the true meaning of the speech has been purposefully perverted by the very same civil rights leaders who claim to carry King's torch.

While invoking King's name, today's civil rights leaders demand special treatment in the form of affirmative action, quotas, set-asides, and racial preferences. But the irony lies in the fact that nowhere in his speech did King demand special treatment. Quite the opposite. His demands were for justice and equal access, not preferences. The end result is betrayal of King's dream that his children "will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" because policies like Affirmative Action require that people be viewed through a lens of race. And that is the ultimate irony: in 1963 you were labeled a racist if you judged someone solely by the color of his skin, and in 2003 - thanks to Affirmative Action - you're a racist if you don't.

So while civil rights leaders and other Democrats claim to be working toward Dr. King's dream of a color-blind society, their policies indicate otherwise. But this inconsistency certainly isn't limited to the area of racial equality. There are many areas where Democrats have willfully failed their minority constituents by claiming to be working to achieve one thing, only to support positions that result in something else.

Take Social Security, for instance. To no one is the promise of Social Security more of a cruel joke than it is to black males. The average life expectancy of a black male born in 1970 is 60 years. But he can't collect full Social Security benefits until he is 67 (reduced benefits can be collected at 62). So he works his whole life, is forced to pay into social security with every paycheck, and dies before he can collect even a single penny. Moreover, the vast majority of what he paid into Social Security won't go to his family, but will go instead to Uncle Sam.

Are Democrats outraged by this fact? Sadly, no. In fact, they seem quite happy to keep it that way. Why else would they block every Republican proposal to privatize Social Security? Privatizing it would give workers the option to invest as they see fit (and not just in the stock market, as Democrats would have you believe) a portion of what they would otherwise give to government. It would also allow workers to bequeath that money as they choose. So the black male born in 1970 would not only be able to collect a return on his money as soon as he begins investing, but he would also be able to leave that investment to his family.

Another area where Democrats have failed minorities is school choice. Ensuring better education through forced competition would benefit all students, but it would no doubt benefit minority children the most. Poll after poll of minority parents shows overwhelming support for school vouchers. But attempts by Republicans to provide vouchers to parents of children attending failing schools are repeatedly met with fierce opposition from Democrats. The result of which is generation after generation of poorly educated children sentenced to a life of mediocrity or failure.

These are perfect examples of instances where Democrats could have supported policies that would result in real benefits to minorities, but instead chose to stand in opposition. So the big question is why minorities continue to vote overwhelmingly for people who consistently vote against policies that would provide them real benefits. When will minorities wake up to the fact they have not only been sold a bill of goods for two generations, but have been used like a Bill Clinton intern? (Yes, that analogy is purposeful.)

It's time minorities stood up and demanded answers from those who claim to be working on their behalf. Demanded to know why policies like Social Security privatization and school choice have been repeatedly blocked. Why for forty years they have been told that they don't have what it takes to be successful on their own and therefore need things like quotas and affirmative action to make it. Why for forty years the bar was set so low. Why for forty years they have been told that they can't succeed without the help of white liberals like Ted Kennedy or Tom Daschle, or black liberals like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Once the truth is revealed - these things were, and are, purposefully done by Democrats to create a dependent class of people, ensuring decade after decade of power - these same minorities can then look to conservatism. Because it is conservatism that preaches the power of the individual, regardless of his race or color. It is conservatism that tells him he can be successful in life without the help of government. It is conservatism that tells him he can achieve great things if he takes advantage of the opportunities available and works hard toward his goal.

And when that happens, these conservative converts recently liberated from a 40-year Democratic chokehold can let out a huge sigh, smile broadly, and sing, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

That is my dream.