by Herman Cain
For nearly every citizen, attainment of a quality education is an absolute minimum requirement for success in life, whether you measure success by economic status or virtually any other standard. Yet, after forty years of desegregated schools and the guarantees written in the Civil Rights Act, some Blacks still lag behind Whites in measures of educational and economic achievement.
Let's be clear about the reference to statistics here and throughout this book. Statistics represent a static aggregate measurement. They represent a reference point from which to develop concepts, policies, and practices intended to move the "epicenter" toward improvement.
No one doubts that academic achievement is a prerequisite for achieving economic freedom. In fact, I believe that if Dr. King were alive today, his focus would be on encouraging Blacks to close the academic achievement gap with Whites as a precursor to achieving economic success. Closing the academic achievement gap and achieving economic freedom, though, cannot be done with more federal government social and tax policies that discourage self-reliance and redistribute wealth to minority communities.
Black families must bear more of the burden for encouraging their children to achieve academic success. There are too many negative influences and peer pressures today among Blacks associated with academic achievement. Too many Blacks, however, will not admit that there is a problem. In March 2004, Dr. Bill Cosby, the well-known actor and comedian, stunned and angered the NAACP when he stated in an address to that organization,
Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids--$500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for "Hooked on Phonics." They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: "Why you ain't," "Where you is . . . ." And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. . . . Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. . . . You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!
The truth sometimes hurts. In this case some people were offended. That's too bad! Bill Cosby had the personal podium of his success to "tell it like it is," and I am glad he did.
One of the strongest aspects of President Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation is that it places a greater emphasis on achievement at the early stages of education. What it does not emphasize, however, is greater parental involvement. When the president, every elected official, and every teacher discuss NCLB, they should mention the necessity of parental involvement in the education of children. Although not practical for the title of an initiative, No Child Left Behind with Parental Involvement would stress the point.
I do agree with those who argue that evaluating all schools based on one testing score is the wrong approach for finding whether or not a school is passing or failing. There are too many different dynamics between schools that play a role in determining academic achievement. The biggest complaint, however, among teachers and administrators I meet is that many children do not come to school anxious and eager to learn. These children are not encouraged to learn at home, so they do not see education as the means to success later in life.
In addition to encouraging a greater level of parental involvement in education, we must move beyond politics and rhetoric and teach our children, as well as many adults, the facts of our economic system. I call it elementary economics. Too many of our citizens are uninformed about the negative effects of the onerous tax code, about who actually pays taxes in our country, and about the dynamics involved in job creation.
The blame partially falls on liberal politicians who for many decades have misled citizens about the facts of basic economics while promoting a political structure based on jealousy and class warfare. The blame also falls on our educational system for failing to teach the basic dynamics of our market-based economic system, and on the apathetic percentage of the public that appears content to allow the government to tax them when they are not looking and then accuses the so-called "rich" for causing their economic situation.
Liberal politicians have also misled people about who actually pays most of the taxes in this country. One of their favorite promises is to provide a tax cut for the middle class. I have a breaking announcement--There is no middle class!
The statistics in the chart above show that 20 percent of income earners in the nation pay nearly 80 percent of all income taxes. Where is this middle class the Democrats keep talking about? Yet we never hear an end to the liberal chorus that cuts in the tax rates are "tax cuts for the rich." Liberals believe that the amount of control they can exert over your life is directly related to the amount of taxes they can take from your paycheck.
A favorite tactic of liberals is to instill among the bottom 80 percent of wage earners who only pay 20 percent of all income taxes the belief that tax cuts are only going to the rich. Who is this "rich" 20 percent who shoulder the majority of the tax burden? The top 20 percent of income earners are those who have average yearly earnings of just over $180,000. The top 40 percent of income earners have average yearly earnings of just over $75,000. Many of these "rich" people are small business owners who employ the majority of other wage earners in our country. Most of them would laugh at you if you called them "rich."
Virtually every decision individuals and businesses make about their futures is in some way related to the amount of money they have to spend. The more of your own money you get to keep determines the amount of control exerted over you by the federal government. The less control the federal government has over your life, the closer you are to achieving economic freedom.
It is no wonder, then, why the facts about the tax code and who actually pays taxes in our country are obscured and manipulated by politicians whose political futures depend on control of the economy and the process of taxation.
Just as the so-called Black leaders have instilled the groupthink mentality into a large percentage of the Black population, liberal leaders in Congress have attempted to instill a class warfare mentality in all citizens at the lowest levels of educational and economic achievement. The result is that instead of blaming Congress for enacting wrongheaded policies that discourage achievement, many of the uneducated and poor blame the rich for causing their lack of success.
The only way liberalism can survive as a viable policy alternative for the Democratic Party is if the citizens of this country continue to view themselves as members of downtrodden groups whose only hope for survival is more assistance from the federal government. The great irony, of course, is that liberal policies cause people to view themselves as members of groups and create the barriers that discourage educational attainment and economic freedom! The proponents of liberalism know this, but they hope a lot of people will never figure it out.
The good news is that a lot of people have figured it out. Conservatives know that the real path to success lies in the combination of education, individual initiative, and a federal government that is in the business of removing barriers to success.
Abraham Lincoln said, "You don't help the poor by hurting the rich." I might add that you help the poor by helping everybody.
It's Time to Wake Up!
I believe that the three great divides--the party divide, the racial divide, and the economic divide--polarize our nation. The liberal political ideology seeks to enact policies that divide us and attempts to control all aspects of society and all facets of our lives. If you think that sounds a lot like the tried-and-failed government systems of socialism and communism, you are correct.
The liberal, socialist ideology cannot exist among a society educated on the detrimental facts of liberal policies and the dynamics of elementary economics. That is why liberal politicians seek to herd the public into groups and pit those groups against each other, as if as citizens of the United States we do not all share the dream of educational and economic success. Liberal politicians do not share your dreams of success beca
use your success and the success of your children and grandchildren spell the end to their reign of power over your life.
Many citizens have come to believe that as Americans they do not have to shoulder the responsibilities of individual achievement and participation in the political arena. For too many years, liberals have usurped our individual responsibilities and made our most important decisions for us. By ceding responsibility, however, we have paid a price, and that price is the erosion of our freedoms.
As citizens of this great nation, we can no longer allow the federal government to treat Blacks and other minority groups as mere members of groups and to constantly erect barriers to individual achievement. God did not create each of us in His image so we could lead lives of constant leisure as a group, riddled with a "blame-everyone-else" attitude for our circumstances. Every individual citizen possesses within the potential for individual attainment of success. It is up to us to reclaim our government and the decision-making processes that affect nearly every aspect of our lives.
The party divide will be closed when the public ends its apathy toward the activities in the political arena, educates itself on the facts of our biggest economic and social issues, and works to elect political leaders who share these beliefs. Only then will our political leaders and political candidates stop talking down to the public with sound-bite rhetoric and start speaking in facts.
The racial divide will be closed when individual Blacks realize that their success and the future success of their children depend on individual achievement in the education and economic arenas. Only then will Blacks be able to throw off the shackles of groupthink imposed on them by their own so-called Black leaders.
The economic divide will be closed with education and when parents take a greater interest and role in the education of their children. We must create a culture that makes academic achievement and excellence possible for all of our children. Nearly every child has the ability to learn and turn his or her education into a successful career.
Wake up, America! For the sake of our country, our government, and our children's and grandchildren's future.
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SUMMARY FOR CHAPTER 2
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Politically Homeless
Labels and Empty Rhetoric
• The politically homeless are voters frustrated with their favorite political party or discouraged by what they see as "politics as usual." Some of the politically homeless choose to stay with their party out of a sense of principle or tradition, but they do not actively identify with the party.
• A key contributor to political homelessness is the confusion caused, often intentionally, by the seemingly never-ending barrage of labels, phrases, and made-for-television sound bites we hear every day from our elected officials.
The Great Divides
• The polarizing labels and phrases used by our political leaders and elected officials have created three profound divisions throughout our country. I call these the party divide, the racial divide, and the economic divide.
• The party divide is represented by the extreme partisanship that exists between Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C. and throughout our country.
• The second great divide in our country is the racial divide. Race is often abused by candidates and so-called Black leaders to keep voters neatly on their respective plantations.
• The third great divide in our country is the economic divide. Economics starts with education. The long struggle to achieve equal opportunities for success in nearly all facets of our society has resulted in great progress for all citizens.
It's Time to Wake Up!
• The party divide will be closed when the public ends its apathy toward the activities in the political arena, educates itself on the facts of our biggest economic and social issues, and works to elect political leaders who share these beliefs.
• The racial divide will be closed when individual Blacks are able to throw off the shackles of groupthink imposed on them by their so-called Black leaders.
• The economic divide will be closed with education and when parents take a greater interest and role in the education of their children.
Chapter Three
Voters Are Not as Dumb as Democrats Think
Many of the politically homeless found temporary shelter in the Republican Party on election day in 2004 when they cast their votes in support of the conservative policy agenda. Conservative Democrats, conservative Christians, members of other religious, racial, and ethnic backgrounds, and millions across the entire nation who have never before registered or voted cast their ballots for Republican candidates who promise to continue to prosecute the global war on terrorism, pursue aggressive policy solutions to our biggest economic issues, and escalate the battle to protect our nation's moral foundations. The Democratic Party, for many decades the political home for a majority of Americans, is now a party in search of a voice to define its message and direct its future.
History Is Not on the Democrats' Side
Even though Democrats claim to be the party that champions civil rights, history and the facts are not on their side. The Democratic Party formed the Ku Klux Klan in the 1800s to terrorize and lynch Blacks who dared register to vote or vote for Republican candidates. Democrats have successfully co-opted credit for passing landmark civil rights legislation because President Lyndon Johnson signed two major acts into law. A closer look at the facts, however, reveals that historically members of the Democratic Party have served as a barrier to providing equal opportunities for all citizens.
All of the landmark legislation detailed in the following table was accomplished under Republican presidents with Republican congressional leadership, except for the two acts actually signed by President Lyndon Johnson. Even then, it was the Republicans in Congress that pushed for passage and voted for the legislation at a higher percentage than the congressional Democrats. In every case, Democrats fought the hardest to deny the civil rights of the voters they now take for granted.
After signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, President Lyndon Johnson congratulated congressional Republicans for their overwhelming support. It was Illinois Republican senator Everett Dirksen who gathered support in the U.S. Senate to block the Democrats' months-long filibuster against the act. In response to a question regarding the reasons for his dedication to civil rights legislation, Senator Dirksen stated, "I am involved in mankind, and whatever the skin, we are all included in mankind."
Following passage of the 1964 act, NAACP chairman Roy Wilkins awarded Senator Dirksen the Leadership Conference of Civil Rights Award for the senator's "remarkable civil rights leadership."
The previous timeline illustrates that history is clearly on the side of the Republicans. Republican presidents, senators, and representatives are responsible for enacting the most important pieces of civil rights legislation in our nation's history.
President George W. Bush made history in the 2004 presidential race by receiving the most votes ever cast for a presidential candidate. Bush also increased his electoral vote count from the 2000 election, from 271 to 286 electoral votes. Not since President Reagan's 1984 victory, which set the record for most electoral votes won in a presidential election, has a candidate won such a clear majority of the states in the South and the West.
The 2004 elections were significant for a number of reasons. First, the majority of voters stated that they based their presidential vote on moral issues, which include opposition to same-sex marriage initiatives and partial-birth abortion and support for confirmation of conservative federal judges. The issue most political pundits assumed would be paramount in people's minds when they cast their vote, the global war on terrorism, was cited by voters as the third most important factor.
Second, President Bush received a majority of the vote among Catholic and Protestant voters and increased his percentage of support among a number of other demographic groups,
including members of racial minorities and voters who live in urban areas (see following table).
Third, the U.S. electorate sent to Congress a "working majority" of Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate. Republicans increased their U.S. Senate majority to fifty-five with a new class that will advocate common sense, conservative solutions to our big economic and social issues, and they picked up new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans will now hold a record eighteen of the twenty-two U.S. Senate seats located in the eleven states of the "Old Confederacy." The margin of President Bush's victory, coupled with larger Republican congressional majorities, gives Republicans a clear opportunity to advocate and enact conservative, common sense solutions to our biggest issues.
Most political commentators predicted that the 2004 presidential election results would be as close as or closer than the results in 2000, and that again we would not have a decided president for months. Instead, voters turned out in record numbers across the nation to signal their intention that President Bush and the Republicans most represent their political values and ideologies. Why were Democratic candidates for federal office rebuked by the voters to such a degree, especially in an election that was supposed to be a referendum on the war on terror and a supposed weak economy?
