Republican 1st Debate is Rather Scary Print

  “BEYOND THE RHETORIC”

Harry C. Alford

 Republican 1st Debate is Rather Scary

 

 The eight presidential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 have held their first debate.  There were no bombshells dropped and they were quite cordial to each other – all eight white males.  In fact, the session was a love fest for the late Ronald Reagan.  The first two to three responses from each candidate were a tribute to the former president.  They loved him so and would do all they can to emulate his record.  The problem is this is the 21st century and there is no Soviet Union.  There is China with its out of control growth and thousands of live nuclear weapons replete with an attitude to use them if we mess with them.  They could pull one of their nuclear stealth submarines into the San Francisco Bay or Potomac River and we could not detect it until it’s too late.  They are establishing one new coal mine per week and hold 20% of our treasury notes.  We can’t tell them to consider global warming while they are our credit holders.  It’s a mess and none of the Republicans have a clue as to what we should do about our biggest threat to stability – China.  They just reminisce about Ronald Reagan and hope all bad things go away.

 They pledge to remain in the huge mess known as the Iraqi War.  We can’t win this civil war type struggle but they all want to continue to send our troops into harms way and somehow end up with a solution.  No one has a solution and that is the biggest problem.  It is Vietnam all over again and until we withdraw as we did in Vietnam there will be no end or solution.  We are prolonging a mistake.  It’s a mistake that none of these candidates want to own up to.

 Like their Democratic counterparts there was no direct mention of Africa.  It is like it doesn’t exist despite the fact that our oil supplies would crash if Africa went away.  There are money pools in Africa via the World Bank, IMF, USAID, etc.  Unfortunately, they are there to launder tax raised money into the pockets of the elite, private sector under the guise of charity and compassion.  The poor, sick and suffering remain in their state as billions are sent and then disappear.  Look at who runs these organizations – they are politically appointed unscrupulous good ‘ol boys.  Thus, they remain quiet about the issue of Africa.  This “cookie jar” is for them alone.  Damn the suffering.

 There was also some gay bashing.  Gov. Tommie Thompson says an employer has a right to fire a worker who he finds to be gay – for that cause only.  He has spent every day since trying to explain away his homophobic formal answer.

 For the first time in quite awhile, the GOP is split on abortion rights.  Giuliani, the leader, is pro-choice and a few others are soft on the issue.  How are the conservative church groups going to stomach this?  They have been fanatical about abolishing abortion and some are now breaking the ranks.  This will become extremely interesting down the way.

 They “milked” the terror issue for all it was worth.  Let’s get Bin Laden and every terrorist in the world whether they are actual Al Qaeda or wannabe’s.  This is a no brainer but each one of them acted as if they were stepping up to the plate of total courage and strength.

 Then the subject of African Americans came into play.  To my shock every response to a related question was restricted to Crime Control and Welfare.  It was like these are the only areas to discuss when it comes to race relations in the nation.  Every mention of Blacks was met with “how I can control crime” and “look what I have done to reduce welfare”.  This stereotypical and racist view of how to deal with Black America jumped right out of the television and into our faces.  There was no mention of solidarity.  What about the 75% of the Black population that is middle class?  Aren’t they concerned about taxation, health care, education, economic disparity?  Are we all criminals lying around looking for government handouts?  A stranger to this nation would have gotten that impression looking at the Republican Presidential Debate #1. 

 The GOP has a serious problem.  They are totally rudimentary about bringing in ethnics and their issues into their tent.  This whole racial animist sneaks in on the immigration issues and sticks out like a sore thumb.  Those soft on immigration are anti-European by the conservative view and those hard on it appear to be somewhat Klanist by the liberals.  It’s a very serious problem indeed.

Mr. Alford is co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc.  Website:  www.nationalbcc.org.