J.C. Watts? Maybe Not So Much.....

So in my last post I jokingly alluded to the idea that, if I am hired as a volunteer to to the Republican National Convention, those in attendance might mistake me for a young aspiring J.C. Watts, a African-American former congressman from Oklahoma who rose to the number 3 spot in House of Reps when the GOP were in control. Well, come to find out Obama's candidacy is creating a crisis of conscience in some black conservatives.

Black conservative: this is a term, I am sad to admit, I have long kept in the category of oxymoron. I mean, correct me if I am wrong, but it was the ideals of conservatism, such as the exultation of the free market as the greatest force known to man and limited government, that embodied the philosophy of those who lead the Southern states to secede from the Union over slavery. I mean, I may be wrong, but wasn't that the argument? That the federal government was encroaching on the states rights to maintain a genocidal but extremely lucrative institution that, in my opinion, to this day remains America's worst and original sin.

So, if I am an educated black man or woman, what in the HELL makes me think that these same ideals are the silver bullet that will lift the black community to greater heights? I mean, is not unreasonable to question a political philosophy that lead to the enslavement and mass killing of one's ancestors and led the oppressors of that time to tear apart the fabric of their own mighty nation and kill their own brothers and sisters in defense of this philosophy. Yeah, damn right black conservatives are having a crisis of conscience when they see a liberal black man dethrone one of the most powerful political dynasties in modern politics.

So, in the fallout of this coup de grace, even J.C. Watts, former foot soldier and number three man in the Newt Gingrich revolution, has to admit that he feels torn about who to vote for this fall and agrees that the Republican party has largely ignored the issues that are of central importance to the African American (Re: inner city) community.

Change is in the wind, y'all. Change is in the wind.