Posted on 11/14/2006 1:37:18 AM PST by Screaming_Gerbil
After an otherwise grim election, conservatives can exult in the improbable, landslide win of Proposition 2 banning racial and gender preferences in Michigan. A pity the Republican party cant share in the celebration.
Thats because Michigan Republicans found it more politically expedient to join Democrats and Big Business in opposition to Prop 2 than to fight for the principle of race neutrality in government admissions, hiring, and contracting. The partys reasoning? By throwing the initiative overboard, they hoped to keep minority turnout low, thus helping GOP nominee Dick DeVos in his run for governor against incumbent Jennifer Granholm.
But these oh-so-clever Republicans badly misread the electorate.
Democrats turned out in droves anyway, dealing DeVos an unexpected shellacking, 56-42 percent. But the Prop 2 result was just as unexpected. Even as they voted for a Democratic governor and statehouse, voters including waves of Democrats gave Prop 2 a staggering 58-42 win, defying all polls that had shown the initiative in a dead heat.
More impressive still, Prop 2 voters ignored a solid wall of establishment opposition that included both political parties, Big Businesses like Ford and General Motors, and every activist group from the ACLU to the NAACP. Prop 2 was outspent 4-1, raising only $1 million with Republican tree-shakers on the sidelines.
The initiatives 16-point margin eclipsed California Prop 209s 10-point margin in 1996 a similar ballot proposal that enjoyed unequivocal Republican support. Furthermore, initiative sponsor Ward Connerly and his five-person staff overcame one of the nastiest campaigns in Michigan history. Fueled by auto money, an opposition coalition called One United Michigan aired ad after ad warning that Prop 2 posed a threat to Michigan comparable to Katrina and 9/11. One United warned that the clock would be turned back on blacks and that women would lose access to health services and breast cancer research.
Just three days before the election, the opposition even garnered headlines with the libel that Connerly a black man who grew up in segregated Louisiana had accepted the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan.
But Michigan voters would have none of it. Michigan voters demonstrated that people are willing to make up their own minds no matter what the elites say, said Connerly.
The elites predictions of a post-Prop 2 disaster, by the way, are without merit. Ten years of Californias Prop 209 proves otherwise.
Minority admissions at elite schools like Berkeley are down, but their numbers across the California state system are virtually the same. Gaining acceptance by merit, minorities now graduate in higher numbers up by 50 percent in some cases, and gaining on the graduation rates of whites and Asians. By contrast, graduation rates of blacks at the University of Michigan where race still plays a large factor lag a whopping 17 percentage points behind whites.
Prop 2 opponents have ignored such results by insisting that race preferences are necessary to achieve the chimera of diversity. One Uniteds Paul Hillegonds wrote in the Detroit News: White males like my young son...need to grow up experiencing and appreciating diversity in todays global marketplace.
But the mission of universities is to graduate students, not provide wallflowers for white kids. Pushing blacks into schools where they are mismatched with their peers only feeds racial stereotyping, says UCLA scholar Rick Sander. A wide range of scholars have documented that whites tend to exclude blacks from their study groups the exact opposite of what affirmative action intended.
It wasnt just Michigan Republicans who abandoned Connerlys movement. Under the new slogan of compassionate conservatism, the national party has turned a cold shoulder to Connerly in recent years. Florida governor Jeb Bush, at the urging of his brother, ran Connerly out of that state in 2000.
But now, thanks to Connerlys persistence and the common sense of Michigan voters, race neutrality is squarely back in the national spotlight. At Prop 2s victory party Tuesday night, Connerly, 67, marveled at the crowd of young people cheering the initiatives victory. They represent a new generation that has felt the sting of discrimination at the hand of universities like Michigan.
One of those young people was Jennifer Gratz, the white 29-year old daughter of a cop who chairs Connerlys Michigan organization. Ten years ago, despite a superlative high school career and being the first member of her family to apply to college, she was rejected by U. of Michigan for less-qualified candidates because of the color of her skin.
Tuesday, she celebrated. The entire country was watching, and the people of Michigan stepped up, she exulted. Michigan is now leading a national movement we are on the brink of something big.
Principled, ambitious Republicans would do well to listen to her message.
Henry Payne is a freelance writer in Detroit, and editorial cartoonist for the Detroit News.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Jennifer Gratz
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
And end to reverse discrimination?
This is definitely something Republicans leaders should support.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Along with secureing our borders and throwing out illegals. Along with shrinking not enlarging govt. Along with standing up to and confronting radical islam. Along with partial birth abortion ban. Etc. Etc. Instead of standing for nothing.
The GOP should be the Party for individual freedom, as opposed to the collectivist thinking of the Democrats.
PETITION: Tell the House GOP to Postpone Leadership Elections!
It's Time to Demand REAL Conservative Reform!
ALERT: With Tuesday's election results in, we now have a chance to make REAL changes in the leadership of the national Republican party - changes that will bring the GOP back to its true conservative roots...
http://capwiz.com/sicminc/issues/alert/?alertid=9166446&type=TA
Seems the only thing the republican reps stood for was bringing home the pork. Spend and spend and spend, not the party I care for and I'm a lifelong repub.
Yes, Jeb Bush sort of "ran Connerly out of Florida", but he did so by pushing through the legislature the One Florida Initiative, which includes a ban on using race in college admissions.
Bingo! You put issues to a vote or to a poll, center-right/pro-freedom wins. Once you add an "R" to the picture, support drops. Republicans need to do something about their image and stop allowing the Dem/Media alliance to paint their picture.
The answer: take all your conservative freepers and friends down to the local Republican meetings and turn the local organizations conservative; all of them. Do it today.
Any bets that the Hillegonds' live in a lily-white neighborhood...?
Michigan Republicans found it more politically expedient to join Democrats and Big Business in opposition to Prop 2 than to fight for the principle of race neutrality in government admissions, hiring, and contracting. The partys reasoning? By throwing the initiative overboard, they hoped to keep minority turnout low, thus helping GOP nominee Dick DeVos in his run for governor against incumbent Jennifer Granholm... Democrats turned out in droves anyway, dealing DeVos an unexpected shellacking, 56-42 percent. But the Prop 2 result was just as unexpected. Even as they voted for a Democratic governor and statehouse, voters -- including waves of Democrats -- gave Prop 2 a staggering 58-42 win, defying all polls that had shown the initiative in a dead heat.I would think that some of this has to do with vote fraud conducted on behalf of the ticket, but not worrying about Prop 2 which was expected to win (and not "a dead heat" in polls). On the other hand, anecdotally, I've known plenty of straight-ticket Dhimmicrats who absolutely hate Republicans, but have run up against the wall of discrimination which is what race-norming, affirmative action quotas, etcetera really and truly is.
More impressive still, Prop 2 voters ignored a solid wall of establishment opposition that included both political parties, Big Businesses like Ford and General Motors, and every activist group from the ACLU to the NAACP. Prop 2 was outspent 4-1, raising only $1 million with Republican tree-shakers on the sidelines. The initiatives 16-point margin eclipsed California Prop 209s 10-point margin in 1996 -- a similar ballot proposal that enjoyed unequivocal Republican support. Furthermore, initiative sponsor Ward Connerly and his five-person staff overcame one of the nastiest campaigns in Michigan history. Fueled by auto money, an opposition coalition called One United Michigan aired ad after ad warning that Prop 2 posed a threat to Michigan "comparable to Katrina and 9/11."Yeah, y'know, because we get a lot of hurricanes in Michigan.
One United warned that the clock would be turned back on blacks and that women would lose access to health services and breast cancer research. Just three days before the election, the opposition even garnered headlines with the libel that Connerly -- a black man who grew up in segregated Louisiana -- had accepted the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan. But Michigan voters would have none of it. "Michigan voters demonstrated that people are willing to make up their own minds no matter what the elites say," said Connerly.It'll be nice in 2008 to have this behind us, and to still have Ward Connerly on the side of the people, rather than on the side of the self-appointed elite limo-libs and single party state advocates.
The elites predictions of a post-Prop 2 disaster, by the way, are without merit. Ten years of Californias Prop 209 proves otherwise. Minority admissions at elite schools like Berkeley are down, but their numbers across the California state system are virtually the same. Gaining acceptance by merit, minorities now graduate in higher numbers -- up by 50 percent in some cases, and gaining on the graduation rates of whites and Asians. By contrast, graduation rates of blacks at the University of Michigan -- where race still plays a large factor -- lag a whopping 17 percentage points behind whites.What a huge surprise, huh? People admitted to college based on merit wind up doing better in college? I guess you know what that means -- further screwing up the public school system to ensure "equality". Maybe we need to appoint a Handicapper General as a last resort.
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