“When I hear someone say something along the lines of ‘why do we have to be talking about race? Why can’t we just be people and let that stuff alone’, I hear someone who hasn’t had the occasion to think hard about how the past effects the present.”

Tea parties. Conservative backlash to Obama’s policies, a most peculiar institution. I didn’t vote for the president. Truthfully, voting seems a charade. Back to tea parties. They are a suspected as the new neo-conservative delivery vehicle. Mostly White; overwhelmingly Christian in a political sense; uninterested in urban America.

Lower taxes- amen! Less government? amen again! Individual rights? Three for three! Liberalism means limitation for urban communities: more money on the EBT card passes for urban Democratic strategy. Still, can a tea party movement moving against this president serve my interests?

Not likely.

It’s a worthwhile reminder to the GOP that even though this particular health care reform deal might be dead, that doesn’t mean that health care reform should not take place. Like M. Scott, I fear that Brown’s victory might be misinterpeted as a way to just support the status quo.

That said, I’ve also been wondering if there is a reason that Republicans have not always been so passionate on health care reform as Democrats. I have a theory that one of the reasons Republicans have been active in trying to defeat health care is not simply because they are mean-spirited people as some on the left might think, but because they know there is nothing in it for them- no incentive to work for change. This is what Mark Thompson over at the League of Ordinary Gentlemen has to say about how the GOP views health care in response to fellow Leaguer Jamelle:

Despite the rapid response of millions who possess different political viewpoints, the myth of the liberal monopoly on compassion remains embedded in our society.

The blog Republicans United has a great piece out on Gun legislation and the Republican Party. The article lays out some good ideas that the Party can utilize with regards reducing crime.

I have known the Bush family for more than two decades and make a point to continue to stay in touch with the family. I was fortunate enough to be asked to chair the former president’s campaign in St. Louis back in 1988. I will always cherish and be grateful to the Bush family for giving a recent college graduate such a prominent position in a presidential campaign. The Bush family is one of the most decent families you will ever meet.

When people think of South Carolina, they think of . . . I know, Comedy Central. Given the state’s generosity in providing punch lines, Jon Stewart really ought to consider taking a pay cut. What people do not typically think of is black Republicans, a perception that could change soon if a young man named Marvin Rogers has his way.

Racism is not the the sole domain of Republicans, Conservatives or Southerners. Not all racists pepper their conversation with the N-word or secretly desire the extermination of black and brown people. Racism is complex, multi-layered, and deeply rooted in the American story. Name calling is not helpful in uprooting racism, but neither is a false sense of moral superiority.

” The issue here is not race, it is civility!” This is not to say that we are suddenly racially pure, but constantly talking and reducing everything to black versus white is not helpful to the cause of restoring civility to our public dialogue.

Imagine a team of Urban Republicans from around The Nation: from the Bronx, Harlem, Los Angeles and Detroit coming together offering up strategies and suggestions for wining the hearts and minds of urban and minority voters. Once the Taskforce gets the results in, it could send the results over to Michael Steele. Michael Steele, in working with the RNC, could create an Urban Republican Website which would come up with practical solutions on a host of Urban Topics.

by Martin Rybicki
Republicanism has in many ways been the necessary push and power of American progress. In contrast to the Democratic party which was split on the idea of slavery and secession, it was the Republican party that came about to fight for the basic rights of an entire people along with the idea that America was to be a united country. Under the Republican banner, the country got through probably the most tumultuous times it has ever been through and emerged as a nation ready take the world stage. Throughout its first half-century, Republicanism more often than not embraced …

by Dorian Davis 
I know some Republicans are inclined to reach out more to minorities in the wake of Gallup’s new poll showing the GOP with a higher percentage of white people (89!) than a Hannah Montana concert. I’ve come up with Plan B.
Despite our election of an African-American, Michael Steele, to the Republican National Committee chairmanship last January, conservatives have been lacking in our outreach to blacks and other minorities. Besides his participation in Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union panel in February, Steele’s “off the hook” outreach to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings” is still in the nascent phase, and …

By De’Von Weatherspoon
If there is one show that I would recommend people to watch it would be Degrassi: The Next Generation. This is a show that attempts to show the trials and tribulations of the modern teenager and of the modern family, and in its attempts the show succeeds. You may ask why on earth I would bring up a show geared towards teenager and young adults, but I have good reason. Ultimately the GOP must attract the young if it wants to succeed in the future.
At the moment, the GOP does not need to change at all, it doesn’t …