GOP Can’t Write Off the Black Community
Polls show that at least 80% of African-Americans disapprove of the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, leading some conservatives to give up ever making significant progress in the left-leaning black community.
But skeptics should recognize that as recently as the presidency of George W. Bush, Republicans did much better with African-American voters than they have recently. While Bush still lost the black vote badly, he got 11% of it in 2004, compared to Mitt Romney’s 6%. This is not a trivial difference: if Romney had gotten the same percentage as Bush, he would have come 1.6 million votes closer to catching Obama.
Surely, this sort of performance shouldn’t be out of reach for future GOP nominees, especially with Barack Obama no longer on the ballot.
Good News on Race Differences
The media continue to stress glaring inequalities between blacks and whites but on the most important measure of them all, African-Americans have made spectacular progress. New numbers on life expectancy from the National Center for Health Statistics showed far more rapid improvement for blacks than for the white population.
Blacks now average 75.1 years of life, and whites 78.9 years—the lowest gap ever, at 3.8 years. This compares to a 12 year difference when government first collected data in 1930, and blacks could expect only 48 years of life!
Amazingly, Hispanics show top life expectancy for any major ethnic group—living two years longer than the white average. Many experts explain the discrepancy with reference to the strong ties of extended family in the Latino community—a powerful factor that overcomes the lower wealth and education than white Americans.
Who Would Celebrate a “Royal Abortion”?
Moral equivalence is an article of faith for activists of the secular left, with their insistence that a baby is no better than an abortion, or that traditional marriage is no more consequential than a same sex union.
Fortunately, the worldwide euphoria over Britain’s “Royal Baby” powerfully undermines such claims. Would anyone think to celebrate a “royal abortion”? Or would any same sex union of future royals produce the same powerful emotions as the wedding of Will and Kate? The royal family’s life cycle events touch us deeply because they seem timeless and natural, connecting the present to both past and future.
All people would love to share some of the blessings of her Majesty, the Queen – living to see a great-grandson that’s her own flesh and blood, ready to carry on family traditions.