Leonard Pitts, Jr. The Miami Herald

June 27, 2012

Leonard Pitts, Jr.
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, FL 33132-1693

RE: “What Romney should say to the NAACP convention” – A comment or two on your column in today’s Miami Herald.

Mr. Pitts,

The Dream Team, the Dream Act, and now the Dream Speech, a speech that you would like to hear candidate Romney give to the NAACP.

3 things:

#1 – “Under the failed ‘War on Drugs’, young men from your communities have been incarcerated at rates that are a national scandal.”

May I ask, and by so doing still avoid the Scarlet R so quickly given to those who dissent from settled wisdom, if these young men are incarcerated because of the law or because they broke the law?

#2 – “In this very day we see members of my party seeking to gut the Voting Rights Act and are questioning the legality of the Civil Rights Act.”

It is a dirty little secret, a secret propelled down the memory hole of “eclectic indignation” at a speed equal to the Pioneer space probe that if it weren’t for Republican votes neither of those bills would have become law.

Senator Russell [D-GA], Senator Stennis [D- MS], and Senator Ervin [D-NC] had many things in common. Chief among them was the life long fight to keep Black kids from going to school with White kids.

Senator Russell has the Senate office building named after him. Senator Stennis has an aircraft carrier [CVN74] named after him. Senator Ervin, a man known for his collection of lawn jockeys, earned a perpetual indulgence from the modern American Liberals who dispense such things because of his successful pursuit of the hated Nixon.

Let me add the name of Senator J. William Fullbright [D-AR] to the list. He had an intern named William Jefferson Blyth Clinton from Hot Springs working in his state office. It is known if Handsome Billy began his up close and personal training to become the first Black President during his time with this racist Senator.

None of these men – Democrats all – ever saw a civil rights bill they could vote for. Never.

#3 – “In 1994, when Jeb Bush was running for Governor, someone asked him what he would do for black voters if elected. ‘Probably nothing,’ he said.”

What should he have said or done?

Should he have pardoned all Black prisoners convicted of drug crimes?

Should he have prevented the Navy from berthing the Stennis at any Florida port?

Should he have told any Senate candidates that unless they swore to forgo residence in the Russell building he would oppose them?

The political conundrum of the civil rights program is that, like the horizon, it is unreachable. Rights are not given by governments. They are ours, “from beyond the stars”. I add with the obligatory caveat that while the American Constitution is not perfect it is still the envy of the world. Its genius is its 2 part division. The first part spells out precisely what government can do. The second part spells out precisely what government cannot do.

Constitutions routinely call for equal protection under the law.

If Governor Bush “did” something for Black voters which group of non-Black voters would he have to do something to? Life, we are told, is a Zero Sum game. Modern American Liberals insist that the proper role of government is to cut the static pie “fairly”, with “fairly” never being defined save by the word “more”.

Candidate Obama told us that he wants to “spread the wealth around”.

It is devoutly to be wished that Governor Romney would include in his speech the following comments.

“It is agonizingly self-evident that President Obama has no idea, none whatsoever, of how to “create” wealth The idea that it becomes exponentially easier to spread something around that is increasing in volume is alien to him. I may borrow from him the idea of selectively enforcing laws or making them up on a du jour basis. I will immediately suspend the minimum wage laws for urban areas where the teenage rate of unemployment is double the national average. If a group of people is unemployable at $10 an hour why will they become more valuable to a prospective employer if their starting mandatory wage is $15 an hour? Further, I will sign an Executive Order in the limo back to the White House suspending the Davis-Bacon Act. It was/is the most anti-Black Federal legislation passed in the 20th century. It was the spawn of Southern Democrats in an unholy alliance with Northern Republicans. Its birth was mid-wifed by FDR.”

“Should voting be easier than picking up a package at the Post Office? Should voting be easier than getting some gin or cigarettes? Should voting be easier than giving blood? Should voting be easier than getting into a Federal building? Should voting be easier than getting married? Should voting be easier than cashing a check? Should voting be easier than getting admitted to a hospital? If you or any non-White group had invited me to lunch I would have insisted on you keeping your knives and forks, plastic or sterling, even though you had to show a photo ID to get in.”

“The Democratic Party, by its pandering to its special interest groups, is judged on its intentions. Never on results. Results don’t count. We have been officially fighting poverty for 48 years. The battlefield is littered with casualties. What it is not filled with are victories. If we use 1964 as a starting point every single measurable economic statistic is worse, particularly for people at this convention. This time we have a different set of rules. President Obama said in 2009 that if hadn’t done his job by 2012 he should be a one term President. I would like you to help me help him keep his word.”

As we enter the 3rd Summer of Recovery let me say, Thank You, and

God Bless America!




Kevin Smith