Keywords or Terms: Reaganomics Sympathizers; Luxury Yachts and Homes; Minorities;
Earned Income Credits; Cuban American Marco Rubio; Anna Rogers, Conservative
group American Crossroads; Karl Rove; immigration Reform; Poverty Eradication; President
Ronald Reagan; Godfather of Republican Conservative Values; Right-wing
Movement; Tea Party Group; President Barack Obama; Travels to Cuba; America’s
Political Experience; Narcissistic Culture; NAACP; 1964 Civil Rights Act; Barry
Goldwater; President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Republican leadership –
especially the Reaganomics sympathizers – laments the dart of minorities in their party. Each holds views that the free market system needs no invisible
hand to correct for the excesses of the market place or the short-comings of
their doctrine. In consequence they declare, “Minorities” are welcomed in the
party, as long as they are willing to work, even for meager wages that put them
always below the poverty line. They introduce policies and programs that take
away the possibility of a living wage for many underprivileged groups and go
behind in their luxury yachts and homes to celebrate their conquest of the
marketplace, while talking about how lazy many of the minority groups are; and,
why the Earned Income Credit line item deduction on federal income tax is a
transfer payment that the system can no longer afford.
This is hardly surprising.
The spectrum of their contact with many of these minority groups is probably
limited to their housekeeper and groundskeeper, who often are immigrants from
Latin America. Apart from this group, the ‘Reaganites’ hardly seek out other
minorities and pay attention to their opinions regarding the challenges of
surviving in a cut-throat competitive marketplace, where winners always takes
all. The question of wage stagnation and immigration which probably form the
anchor for the Cuban American Marco Rubio’s quest for Republican Party’s flag
bearer are shared by a whole lot of people of color, majority of who are hardly
Republicans. No one – least of the Republican leadership – shares sympathy with
Rubio’s Mexican-born spouse opinion that illegal immigrants come to the United
States to provide for their families out of love. Neither are they also
interested in eradication of voter’s identification laws and reforming the criminal
justice system. Marco Rubio can therefore rest assured that he has the
slightest chances of being nominated as his party’s flag bearer. Apart from the
candidacy of his fellow Florida Republican Jeb Bush, Marco’s support is rather thin
among Republican rank and file; and, his constant and fierce criticism of
President Barack Obama is hardly going to win him currency with other minority
groups in America.
Rubbing Shoulders with
Conservative Republicans and Reganites
It is true of the idiom,
show me your friends and I would tell you who you are. Marco Rubio’s choice of
Anna Rogers, the finance director of the Conservative group, American
Crossroads, as his fundraiser in California as well as, finance director of his
Presidential Campaign, is rather telling of where Rubio’s ambitions and
sympathies lie. Voters will recall that Karl Rove, former President George W.
Bush adviser, founded American Crossroads. Karl Rover probably has fewer
admirers in today America, although he holds bag for many rich Republicans who
like to claim Ronald Reagan as the Godfather of Republican Conservative Values.
Reaganites that Rubio is
rubbing shoulders with are not more likely to feel at home with immigration
reforms or allow more undocumented immigrants to remain in America.
Cuban-Americans who have established deep roots in Miami will inform Rubio that
the singular action of President Barack Obama to afford for American travels to
his native ancestral land has done more good for that island nation than his presidential
candidacy can ever do for the same group; and or, Latin America as a whole. Meteoric
rise in a more right wing tilted Republican Party for a minority is likely to
have more difficulties; Rubio’s candidacy could have been better served by a
much centrist or liberal Republican party.
The right-wing movement of
the party, the Tea Party Group insurgent, makes it difficult to canvass for enough
party votes to lead to a flag-bearer’s nominee. The insurgents of the Tea Party
group in the Republican Party is a radical conservatism which many Republican
leaders are finding difficult to contain; or unable to manage for a number of
reasons that are better left for other times. Marco Rubio’s candidacy is in
line with my philosophy of encouraging more minorities to seek higher national
political office. However in the case of the Republican Party, Americans
understand correctly that a decision to seek party nomination, or one to go it
alone out of association or familiarization with some pseudo-power broker by a
minority candidate, has the potential of producing two perversely unexpected
results. First, to ward off claim of tokenism, Marco Rubio’s presidential candidacy
must be broad-based enough within the Republican Party; just as Barack Obama’s candidacy
in 2008 in the Democratic Party. Rubio’s
2016 candidacy may improve the ability of future minority members of the
Republican Party to seek party nomination as flag bearer; but hardly for Marco
Rubio in the present day Republican Party. One may want to liken Marco Rubio’s
this time around to Jesse Jackson’s in the 1984 Democratic Primary. Second, Marco Rubio’s candidacy could actually
bring a reflection in Republican Party’s leadership; or, a new cautiousness
among Republicans who would rather continue to push the party to the far right
political culture. It should now be clear to the Reaganites, who claim to be sympathetic
to the affairs of minorities that, when their party can hardly put forward a
minority to lead in the capacity of a Presidential candidate, then there is
hardly the question of diversity in the Republican Party. Maybe Marco Rubio’s candidacy
will prevent the bus of disunity from going much farther and faster down the
road of conservative Armageddon that will herald into America’s Political
Experience, Narcissistic Culture.
With its huge Presidential Campaign
contribution chest, Republicans certainly have the wherewithal to defend their
values. Their campaign chest with the reported Koch brother’s donation of close
to 900 million, definitely, the Republican party has enough money to re-arrange
support for a capable candidate, even if only a minority as the party’s flag bearer.
The good news is that, by every lesson of history, a person, party or
institution, can move towards a better or improved stratosphere. Marco Rubio’s candidacy
can contribute more to the diversity that is currently absent in the Republican
Party. The bad news is that the diversity clock of the Republican Party has the
tendency of moving too slowly; and with too little and too late in response to
minority group’s pressure.
It is true nevertheless,
that the numbers of minorities seeking Republican Party nomination as flag bearer
are improving with the passing of time. As further evidence, the potential Republican
class of 2016 minority candidates for party’s flag bearer, may include an
African-American neurosurgeon, Bob Carson; an Indian-American governor, Bobby
Jindal; one Hispanic Senator, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and a female business
leader, Carly Fiorina. Those who wonder about the exclusion of Ted Cruz, the Senator
from Texas is Canadian-born, that disqualifies him according to US
constitution. The growing number of minorities has the potential of growing the
big tent, as the Republicans sarcastically always put it. It is no longer news
that the Party has struggled on the issue of diversity since the Civil Rights
Act of 1964. Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee opposed diversity
of their party when then Democratic President, Lyndon B. Johnson, signed the Civil
Rights Act into law. This current terrain is a hard or tough one, if you ask
Anne Romney?
We can expect that as more
minorities put themselves up to serve, each major political party will continue
to give them the opportunity. The Presidency of Barack H. Obama has brightened
the chances of others. The current spade of minorities in the Republican class
of 2016 is a new development that can broaden diversity and participation in
national elections of minorities at the Presidential level. Hopefully this will
not be an option for the Republican Party. To paraphrase Benjamin Jealous,
former President of NAACP, Republicans have to make a decision about whether
they are going to build a meaningful multiracial coalition that respect the
civil rights of people in this country or they are going to continue to play
the dog-whistle politics that has besmirched the Republican Party. Common sense
or the realities of this time say, the party may not continue to alienate
minorities by pushing archaic laws like the voter identification laws that
disproportionately impact minorities while resisting changes in immigration and
criminal justice system on the road to diversifying their party.
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