Cobb, Prince C. and others have given me a lot to think about, regarding my years-ago conversion to the Republican Party. As with any formed opinion, I’m always re-thinking and re-evaluating that decision; taking the old received facts, as well as the new ones, and determining how they fit to the previously-held opinion. Do the new facts contradict the old conclusion? If so, change the conclusion, no matter how hard it is to do so. Did I miss a pertinent part of the old facts in my evaluation? If so, alter/change the conclusion. However, if the evaluation of the old facts and the revelation of the new ones fit the old conclusion, the latter holds.
A new-to-me blogger, Prince C., a member of the Democratic Party and a black man, responds to black republican Star Parker’s missive on responsibility as such:
The real reason some blacks have moved to the GOP is because the key motivation of their political lives have become selfishness. They attempt to mask it in words like "self-reliance" and mentioning Kwanzaa during the holidays but in actuality it's nothing more than an attempt to live the rap songs their parents would not let them listen to because it was too 'ethnic'.Let’s take on the selfishness “accusation.” (Since I was born more than a decade before the advent of Kwanzaa, was an autonomous teenager when Rapper’s Delight burst upon the musical scene and since this premise intended to support the conclusion that black republicans are politically selfish is a non sequitur of the first order, I’ll let the statement stand as is.)
Prince C. is correct. One of the reasons I became a republican is because of the fact that I am quite selfish, but being selfish is not solely a characteristic of republicans, nor is it necessarily a harmful one. Likely, the author of these statements is also selfish; likely, so are most of the readers of both his blog and mine. Likely, so are most other people. One is selfish when one’s own best interest is of primary concern. One is also selfish when he/she looks out for the best interest of his/her group, whether that group be gender-, color-, ethnic-, cultural- or nationality-based, for a very simple reason.
When one works for the best interest of his/her group, it’s naturally assumed that any benefits accrued will reflect favorably on oneself (if only for the appreciation of one’s efforts). If that person’s efforts are effective, then the stated group benefits and, hopefully, so does that person.
Here’s an example of one of my selfish conservative republican views. Having been single for the past eleven years, at 42, I have been asked countless times why I don’t have children. My answer? I am not married. The long answer contains many parts: 1) when considering reproduction, a person should make all due efforts to ensure that the progeny will have two parents—a man and a woman—in the progeny’s life; 2) marriage is the best way to make sure this happens; 3) Since my divorce, I haven’t found the right man that would make me believe that this state of affairs would be so. It would not benefit me (or a child, but that's beside the point) to give birth under the present conditions. Hence, I do not have children.
Let’s take this example further. Say, I were to give credence to this biological clock nonsense, go for the gusto and produce a little mini-me, not caring whether he/she had a dad (an incredibly selfish and narcissistic act). Using a bit of inductive reasoning, what would be the long-term outcome of this decision?
It’s a Boy! Most gang-bangers, drug pushers and prisoners were born to single women; these scourges on American society—black American society in particular--also had, for the most part, little, if any, parental input from the male contributors of their DNA.
As I said, my conclusion is inductively reasoned: my little son-of-an-unmarried-mother might not be another junior-flip Crip. But why not play the favorable odds? Is it selfish if I play the favorable odds? You betcha. I will definitely benefit. Would it be selfish if the majority of black women started playing these favorable odds? Yes, indeed. Who’d benefit? The women themselves, their prospective progeny, black men, black Americans, and, yes, Americans as a whole. How? On average, children from properly nurturing homes grow up to be functioning, contributing adults, who, in turn, usually produce the same. The individual family benefits, the society in which the family lives benefits (one less mugger/rapist/murder will terrorize his own neighborhood); and all Americans benefit (less tax dollars are spent for things like, yes, welfare and prisons).
And you and I would have more money to spend on the things we want for ourselves and our families and less worry when we leave the house with said money in our pockets.
For the example, does this model work? Look around and tell me. Tell me how the converse model works also.
Both Democrats and Republicans are selfish creatures, to be sure. That’s not where they differ. Where they do differ is this: one group looks at what has worked in the past and wants to keep trying it. The other looks at what hasn’t worked in the past and wants to keep trying that.
