Five Reasons Why 'Civil-rights Republicanism' is a Bust

Christopher Chantrill

Here’s the latest effort to get Republicans to reach out to African Americans: Civil-Rights Republicanism by Theodore R. Johnson, published in NATIONAL REVIEW. Oh dear, where to begin? I know, let’s just rehearse all the arguments about why this just can’t work.

Typical Americans. The Republican Party is the party of voters that think of themselves as typical Americans. Think Trump voters. Who are the Trumpies? The pundits would really like to know. The answer is that they are the people left over after you have subtracted all the hyphenated Americans and hived them off to the Democratic Party. The brutal fact is that African Americans, more than any group, do not think of themselves as typical Americans; they experience themselves as a group apart from mainstream America. That’s why you don’t see African Americans hiking on trails out in the wilderness here in Washington State although you will see plenty of East and South Asians……… To Read More