Steve Bannon Speaks At "Black Americans For A Better Future Summit"

[King Kreole]

I've seen a lot of people in here question the rationale of strategically withholding your vote because it would empower the racist Republican Party, and I don't think y'all understand how politics works.

1. The idea isn't even to necessarily vote for Republicans, it's to threaten the Democratic Party to take it's most loyal and valuable coalition sub-group seriously by flexing our large political muscle. Right now, that muscle is atrophying because people believe they have no choice but to blindly vote Democrat, and if you even question that, you get severe blowback from the leadership of the party (via the black PMC) currently enjoying their free votes.

2. Taking it as a given that the Republican ideology is currently more harmful to the black community than the Democrat ideology, that is not a permanent status quo. Politics is malleable. Just as we all know the idiotic right-wing line of "Lincoln was a Republican! Strom Thurmond was a Democrat!" is disingenuous, as would be the line that "Republicans will always be racist!". Constituencies have changed, can change, and will change. But they require a reason to do so. Republicans have no reason to alter their ideology to include pro-black policies because they know they have no chance of winning the black vote. If you take a portion of the black vote from Democrats and offer it to Republicans in exchange for concessions to the black community, I believe they will almost assuredly take that offer. They know their white identity coalition sub-group is demographically dying, which is why the have to resort to voter suppression tactics in order to stay alive. But that takes a lot of effort and is not a sustainable tactic. They are seeking an out, which is why we saw such a heavy pro-Hispanic effort by Republicans pre-Trump. Which goes to show that just about every other coalition sub-group understands how politics works, except the black coalition. Twism was right when he mentioned the Dems threatening to shut down the government over DACA. When have they ever done that over an issue pertinent to the black community? We have been taken for granted, and we will continue to be taken for granted unless we give the Party we put into power a reason to take us seriously, which won't happen unless we threaten to use our votes strategically. We don't necessarily have to buy Republican, we just have to go window shopping. You have to bargain to get the best deal. Instead, we've chosen to give someone an open checkbook and question why we're paying more for less.

3. I expect this to get me bushed again, so see everyone in a month!

 

[DEAD7]

I've seen a lot of people in here question the rationale of strategically withholding your vote because it would empower the racist Republican Party, and I don't think y'all understand how politics works.

1. The idea isn't even to necessarily vote for Republicans, it's to threaten the Democratic Party to take it's most loyal and valuable coalition sub-group seriously by flexing our large political muscle. Right now, that muscle is atrophying because people believe they have no choice but to blindly vote Democrat, and if you even question that, you get severe blowback from the leadership of the party (via the black PMC) currently enjoying their free votes.

2. Taking it as a given that the Republican ideology is currently more harmful to the black community than the Democrat ideology, that is not a permanent status quo. Politics is malleable. Just as we all know the idiotic right-wing line of "Lincoln was a Republican! Strom Thurmond was a Democrat!" is disingenuous, as would be the line that "Republicans will always be racist!". Constituencies have changed, can change, and will change. But they require a reason to do so. Republicans have no reason to alter their ideology to include pro-black policies because they know they have no chance of winning the black vote. If you take a portion of the black vote from Democrats and offer it to Republicans in exchange for concessions to the black community, I believe they will almost assuredly take that offer. They know their white identity coalition sub-group is demographically dying, which is why the have to resort to voter suppression tactics in order to stay alive. But that takes a lot of effort and is not a sustainable tactic. They are seeking an out, which is why we saw such a heavy pro-Hispanic effort by Republicans pre-Trump. Which goes to show that just about every other coalition sub-group understands how politics works, except the black coalition. Twism was right when he mentioned the Dems threatening to shut down the government over DACA. When have they ever done that over an issue pertinent to the black community? We have been taken for granted, and we will continue to be taken for granted unless we give the Party we put into power a reason to take us seriously, which won't happen unless we threaten to use our votes strategically. We don't necessarily have to buy Republican, we just have to go window shopping. You have to bargain to get the best deal. Instead, we've chosen to give someone an open checkbook and question why we're paying more for less.

3. I expect this to get me bushed again, so see everyone in a month!

#factsonly

 

[Eddy Gordo]

I've seen a lot of people in here question the rationale of strategically withholding your vote because it would empower the racist Republican Party, and I don't think y'all understand how politics works.

1. The idea isn't even to necessarily vote for Republicans, it's to threaten the Democratic Party to take it's most loyal and valuable coalition sub-group seriously by flexing our large political muscle. Right now, that muscle is atrophying because people believe they have no choice but to blindly vote Democrat, and if you even question that, you get severe blowback from the leadership of the party (via the black PMC) currently enjoying their free votes.

2. Taking it as a given that the Republican ideology is currently more harmful to the black community than the Democrat ideology, that is not a permanent status quo. Politics is malleable. Just as we all know the idiotic right-wing line of "Lincoln was a Republican! Strom Thurmond was a Democrat!" is disingenuous, as would be the line that "Republicans will always be racist!". Constituencies have changed, can change, and will change. But they require a reason to do so. Republicans have no reason to alter their ideology to include pro-black policies because they know they have no chance of winning the black vote. If you take a portion of the black vote from Democrats and offer it to Republicans in exchange for concessions to the black community, I believe they will almost assuredly take that offer. They know their white identity coalition sub-group is demographically dying, which is why the have to resort to voter suppression tactics in order to stay alive. But that takes a lot of effort and is not a sustainable tactic. They are seeking an out, which is why we saw such a heavy pro-Hispanic effort by Republicans pre-Trump. Which goes to show that just about every other coalition sub-group understands how politics works, except the black coalition. Twism was right when he mentioned the Dems threatening to shut down the government over DACA. When have they ever done that over an issue pertinent to the black community? We have been taken for granted, and we will continue to be taken for granted unless we give the Party we put into power a reason to take us seriously, which won't happen unless we threaten to use our votes strategically. We don't necessarily have to buy Republican, we just have to go window shopping. You have to bargain to get the best deal. Instead, we've chosen to give someone an open checkbook and question why we're paying more for less.

3. I expect this to get me bushed again, so see everyone in a month!

So I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked Dead7. Let's say black folks turn around and vote Republican en masse. Democrats lose the election. What's to stop stop Democrats from being like well We will just go harder for the Hispanic vote. They on the come up.

Attempting reverse psychology is not the answer to this problem.

 

[King Kreole]

So I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked Dead7. Let's say black folks turn around and vote Republican en masse. Democrats lose the election. What's to stop stop Democrats from being like well We will just go harder for the Hispanic vote. They on the come up.

Attempting reverse psychology is not the answer to this problem.

IIRC the Hispanic population is growing at a larger clip than any other racial group, which is why you see both parties (pre-Trump) trying to pivot to them. So that hypothetical situation you describe is already happening. But a fundamental factor in that calculus is black voters not utilizing their political leverage and continuing to show unconditional support of the Democratic Party. Republicans (correctly) figure the black vote is totally out of play because of this, and Democrats (correctly) figure that they can afford to prioritize other constituencies over the black constituency because of this. But Hispanics alone cannot deliver the White House (yet), so if Democrats are forced to choose/prioritize between their Hispanics coalition sub-group and their Black coalition sub-group, they'll choose the latter (for now).

Again, the idea isn't to just vote Republican for no reason, the idea is to shop your vote around. I would only advocate black folks voting for Republicans en masse if we were able to extract pro-black policy concessions from them. A Democratic Party without its black base will never win another election (until Hispanic population reaches a certain number, which it's on its way to reaching), and would be forced to truly compete to win back their black base. Politics is a voters marketplace, you drive up the value of your product/vote by shopping it around. No other group is voting for one party as dominantly as the black vote goes to the Democrats. For those numbers, we better be first in fukking line. It's not reverse psychology, it's not some trick, it's negotiating 101.

Timing is especially critical here, because the Hispanic share of the population is only going to get larger as time goes on, reducing the political leverage of the black vote.

 

[Berniewood Hogan]

My answer is and has always been to shrink/weaken the state.

Which would leave businesses in charge more than they already are. Businesses that have no incentive to do anything for black people.

 

[Eddy Gordo]

I would only advocate black folks voting for Republicans en masse if we were able to extract pro-black policy concessions from them. /QUOTE]
And how would this occur?

 

[King Kreole]

...the same way it occurs for every other demographic? The same way we did it in the 1960s? You build a political machine, gather the votes from your community, approach party leadership/decision makers, and negotiate. You can start at the local level, move to the state level, then move to the federal level. Crucially, you keep up pressure throughout their term and let them know your vote is not guaranteed next election so they don't become complacent. You move in political circles and make deals. There's a whole industry built on doing this, and there are many storied black organizations that are supposed to be doing this (Look at how the NAACP basically won Doug Jones the vote in Alabama). The problem is most are now firmly ensconced within the Democratic Party and are filled with the black PMC who will trade complacency for personal exposure/benefit.

 

[CEO of Morgan Industries]

...the same way it occurs for every other demographic? The same way we did it in the 1960s? You build a political machine, gather the votes from your community, approach party leadership/decision makers, and negotiate. You can start at the local level, move to the state level, then move to the federal level. Crucially, you keep up pressure throughout their term and let them know your vote is not guaranteed next election so they don't become complacent. You move in political circles and make deals. There's a whole industry built on doing this, and there are many storied black organizations that are supposed to be doing this (Look at how the NAACP basically won Doug Jones the vote in Alabama). The problem is most are now firmly ensconced within the Democratic Party and are filled with the black PMC who will trade complacency for personal exposure/benefit.

This is a perfectly rational argument, but we don't live in a rational society.

The GOP's base is irrational about race, so they - and thus, their representatives - won't accept a rational approach to negotiating here. We already know that white people will vote to hurt themselves financially or even socially as long as it means that they're hurting black people worse.

When you consider that the GOP itself is irrational, you realize that treating them as rational actors can never work.

I argue that instead, black people should not stop at voting for Democrats, but that we should flood local elections by putting up black candidates and falling in line behind them so that we get local power in some of these places where we live and work. We also need organizations to do more to a) get the vote out and b) hold our representatives to their promises to us. White evangelical churches are great at doing this on the other side. The black church needs to get its congregations to the polls, and church leaders need to make sure that Democratic pols answer to them as strictly as white evangelical church leaders do to Republicans.

Democrats are more rational than Republicans are, so you can work to change that party from the inside, but it can't stop at voting.

 

[StatUS]

There probably was a chance for black people to hijack the GOP around 2011-2012 when it was weak and not as insane but to what end?

They're not gonna support criminal justice reform or social issues that benefit blacks because the donor class and to a much lesser extent their base won't turn out for them anymore.

Economically there will always be arguments about what works for us, it's all currently neo-liberalism no matter where you look right now. So are you "split the vote" people assuming that the GOP won't be using blacks like you say the Democrats are?

Never made sense to me and I know some black Repubs trying to play that type of long game but I just don't see it. The only upside I see is that both parties are probably going to die off in the next 10-15 years anyway.

 

[King Kreole]

This is a perfectly rational argument, but we don't live in a rational society.

The GOP's base is irrational about race, so they - and thus, their representatives - won't accept a rational approach to negotiating here. We already know that white people will vote to hurt themselves financially or even socially as long as it means that they're hurting black people worse.

When you consider that the GOP itself is irrational, you realize that treating them as rational actors can never work.

I argue that instead, black people should not stop at voting for Democrats, but that we should flood local elections by putting up black candidates and falling in line behind them so that we get local power in some of these places where we live and work. We also need organizations to do more to a) get the vote out and b) hold our representatives to their promises to us. White evangelical churches are great at doing this on the other side. The black church needs to get its congregations to the polls, and church leaders need to make sure that Democratic pols answer to them as strictly as white evangelical church leaders do to Republicans.

Democrats are more rational than Republicans are, so you can work to change that party from the inside, but it can't stop at voting.

Good post. If the Democratic party can be forced to change from the inside and take black concerns seriously, I'd be all for it.

 

[DEAD7]

Which would leave businesses in charge more than they already are. Businesses that have no incentive to do anything for black people.

 

[Berniewood Hogan]

 

[88m3]

Good post. If the Democratic party can be forced to change from the inside and take black concerns seriously, I'd be all for it.

Why do you feel they're not taking black concerns seriously?

 

[Gains]

And conservatives have made very little attempt at earning the black vote.

they've been more busy suppressing votes

 

[Eddy Gordo]

...the same way it occurs for every other demographic? The same way we did it in the 1960s? You build a political machine, gather the votes from your community, approach party leadership/decision makers, and negotiate. You can start at the local level, move to the state level, then move to the federal level. Crucially, you keep up pressure throughout their term and let them know your vote is not guaranteed next election so they don't become complacent. You move in political circles and make deals. There's a whole industry built on doing this, and there are many storied black organizations that are supposed to be doing this (Look at how the NAACP basically won Doug Jones the vote in Alabama). The problem is most are now firmly ensconced within the Democratic Party and are filled with the black PMC who will trade complacency for personal exposure/benefit.

So you honestly believe conservatives would risk losing the white Republican/ evangelical vote by courting black interests.

Why would they risk losing more votes than they stand to gain?