Ryan Streeter
I missed this piece of Walter's at the American Interest over the weekend but noticed that the WSJ picked it up today. Reacting to the latest Census data, Walter writes:
The failure of blue social policy to create an environment which works for Blacks is the most devastating possible indictment of the 20th century liberal enterprise in the United States. Helping Blacks achieve the kind of equality and opportunity long denied them was more than one of many justifications for blue social policy: it was the defining moral task that has challenged and shaped American liberalism for the last fifty years.
He then talks about political implications:
Most Blacks of course still vote blue at the ballot box, but more and more of them are voting red with their feet. They are betting in massive numbers that southern Republicans will do a better job of helping their kids get good educations, police their communities more fairly..., offer more affordable housing and create a better business climate. Over time, this is going to affect the balance of power in Black politics and pull the Democratic Party (and the national consensus) to the right.
This may be right, but I'm not so sure. While red states have benefiited a lot from migration over the past decade, some have remarked that blue zones within the red states are where the growth action is (think Austin, Texas).
While I think the jury is still out on the political effects of all this migration, I think Walter's point has merit. But I would also say that whether African Americans start trending right in their politics will have a lot moreto do with (1) the GOP putting forward a vision of society that appeals to them and (2) how well the GOP does elevating new African American leadership within its ranks. While we're making some progress on this front (Tim Scott introduced the corporate tax reform bill today, for example), the GOP is still way behind where it should be in this regard.
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