The Hard Truth – Democrats ‘take a dive!’
31st October 2011 · 0 Comments
By J. Kojo Livingston
Contributing Columnist
I guess you have to know the game to see what really transpired.
What happened last Saturday should be obvious, but nobody is supposed to “out” the naked emperor; party loyalty and such.
In boxing it’s called “throwing in the towel” at best and “taking a dive” at worst. The former relates to giving up before the end of the fight because you lack the heart or skill…or both. The latter describes a person who goes into the fight with the intention of losing but agrees to make it look good.
Democrats across the state should be nauseated by last Saturday’s elections (or lack thereof) and at the weak, craven posture their party has assumed in recent years. They have always bailed on Black candidates at all levels. They won’t give serious support to any candidate who is Black at the local, parish, state or national level. That’s just the inherent racism of the party.
But now the party who, on record, has 49 percent of the state’s voters can’t even put up a respectable fight for white candidates. They wait until July to try to find a candidate to run in September of the same year for the state’s highest office.
In war, someone high up would be accused of espionage. In business, folks would be looking for the sellout in their camp. If this were not Louisiana politics, someone other than me would be inquiring about that strange, foul odor surrounding the Demos’ behavior in the recent elections.
Yes, the national climate has become more openly racist and hostile since the election of Barack Obama. Yes, the conservative media figures who are owned by Wall Street have successfully presented themselves as fighting for the “little man.” Yes there is an angry and irrational mindset that is prevalent among many whites, but that’s why you have political parties. They are supposed to fight to promote their values and vision for society even when it’s not popular. Everything the Rabid Right has done can be countered with a bold, intelligent, intensive, initiative that shines the light on their deceptions, which are many and points toward real solutions.
When Piyush “Bobby” Jindal was elected four years ago the search for a viable candidate should have begun the next morning. “Oppositional research” (digging up dirt) should have started the following week. By last year the Demos should have been highlighting the failures of the administration and taking their case to the people. He blew a billion-dollar surplus. He has put all levels of public education on the “endangered species list,” he has refused money that could help the state because it came from a Democratic president. He wastes $75,000 each week taking a helicopter to campaign stops disguised as non-partisan speaking engagements. He has been declared the least transparent Governor in the USA, and one of the worst governors, based on his policy of selling seats on boards and commissions.
He should be exposed and in jail, but the Democrats in the House and Senate are too busy voting with him on destructive policies that they later gripe about. Then the same folks fight to get in photos with a man who is tearing our communities apart.
Face it: Louisiana Demos play to lose.
Black people need our own party. We comprise about one-third of the voters in Louisiana. If we formed our own political party with our own agenda, we could impact any election in this state and alter policies that are antithetical to our survival and success. We should focus less on getting Black faces into a white-controlled system and more on gaining control of the resources in our own communities. Once we have organized our wealth and numbers we will be in a position to stand and present our agenda to anyone in any office and get the results we need.
And we ought to do this soon, because if our only political friends are some scary, inept Democrats then we are up that creek, the name of which cannot be mentioned in a family publication…
…and that’s the Hard Truth!
This article was originally published in the October 31, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
