Jesse Jackson: Hero

Not many free market libertarians would call Jesse Jackson a hero, but it’s time to consider that label. His impolite comments about Sen. Barak Obama are actually a cause for celebration. Sure, Jackson calls Jews “hymies,” and Obama the dreaded “n-word,” but the underlying frustration in his remarks shows that he is giving up, which is the real good news.

Jackson is, of course, the worst sort of identity politics demagogue. His constant MO is to identify a successful, highly public company and shake it down – primarily for his own benefit. By organizing a boycott against such evils as Coca Cola, he extracts a few hiring and labor concessions for African Americans, but also massive donations to his organizations. He even receives “consulting fees” from potential victims for advice on how not to have him boycott their companies. Through his shakedowns and also government support, Jackson lives a lavish life.

How does Jackson get away with this, decade after decade? His power to extort comes from the fact that the Black vote is the most reliable block for the Democratic Party. Expect 95% + of the Black vote to go Democrat in 2008. In 2004, Democrats were very troubled because only 89% of the Black vote went their way. Such unanimity is unheard of anywhere else and leads to the adage “Republicans ignore the Black vote and Democrats take it for granted.”

Since Jackson stood by the assassinated body of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the assumption was that “black leaders” spoke for this block vote. MLK and Jackson were both left wing political figures who worked for unions and Democrats (in the case of Memphis, the sanitation workers). If Jackson was pro-union, then his voting block of millions was presumed pro-union too. Since blacks vote as a block, the reasoning went, there was no need to look past the views of “black leaders.”

Times are changing, and smart politicians like Obama know it. Since Jackson became the “black leader” of the United States, private sector union membership has fallen from about 30% to 7.5% of the work force. Recent polls suggest that African Americans generally do not support the Democratic Party’s position on many social issues such as gay marriage and school choice. African Americans are more church friendly than the Democratic Party, which is seeking to ban prayers at its 2008 convention in Denver.

In other words, the Black vote is becoming more like all other demographics, a mix of issue driven votes along with some sense of identity. The same thing happened with the Irish vote and the post-Civil War White Southern vote. Eventually, a sense of identity can’t keep a voting block together when issues act as a wedge.

Obama sees this and is talking up some very un-Democratic concepts like personal responsibility. Personal responsibility is, of course, a poison to old school “black leaders” like Jackson. Someone who is responsible for himself and his family hardly needs Jackson to shake down another investment fund. A self-realized person who has built up his career is beholden to nobody, especially people like Jackson. A self-realized person might even vote for the politician that supports lower taxes, school choice, or 2nd Amendment rights.

Here is why Jackson hates Obama. Jackson sees him driving a wedge into the Black identity block. Obama, no doubt, is willing to concede a few percent of the relatively small Black voting block to gain a few percent of the larger vote by appearing modern and reasonable. Jackson calls this “acting like he’s white” and “talking down to black people,” but Obama probably calls it acting presidential.

Now for the part where Jackson is a hero, but with a twist. Jackson abdicated his “black leader” crown by wanting to castrate Obama and dropping the n-bomb. Jackson has clearly shown that he represents the narrow past while Obama is the wide open future. Jackson is a “black leader,” and a one trick pony, while Obama is a broad based politician that appeals on many levels.

No matter how bad someone is, stepping down from a position of evil power is heroic. As the dust of history settles, Pinochet will be remembered for relinquishing power to the benefit of his country, but Chavez, Mugabe, Castro, and most other dictators will be remembered for clinging to power as their countries suffered. It’s the end game that counts most.

Either Jackson is an unpolished fool or he has, albeit bitterly, given up his conceit of speaking for every African American in the US. This blog will go with the latter and congratulate the Reverend for seeing the light.