So apparently, a lot of Republicans are all fired up over the fact that activists are using the Michael Brown incident as an opportunity register folks to vote.
As reported in Huffington Post. . .
Activists set up voter registration tables near a makeshift memorial for Brown and the QuikTrip convenience store that has become a gathering base for protesters. The efforts were organized by local clergy with the help of the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
Missouri Republican Party executive director Matt Wills called the actions “disgusting” and told Breitbart News the activists are “fanning the political flames.”
The truth is, these guys are pissed off because once again, Republicans have missed an opportunity to constructively engage with minority voters.
This is why guys like Sharpton and Jackson continue to control the narrative on race.
Quite frankly, I think it makes complete sense to set up voter registration booths in these areas. If you believe that voting can make a difference, then what better time to register folks than after this kind of tragedy?
Instead of bitching and moaning, perhaps some republican heavyweights should set up their own booths. Although that probably wouldn’t amount to much as many republicans continue to reinforce the belief that the GOP is primarily for privileged white people. Of course, such a thing isn’t true, but neither is the illusion that Democrats have the cure for what ails unrepresented black folks.
Freedom for All
Forget the republicans and forget the democrats. If any group should be registering people to vote in Ferguson, it should be libertarians. I can think of no better ally for minorities than libertarians.
Nick Gillespie over at Reason published a great piece on this in 2013, writing. . .
At least two of the libertarian movement’s signature causes, school choice and drug legalization, are aimed at creating a better life for poor people, who disproportionately are also minorities. The primary goal of school choice — a movement essentially born out of a 1955 essay about vouchers by libertarian and Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman — is to give lower-income Americans better educational options. Friedman also persuasively argued that the drug war concentrates violence and law enforcement abuses in poor neighborhoods.
Libertarians believe that economic deregulation helps the poor because it ultimately reduces costs and barriers to start new businesses. The leading libertarian public-interest law firm, the Institute for Justice, which has argued Supreme Court cases for free speech and against eminent-domain abuse, got its start defending African American hair-braiders in Washington from licensing laws that shut down home businesses.
I was once told by a very liberal democrat that libertarians don’t care about liberty and freedom for black people. To which I responded, you’re right. Libertarians care about liberty and freedom for all people.
I don’t believe libertarians are afraid to discuss race, but I do believe that libertarians would prefer to discuss personal and economic freedom, which would transcend race if it truly existed for all. But it doesn’t. And that’s the message that should be diffused in Ferguson.
More empty rhetoric from Al Sharpton will not save black people in Ferguson from racism, poverty and acts of violence. How that guy still has even a shred of credibility left is beyond me. But the libertarian alternative can serve as a catalyst for economic and personal freedom within the black community. It can enable the development of safer communities and more opportunities for quality education, job training and business development.
Generally speaking, I don’t believe that democrats and republicans have any desire to champion and fight for the principles of individual liberty and personal responsibility, which maintain the foundation for a just society. And if that’s the case, clearly the two-party system is failing all of us – particularly minorities.
So yes, now is a great time to register Ferguson citizens to vote. It’s not an act that should be criticized. I’d just prefer that those doing the registering were more concerned with peace, liberty and freedom instead of seeking out more black pawns for a sick and twisted game of chess that never seems to end.
