Now, more than ever, African-American voters across the country are declaring their “independence” from the Democrat and Republican parties.
Political registration figures reveal that the fastest growing group of newly registered voters have registered as having “No Party Affiliation.”
Well, we are always late in everything political.
Non-black voters have always been independent. For instance, white Democrats have no problems voting for white Republicans. If they did have a problem, there wouldn’t be a Republican in any elected office in most states in the Union because there are more registered Democrats than registered Republicans.
White, Hispanic and most other ethnic voting groups are somewhat evenly divided, with members of their groups in a variety of political parties.
Historically, most African Americans tend to vote primarily Democrat. Even if a Democrat klansman ran against a Republican radical or activist, most black voters would still vote Democrat.
But those days are dwindling, if they are not already over.
Today, there are two new generations of black voters. One group of voters chooses whom to vote for on an individual basis. They think political parties don’t deserve respect, that individual political candidates do. Another group of black voters shuns all candidates, regardless of party, and votes only for candidates whom they know or candidates who are in line with their particular political philosophies and political needs.
This rise in independent voters has resulted in many non-traditional parties, such as the Libertarian Party and the Green Party. Some would argue that so-called tea party members and
followers are independent because they vote for or against candidates of all political persuasions.
Of all of the independent factions in America, independent black voters are the most dangerous politically because whatever candidate gets most of the black vote has a good chance of winning. Blacks, more often than not, vote in blocs and usually give 80 or 90 percent of their votes cast to one candidate in each race.
How does all of this newly found political independence affect black candidates? One glaring result is that candidates need to do more than just say, “I’m a Democrat.”
Black candidates cannot expect to turn out large numbers of black voters by identifying themselves as mere puppets of the Democrat Party or the Republican Party.
Yes, non-black consultants hired by blacks are correct in saying that some black candidates will get a meager percentage of votes cast by frequent voters but they are dead wrong when they suggest that any black candidate will get the black voter support that President Barack Obama got from African-American voters.
Also, independent black voters do not get their mailboxes flooded with false promises sent by Democrat or Republican candidates via direct mail efforts.
If black candidates don’t realize that more and more blacks are registering as “No Party Affiliation” and that these newly independent registered black voters can’t vote in states that have partisan primaries, those black candidates might just taste the agony of political defeat.
If black candidates insist on having a milk sugar campaign message that doesn’t address the issues and political needs of black voters, they may not generate sufficient black voter support.
And if black candidates fail to utilize the political resources, skills and talent of brothers and sisters in America’s black communities, they will forever be tricked into defeat by modern-day political carpetbaggers who come into ghettos and barrios to steal all of the political money they can and then run away back to the suburbs.
One day, independent voters will revolt. I think they will rise up when they realize that, in some states, they are victims of taxation without representation.
The Democrat and Republican elected officials have conspired to prevent independent registered voters from voting in elections when all candidates for office are members of the Democrat or Republican parties and the winner of the partisan primary is awarded a political position after the primary election.
Perhaps some voters registered as Independents don’t want to vote for Democrats or Republicans anyway.
Lucius Gantt is a consultant based in Tallahassee and author of the book Beast Too: Dead Man Writing. He may be reached at allworldconsultants.net, where you can also like The Gantt Report Facebook page.
Photo: Lucius Gantt
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