Rand Paul at Howard University

Rand Paul has decided to take the bull by the horns and go out to the black community.  About effin' time as far as I am concerned.  The GOP must do this.  Yes, it will be painful.  Yes, it will be for only a few votes.  Yes, they will be uncomfortable.  But, it still must be done.  We cannot continue to ignore 12% of our population and expect to win national elections.  

Did he do a perfect job?  No.  He made some mistakes, but overall he did a good job.  Now, I wouldn't have gone into the history of civil rights and the republican party, nobody really cares today that once upon a time that people such as Marting Luther King was a republican.  I also don't buy into the meme that most blacks don't understand that history.  They feel that the republican party is now racist.  Granted, that is something that they are conditioned to believe from childhood, but they have access to the same history books that we do.  

He also missed some opportunities.  The most important coming in the Q&A section.  One young man asked about government staying out of your life.  He didn't do enough to explain the difference between limited government and no government. Precious few believe in "no government".  

For those who call this pandering, grow up.  He promised them nothing, except the promise of what a limited government can do improve their lives.  School vouchers is a big issue within the black community and it is something that we need to hit hard in order to get them to see that we are indeed on their side.  

This was a small, but important step.  

GOP Outreach Project - Fairfax County, Virginia

I am huge believer in outreach and my regular readers know that I have a soft spot for helping the homeless.  The homeless is a very misunderstood population.  What you see hanging out on the street corner begging for change is only part of the story.  I am very happy to see the GOP trying to help the more invisible part of this population.

Did you know that a majority of Fairfax residents who are homeless are also employed? Increasing the minimum wage may seem like an easy fix, but it can feed inflation and rarely lifts people out of poverty. This week, we will announce our April Sponsoring the American Dream project which will focus on sponsoring those in our community who need a hand up.http://tinyurl.com/SponsorTheDream

So How Did That Racist Ronald Reagan Treat the Black Community? - Some Facts of How Blacks Fared Under President Reagan

African-American columnist Joseph Perkins took a look how Blacks fared under the Reagan administration and found that “on balance, the majority of Black Americans made considerable progress in the 1980s.” Among the facts he listed include:

• Total Black business receipts increased from $12.4 billion in 1982 to $18.1 billion in 1987, translating into an annual average growth rate of 7.9 percent (compared to 5 percent for all U.S. businesses.
• Upwardly mobile cohort grew by a third under Reagan’s watch, from 3.6 million in 1980 to 4.8 million in 1988.
• the middle class constituted more than 40 percent of Black households by the end of Reagan’s presidency
• Between 1982 and 1988, total Black employment increased by 2 million, a staggering sum. That meant that Blacks gained 15 percent of the new jobs created during that span, while accounting for only 11 percent of the working-age population.
• The Black jobless rate was cut by almost half between 1982 and 1988. Over the same span, the Black employment rate – the percentage of working-age persons holding jobs – increased to record levels, from 49 percent to 56 percent.
• The number of Black professionals increased by an astounding 63 percent.
• Black college enrollment increased by 100,000 between 1980 and 1987
• The 1980s saw an improvement in the Black high school graduation rate, as the proportion of Blacks 18 to 24 years old earning high school diplomas increased from 69.7 percent in 1980 to 76 percent by 1987.
Not that this will stop the left from calling the right racists, but the facts need to get out there.  

These are the type of things we need to work on getting out to minority communities.  This is not pandering, but explain how our policies and belief systems benefit them.  The changing demographics in our country say that we need to do more outreach to the black and latino communities.  

H/T African American Conservatives.