A lesson in politics we could all use

By Brian Schoeneman | Monday, September 27th, 2010 | Politics

I had the privilege of taking part in a conference call last night of the Fairfax County Republican Committee’s African-American Outreach subcommittee, of which I am a member.  My Common Sense colleague Terrence Boulden is the chairman, and we had a group of Republican and conservative activists from across the Commonwealth of the call, as well as a number of elected officials – Fairfax Supervisors Pat Herrity and John Cook as well as Dumfries Town Councilwoman Kristin Forrester.  We were also joined by a number of black Republican activists from across the Commonwealth, including Sonnie Johnson, a noted Tea Party activist who is originally from Richmond but now in Northern Virginia.

The call was a real lesson in politics for me – and for more than one reason.  I’ve honestly had few conference calls that I hung up the phone thinking I actually learned something and this was one of them.

The point of our committee and the point of the call was to help with the recruitment, participation and ultimate turnout of black Americans in the Republican Party in Fairfax.  Part of our goal after the reorganization of the Committee last May was to place renewed emphasis on attracting underrepresented communities into the FCRC and into the party as a whole in Virginia.  We’ve got a variety of outreach committees focusing on areas we want to improve, including ethnic communities, veterans, small business owners and other communities that we feel a Republican message needs to be heard.  This is a long term goal and not something that can be done in a weekend or a month, and not something that’s tied directly into the next election or even the next election cycle.

The first thing I learned on the call tonight is that some people can’t see the forest for the trees. Patrick Murray’s field director was on the call for about ten minutes before he got angry that we were still waiting for a few folks to join. And when someone asked Terrence what the goal of the call was, Terrence replied it was to help develop ideas to drive recruitment long term.  Apparently that wasn’t what the Field Director (who I don’t want to name because if I were him, I’d be embarrassed by my behavior) wanted to hear.  He huffily said he thought the call was about helping get candidates in front of ethnic audiences and then hung up on the call.

Awkward.

Not the best attitude to have, especially not in front of elected officials and guests who are giving up an hour of their time on a weekend to help us with our recruitment.  I think one of the problems we have, as Republicans – as people involved in politics in general – is that we spend too much time focusing on the next election and not enough time focusing on what we need to be doing over the long term.  Short term electoral gains seem to always trump long term development.  That’s one of the reasons why I like the Tea Party – in its best form, it forces us to stop thinking about the next election and think about the bigger picture.  And we need to do more of that.  Because the big picture is what voters seem to care about nowadays.

After Supervisor Herrity and Cook spoke, Sonnie gave the next talk, and it was eye-opening.  One of the things she focused on, and one that I agree wholeheartedly on, is that we need, as Republicans to learn the history of our own party.  Most of us know that the Republican party is the party of Lincoln, the party of abolition, and the party that saved the Union during the civil war.  But from there, our memory gets hazy until Barry Goldwater, and some don’t even remember him.  It’s as if the Republican party went from Lincoln to Reagan with no one in between.  Sonnie reminded all of us that it was the Republican party that championed the creation of the historically black colleges, like Norfolk State University.  She reminded us that Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. and most other noted black leaders in history were Republicans.  That the first three black Senators were Republicans, and the first twenty or so black Congressmen were Republicans.  And – most importantly – she didn’t characterize all of this as the “history of black Republicans.”  She made clear that this was the history of the Republican party, a party that was founded by blacks and whites and we should embrace it and tout it.

Race, she said, was something the Democrats used and we shouldn’t.  Someone on the call had mentioned the Confederate History Month issue that caused Governor McDonnell a lot of grief this year – but instead of condemning him for saying it, she criticized him for not pushing back on his critics, by highlighting the good things Republicans have done in the black community – things that most people, regardless of color, have forgotten.  She said we’re too timid when these issues come up and we shouldn’t give any ground to a Democratic party that has been using the black community for years.

I have long been a critic of Democrats who like to attack Republicans as “pandering to racists” while ignoring their own history of secession, segregation, lynching, and Jim Crow.  Hearing the same arguments from someone who has fought these fights too was heartening.

Sonnie also pointed out that Republicans have done a poor job in reaching out to the black community through the culture.  She demonstrated this by pointing out how Hip Hop is inherently a capitalist genre of music.  I thought this was a great point and it really made me think.  She said if you look at your average Hip Hop song, it’s a rapper rapping about how he’s got better skills than the next guy, how that lets him earn more money, drive a better car, take better vacations, etc – it’s inherently capitalist.  Many of these rappers started out in poor urban communities, and through hard work and skill made themselves millionaires and business owners – going from being unemployed to employing lots of people.  She said Democrats love to talk about bringing better schools to the ghetto, but they never talk about getting folks out of the ghettos so they don’t need to worry about going to bad schools.

Her fundamental point was this – the Republican philosophy of self-reliance and determination is something that has real appeal to all walks of life.  It’s that message that we need to take and we need to take it in a manner and a way that will make people want to listen.  I thought she was a great spokesperson for the party and I hope to meet her in January when we’re planning on holding a larger recruitment event.

This call really helped me put into perspective a few of the issues I have been struggling with this campaign cycle and it gave me a second wind that I needed.  I was beginning to tire of the constant campaiging, the endless talking points mindlessly being parrotted by folks on the 24 hour news channels, and the latest round of glossy campaign ads that have started hitting my mailbox (thanks for the junk mail, Gerry).  Being reminded that politics isn’t just about the next election was exactly what I needed to hear and I’m glad I had the chance of participating on that call.

I’m looking forward to our next one.

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