tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091078896160115890.post3083895132727705211..comments2024-03-08T00:43:43.916-08:00Comments on Redeye's Front Page: Standing for Truth, Justice and the American WayRedeyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726342951810334788noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091078896160115890.post-22710000399166393452010-11-08T18:17:04.111-08:002010-11-08T18:17:04.111-08:00Thank you bluebearcat! I couldn't have said i...Thank you bluebearcat! I couldn't have said it better myself. <br /><br />So racism is dead, but, in your book, blacks are too dumb to make electoral decisions for themselves. (0.00 / 0) <br />Sorry friend, but I have to strongly disagree with you. I have worked on the only campaign that I'm aware of in modern Alabama history where a minority Democratic candidate won in a majority white district. A week ago - once you had the higher turnout of a general election - he got voted out because he was perceived to be, in the words of one constituent I ran into on election day, "just another Democrat n*****."<br /><br />I think that we need non-partisan commissions in charge of redistricting, but I also think that it's important to ensure some minority representation. It's possible to achieve both and it's possible to do it while utilizing data driven redistricting instead of the horse-trading that goes on today.<br /><br />Lots of white Democrats want to put an end to minority-majority districts because "cracking" the black vote in our state's urban areas would theoretically throw a lot more Democratic votes into suburban districts that are currently not competitive. There might be circumstances where that's appropriate but I don't believe that it's fair to African-Americans to leave Alabama with a greatly reduced number of African-American leaders in the legislature.<br /><br />It's also incredibly lazy for progressives to complain about groups like the ADC and New South being the reason for Artur Davis' loss in the governor's race. Barack Obama overcame the opposition of the ADC to win a supermajority of Alabama's black vote. There was nothing preventing Artur Davis from doing the same thing.<br /><br />Black voters, like any other voters, want engagement from their political candidates. Part of the problem with a lot of white progressives that I have known is that they tend to perceive black voters as a massive bloc that does whatever Joe Reed tells them to do. Nothing could be further from the truth. Like every other community, there are internal divisions and local concerns that drive their voting behavior, especially in primaries. Unlike white Alabamians, black voters tend to make their general election decisions based on economic concerns rather than whatever the wedge issue of the day is. Usually, black voters don't vote for Republicans because a) they don't trust the Republicans to govern in an economically fair manner and b) because Republicans don't ask for their vote.<br /><br />This is why you can have a rather wide disparity in record and views within the black caucus. You can have consistent progressive champions like Sen. Hank Sanders who has been perhaps the only consistent voice of economic liberalism in the Alabama Senate for a while alongside relatively conservative Senators like James Gordon. <br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />http://www.leftinalabama.com/diary/7295/three-states-passed-redistricting-reform-on-nov-2-whats-the-future-of-gerrymanderingRedeyehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16726342951810334788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091078896160115890.post-68948131576774025982010-11-08T18:13:37.743-08:002010-11-08T18:13:37.743-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Redeyehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16726342951810334788noreply@blogger.com