Will Blacks lose political influence?

[QUENTIN]

Blacks as a voting block squandored their influence whey the continually backed one party over the other. If they played the parties off each other, they would be able to get much more of their agenda.

This is mostly true. Blacks have little political influence because their vote is so reliable and therefore "cheap" in terms of political capital, concessions, and policy promises, to acquire.

The group that gets catered to the most is so-called "moderates" and "undecided" voters because their vote is not guaranteed unless they're promised what they want and then see some actual results in office. You have to assign a cost and condition to your vote or candidates can basically ignore your desires. This isn't just true of blacks though, but any committed Democrat or Republican who continually and consistently votes party line. The religious right, Mountain conservatives, Coastal liberals, union members, and the like have relatively little genuine political influence as well. Most will vote for whoever "their" party's candidate is nearly regardless of policies and promises simply because they've aligned themselves and figure "at least it's better than the other guy." The only determining factor there is how much a candidate is able to rally a base, not whether they'll get that base's collective vote.

The problem goes the other way too though. Black Americans as a group are almost uniformly Democrats, but Republican candidates almost uniformly offer nothing to appeal to black voters. Ultimately the outcome of much of the foundation of Republican party doctrine and agenda is disproportionately disadvantageous to black people. It's not that Democrats offer the voting block much, just that they'll reliably do less harm to the group than Republicans. Republicans also do next to nothing to court the black vote despite agreement on many "family values" issues which tend to be the core of their campaigns. Black voters have written off the Republican party and the Republican party has written off black voters, equally.

One thing I find absolutely hilarious though that's widespread among racists, covert racists, and the simply stupid, is the idea that a demographic that votes as a Democratic block and has for the last 47 years, who voted overwhelmingly for Johnson, McGovern, Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, and Kerry voted for Obama "just because he's black" not because he's the candidate of the party they always voted for even when it was until this election a white candidate. Seriously funny.

 

[B. Kidd]

Blacks as a voting block squandored their influence whey the continually backed one party over the other. If they played the parties off each other, they would be able to get much more of their agenda.

Excellent point.
Maybe they'll grasp this, say, in another 125 years.

 

[GHook93]

I see lots of discussion here on race in America, particularly of black and white relations.
With the 2010 census data now released and African Americans/Blacks clearly losing population as the largest "minority" in our country...will they as a people lose their political power and influence to other minority groups such as Hispanics and Asians?
What will the future hold as political parties begin to "cater" to larger and growing minority groups?

They already have but for a different reason, THEIR VOTE ISN'T IN PLAY. Whites vote for both R & D, same with Asians and Latinos (remember McCain still got 40% of the Latino vote in a VERY Democrat year)!

The Republicans stopped trying to win the black vote, because no matter what they say, do and what their track record says, blacks just check D!
The Democrats don't work for the Black vote because they take it for granted. They have no fear of losing the black vote, that they do nothing to appease them.

Therefore both parties go after the minority that is in play. The Latinos. That is why Democrats have been selling the country out to the illegal immigration lobby for decades!

 

[QUENTIN]

The Republicans stopped trying to win the black vote, because no matter what they say, do and what their track record says, blacks just check D!

Be honest, Republicans haven't stopped trying to win the black vote - they never tried in the first place which is precisely why they don't vote for them. Beyond not trying to win the black vote, the RNC and party have actively worked to discourage the black vote (that's their track record you speak of) via the Southern strategy employed since the 60's in national elections (which Chairman of the RNC Lee Atwater admitted to and Chairman of the RNC Ken Mehlman actually apologized for) of appealing to racism, tirelessly working to thwart legislation that disproportionately benefits black Americans and pass legislation that disproportionately harms them, and constant efforts to disenfranchise black voters like the debacle in 2000 that denied thousands of eligible black voters their right to vote, targeting and defunding ACORN over conspiratorial nonsense, and on and on.

It's not like the Republican party is making valiant efforts and simply failing to get through to black voters, they're actively alienating them. It's no mystery which the voting block votes the way it does. It's perfectly logical and in accordance with people generally voting for their best interests.

 

[ClosedCaption]

The problem goes the other way too though. Black Americans as a group are almost uniformly Democrats, but Republican candidates almost uniformly offer nothing to appeal to black voters. Ultimately the outcome of much of the foundation of Republican party doctrine and agenda is disproportionately disadvantageous to black people. It's not that Democrats offer the voting block much, just that they'll reliably do less harm to the group than Republicans. Republicans also do next to nothing to court the black vote despite agreement on many "family values" issues which tend to be the core of their campaigns. Black voters have written off the Republican party and the Republican party has written off black voters, equally.

Thanks for that, many seem to believe that blacks just vote for dems as a part of the black DNA. They never consider WHY blacks vote that way, they just condemn them for doing it and never ask

 

[mudwhistle]

Blacks as a voting block squandored their influence whey the continually backed one party over the other. If they played the parties off each other, they would be able to get much more of their agenda.

This is mostly true. Blacks have little political influence because their vote is so reliable and therefore "cheap" in terms of political capital, concessions, and policy promises, to acquire.

The group that gets catered to the most is so-called "moderates" and "undecided" voters because their vote is not guaranteed unless they're promised what they want and then see some actual results in office. You have to assign a cost and condition to your vote or candidates can basically ignore your desires. This isn't just true of blacks though, but any committed Democrat or Republican who continually and consistently votes party line. The religious right, Mountain conservatives, Coastal liberals, union members, and the like have relatively little genuine political influence as well. Most will vote for whoever "their" party's candidate is nearly regardless of policies and promises simply because they've aligned themselves and figure "at least it's better than the other guy." The only determining factor there is how much a candidate is able to rally a base, not whether they'll get that base's collective vote.

The problem goes the other way too though. Black Americans as a group are almost uniformly Democrats, but Republican candidates almost uniformly offer nothing to appeal to black voters. Ultimately the outcome of much of the foundation of Republican party doctrine and agenda is disproportionately disadvantageous to black people. It's not that Democrats offer the voting block much, just that they'll reliably do less harm to the group than Republicans. Republicans also do next to nothing to court the black vote despite agreement on many "family values" issues which tend to be the core of their campaigns. Black voters have written off the Republican party and the Republican party has written off black voters, equally.

One thing I find absolutely hilarious though that's widespread among racists, covert racists, and the simply stupid, is the idea that a demographic that votes as a Democratic block and has for the last 47 years, who voted overwhelmingly for Johnson, McGovern, Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, and Kerry voted for Obama "just because he's black" not because he's the candidate of the party they always voted for even when it was until this election a white candidate. Seriously funny.

Why try to change their minds?

They think all Repugs are racists so what's the point?

 

[Tank]

Hispanics don't feel sorry for blacks and don't have the agenda of teaching blacks how to be more human like whites do, Hispanics hate blacks and have no problem expressing it. As America becomes more Hispanic, blacks will be driven out and the population of blacks will be the same as in any other Latin country, 0%.