Op-Ed: Use These 6 Questions on Race To Educate Any Race-Baiting Leftist
Ed. Note: This Op-Ed is part of a series on how to debate leftists on various political issues. To read the introductory Op-Ed in the series, click here.
Have you run across a person in your circles, perhaps even a family member, who could normally talk with you about the weather or the landscape or food and be very pleasant, but suddenly becomes vicious when political topics are discussed?
Most often, they will start calling us names, and their number-one attack is to call us racists. How do you respond to the media hype over the “epidemic” of police officers shooting black Americans and other messages that are based on an assumption of racism?
Here is the truth: Conservatives love every person of every race. The policies that conservatives promote in America have been, are now and always will be to the great advantage of all people regardless of skin color, so we need not shrink from questions around racism but should be strong and courageous to confront them vigorously.
So now we are at step one.
We have a topic important to the leftist: racism. We are going to ask Socratic questions. These are questions, named after Socrates, that cause a person to learn. Too often, we ask questions as if we are ignorant and we set up the person we are talking with as if they are going to teach us when they actually don’t know anything.
Here is the question the leftist won’t see coming: Which minority group in America receives the most government benefits?
The answer: Native Americans. The federal government has been offering various programs to Native Americans for 200 years — free land, free food, free college.
Question: Overall, do Native Americans have a lifestyle equal to the average American? With 200 years of government programs, surely their income must be average or above, right?
Answer: No. According to 2016 Census data, the average Native American’s income is 30 percent lower than the average across all races. And that’s after you include income from casinos!
If government programs worked, surely these programs would be working for Native Americans by now, wouldn’t they? Is it possible that more programs are not the answer?
The left does not care about Native Americans. They’re only trying to buy votes. Did you know that government programs are doing the exact same thing for black Americans as they are for Native Americans?
The “Great Society” scheme was a set of government programs from the Johnson administration in the ’60s trying to help the poor, especially poor black Americans. Surely those programs would be working for black Americans by now, wouldn’t they?
Socratic Question: After more than 50 years of government programs, where do you suppose average the black American income ranks?
Answer: less than $3000 higher than the average Native American income. Is it possible that there is a better answer than government programs? The left and the Democrats don’t care about black Americans. They’re only trying to buy votes.
How would we show black Americans and Native Americans that we care about their plight?
Giving them more free stuff doesn’t work. Instead, our ideas are unleashing growth that creates good jobs and that restores dignity. President Trump’s policies of deregulation and tax cuts created a strong economy and black unemployment hit a record low. Isn’t that a better way?
Do you know what hurts black people more than anything else in America?
The most racist program ever protected by law and funded by government: Abortion. In 2014, for example, 36 percent of all abortions in the United States were committed against black babies. But black Americans are only 13 percent of the population. That disproportionate impact points to racism. We care about this. You cannot fund Planned Parenthood and claim black lives matter to you.
This is not an argument about the legality of abortion or if Roe v. Wade should be overturned; this is an argument to a pro-choice leftist that he can’t also be for taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.
Socratic Question: Do you know why Planned Parenthood was founded?
Answer: To reduce the number of black and brown children born in America. It’s true. Look it up. Look up the name Margaret Sanger. Every Democrat running for Congress supports Margaret Sanger’s racist policy of killing as many black and brown babies as possible and they don’t care.
The racist founder of Planned Parenthood has accomplished her racist goal: The black population in America would be double what it is today if it weren’t for Planned Parenthood targeting black and brown communities.
More black babies are aborted than born in New York City today. So the most dangerous place for a black person isn’t on the street of the city facing gangs, poverty or police brutality — it’s in the mother’s womb.
Sixty-one million American babies have been denied the most fundamental right protected by our Constitution: the right to life. We conservatives have better answers that show more love and compassion for all concerned. Make adoption easy.
Socratic Question: Do you know how many married couples in America are looking to adopt at this moment?
Answer: At any given time there are over 2 million American couples looking to adopt. They often adopt children from overseas because, believe it or not, it is often easier and faster.
Adoption is a true choice and better for all concerned. Every woman who has ever had an abortion remembers it, and it is often a painful memory. How much better it would be to make adoption easier so that the child lives and the couple that chooses to have a baby cares for her?
What’s important to you about this election? Let’s try another topic: gun control.
Socratic Question: Do you know who is hurt the most right now by strong gun control laws?
Answer: black communities.
Many of the cities with the highest black populations have the strongest gun control laws and the most violent crime.
We care about this. Roughly half of all homicide victims are black. Again, an impact this disproportionate points to a racist policy. Remember, only 13 percent of Americans are black, so gun control policies in these cities are racist almost by definition.
Socratic Question: Do you know who some of the first gun control laws were aimed at?
Answer: Freed black slaves.
Yep. Look it up. When the slaves were freed in the South after the Civil War, the Democrats (who were mad about losing their slaves) passed gun control laws to prevent black people from owning guns.
Socratic Question: Do you know how many times a year a law-abiding citizen uses a gun in self-defense?
Answer: About a million times.
Black or white, we believe people have a right to defend themselves. Most of the time, citizens acting in self-defense do not need to fire a shot.
But they have the right to defend themselves, whether they are black or white. Not so in many major cities controlled by the left.
We care about that. We care about every one of them. They don’t. They just want control.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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