So here is my advice to blacks: dump the Democratic Party; stop relying on the government for handouts, welfare, affirmative action, etc. Become a Republican. I would prefer it if you became Libertarian, but one step at a time.

Once you discard your reliance on government to solve your problems, then you too will become wealthier and happier. What happened to blacks in America, happened to blacks in Africa. Africa was once the bread basket of the world, now it's a basket case precisely because it took handouts from the "Developed" nations. See For Gods Sake - Stop Helping Africa.

Contrary to Liberal expectations (but not mine), the War on Poverty only made things worse ², it discouraged blacks from obtaining education and job skills. Today, after almost 45 years of supposedly helping the poor, more children (17.4%) in America live below the poverty line than in 1969 (14%). That's right, Liberals have kept blacks in poverty for the past two generations. If President Johnson had only minded his own business, the economy would have been much better today than it is; blacks would have been encouraged to get a good education; certainly ACORN would not have existed: all of us, black, white, whatever, would be better off today.

Here's an amazing statistic: in 1964 90% of poor blacks agreed with the sentiment that "no weakness or difficulty can hold us back if we have enough will power" and almost as many agreed that "if one tries hard enough one will succeed" ³. With more than a million blacks in prison, I doubt that 90% of poor blacks believe anything anymore of the American dream. To put that one million in perspective: in the year 2000, there were nearly a third more African American men in prison and jail than in universities or colleges ⁴.

It is time for blacks to shed the chains of Liberalism. It is time for blacks to stop being slaves to the government teat.

Notes

(1):

Pew Research Center, Are We Happy Yet?

... remember grandma's aphorism about money not buying happiness? Well, brace yourself, but dear ole grandma may have been misinformed. Our survey shows that nearly half (49%) of those with an annual family income of more than $100,000 say they're very happy. By contrast, just 24% of those with an annual family income of less than $30,000 say they're very happy.

...

Some 45% of all Republicans report being very happy, compared with just 30% of Democrats and 29% of independents. This finding has also been around a long time; Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the General Social Survey began taking its measurements in 1972. Pew surveys since 1991 also show a partisan gap on happiness; the current 16 percentage point gap is among the largest in Pew surveys, rivaled only by a 17 point gap in February 2003.

Download the complete report [PDF]

(2):

Wiki, War on Poverty

William L. Anderson, who teaches economics at Frostburg State University, wrote an opinion column explaining why he believes the war on poverty has caused more harm than good. To show his point, he compared two poor immigrant families to each other. According to Anderson, one family lived in a very small apartment. The parents obtained entry level jobs, and were eventually able to afford a larger apartment. A few years later, they had purchased their own home, and were now middle class. The other family started collecting welfare and food stamps, and living in Section 8 housing. Several years later, they were still dependent on those government programs, and had done nothing to improve their circumstances. Anderson concludes "... the Great Society programs... actually made things much worse."

(3):

Google Books, The Democracy SourceBook pg 474

(4):

B-Net, 26 Sep 2002, Study compares number of Blacks in prisons, higher education

The study, titled "Cellblocks or Classrooms? The Funding of Higher Education and Corrections and Its Impact on African-American Men," was conducted by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI).

According to the study, between 1985 and 2000, the increase in state spending on corrections was nearly double that of the increase to higher education ($20 billion versus $10.7 billion), and the total increase in spending on higher education by states was 24 percent, compared with 166 percent for corrections. The study also reports that in 2000, there were an estimated 791,600 African American men in prison and jail, and 603,000 in higher education.

"This report underlines the sad reality that the nation's colleges and universities have lost budget battles to the growing prison system," says Vincent Schiraldi, JPI president and report co-author. "With harder economic times ahead, we need to find a way to responsibly reduce this country's reliance on expensive prisons so that we don't bankrupt our institutions of higher learning."