Another Excerpt from My New Book

Here is another expert from my book, "The Education of a Black Conservative." This is the opening of the book. I would love to hear your thoughts! I have to emphasize that this is a ROUGH draft!

I am a black man. I am a young black man. I am a young black man who grew up poor and who is a college professor—a professor of music, at that. I am a conservatory-trained composer and music theorist who has an apolitical mother and a father who leans so far left, he probably thinks Keith Olberman is a “card-caring member” of the “vast right-wing conspiracy.” Based on this quick description of my background, it is understandable how one usually becomes mystified when they discover I am a staunch conservative and a member of the Republican Party. If you sit back and think for a second, how could a young, black, academician, black, musician, black male side with the right?

I attended this one-man play based on the poetry of e. e. cummings at this charming little theatre in west Tennessee. After the play the actor, Anthony Zerbe, spoke candidly to the audience and expressed an idea that I found intriguing. He said people who are different just to be different are arrogant, but people who are different because they are trying to find their own way are noble. I have been called arrogant at times; whether it's true or not, I do not know. I certainly did not feel that if I were unlike most people with similar backgrounds, it was a result of me being different just to be different. In fact, at that moment in that quaint theatre, it did dawn on me that from a very young age I was, in good faith, trying to search for answers on my own—trying to find my own way. That behavior molded who I am today, leading me to have strong beliefs that typically are not aligned with my particular demographic, but a belief system that is grounded in deep conservative ideals.

The simple answer to the wonder of my political leanings is that whether the issue is taxes, abortion, foreign relations, or the economy, the conservative perspective just makes sense; it’s more logical. The key is one cannot merely stop with the emotional side of the issue. It may be difficult and uncomfortable but one has to go farther in the debate. I discovered that the liberal perspective of an issue often sounded better on the surface, but the conservative point of view needed proper explaining, and once one perhaps understood all aspects of the debate, at least for me, the conservative angle was just plain right. For example, it sounds good to say we should drastically raise minimum wage. But, when one thinks of all the repercussions—such as, small businesses having to hire less people; resulting in higher unemployment; resulting in more people dependent on government aid; resulting in higher taxes; resulting in more layoffs—raising the minimum wage all of a sudden becomes a bigger issue that is at least worth thinking about rather than the ubiquitous “selfish” and/or “greedy" label generously given to the average conservative by the self-righteous liberal.

Another case in point. It is easy for some one to say we should immediately withdraw troops from Iraq. Again, here is a liberal perspective that sounds very good on the surface; yet, when one actually thinks of all that would result from immediate withdrawal, the issue becomes much more complicated. For instance, immediately ending the Iraq war would likely have a dramatic increase on sectarian violence due to the instability Iraq's very new democratic government. This would most likely result in the vulnerable new democratic government being overthrown by rebels. Those rebels would have a leader that would emerge amongst them producing a dictator perhaps with terrorist or anti-American ties. That leader would try to harm the United States and we would be over in that region again because the job was not completed the first time. The reality is that we would all love for the troops to come home from war or for the minimum wage to substantially increase. It is not that simple.

President Barak Obama in part won his election to the presidency of the United States by eloquently including strong emotional appeals in his rhetoric. We heard, then Senator Obama, say many times on the campaign trail that he would immediately withdraw troops and within a year to eighteen months have all of the troops out of Iraq. Most Americans had become very tired of the war and many believed that the war was unnecessary in the first place. (a debate we can have later) But even he, the smartest man who ever graced the earth, once in the Oval Office and once taking a time to completely think about the issue (and not to be flip, but access to some intelligence), certain blunt claims that were emotionally stated became more difficult to implement. We did see an immediate withdraw but we are not seeing it as fast as be promised us. And, we will be leaving one of the would biggest United States Embassies behind.

Although I feel I have lead an interesting and unique life, I do not have the “audacity” to write my complete memoirs. I am only twenty-eight. On the other hand, I have to include parts of my story throughout this book to…

(C) Shawn E. Okpebholo 2009. Yellow Einstein Press

Sample Expert from My New Book

Here is a very ROUGH sample excerpt from my new book.

Chapter Title: Democrats Have Made Blacks Poorer, Dumber and Lazier

Enjoy!

It was the Democrat-arranged marriage between the economic programs of the 1930s and the reemergence of social reforms of the 1960s that have kept blacks poorer, dumber, and lazier—all in the name social and racial justice. This dependency on the federal government diminished African-American’s drive to work hard. In addition, it advanced the idea that blacks are entitled to basic needs while simultaneously curbing the virtue of personal responsibility, and it fostered the lack of ambition deeply embedded in the culture of poor black Americans.

This was clearly evident with the poor black Americans of New Orleans as we witnessed much of the result of almost eight decades of endless money and social programs and its effect as they experienced the devastating hurricane. After the calamity know as Katrina, it was revealed that the primary tragedy was not George Bush and the federal government’s disastrous response to the hurricane, but the reality that New Orleans was the quintessential welfare state. Consequently, the poorer citizens were not able, did not know how, and in some cases lacked the desire to handle the situation on their own. Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, in response to the politicization of the Katrina predicament wrote:

“And now New Orleans. Here in its spectacular glory is the magnificent result of 70 years of the welfare state – of the federal “war on poverty.” Tens of thousands of people lacking sufficient money to enable them to escape oncoming disaster for just a few days – dependent on the federal government for their salvation – desperately waiting for federal officials to deliver food and water to them – and to pick them up and deliver them to government-run refugee centers around the nation. In other words, the 70-year-old New Deal–Great Society “war on poverty” has left tens of thousands of people destitute (or dead) in New Orleans and looking to the federal government for their salvation.”

In my chapter on federalism, I will address the Katrina catastrophe in more detail; however, I will use the Katrina model to prove the point that the democrat’s “war on poverty” was actually a quite successful war on poor black Americans and like other wars in recent times, there was no exit strategy.

The Gingrich-Clinton Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (also known as Welfare Reform) ...much more later!

COPYRIGHT 2009 SHAWN E. OKPEBHOLO, ALL RIGHTS RESEVERED. REPRODUCTION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED

"Average"-ness We Can Believe In

For spring break last week, my wife and I went to Paris, France for vacation. I am not going to talk about how beautiful it was or how much I enjoyed spending time with some French friends that I have known for a long time. In that regard, I will say that the trip was absolutely amazing and that I can't wait to visit again.

As you all know I am a free market capitalist and very conservative on many issues; so, spending time in a country where a person who is on the far right still leans left in U.S. standards was indeed intriguing to me. While I was there I did have a better understanding of how France worked in terms of government.

Socialism is a four-letter word among most people in America especially conservatives. So why is it such a popular concept in France? That's an easy one to answer. Due to the astronomical tax burden, the French receive free health care, free education, sweet welfare deal, and due to certain laws in France, many people will never have to worry about losing their jobs even if they are lazy and perform horribly in the workplace. I believe most French people are content as long as the government takes care of their basic needs, they have money to take care of their family and have a little left over for extra things. Moreover, many of them do not feel the need to make it to the next level economically or in terms of career advancement. You may be surprised to hear me say this but it really does not bother me if the French feel that way as long as they are happy with that lifestyle. However, I must say that is precisely the reason why France will only be a mediocre country—not above average, not great, and certainly not extraordinary.

I can’t be a part of a system of government that not only supports but also encourages “average”-ness. I strongly believe there is reason why America is a great country. There is a reason why the United States is a county full of innovation. There is a reason why this nation has some of the best doctors in the world. And, there in a reason why an individual in my country who is born into the lowest class can rise to the top. Unlike France, America in its current state does not allow for mediocrity; however, I fear that this is all changing before our eyes with the strong policies that are beginning to be put in place. We are moving to an era where it's the government's responsibly to take care of the people and it's not the people’s responsibility to take care of themselves. This is a time where people who make it to the top are looked down upon. And, our country is rapidly moving to a season where with these corporate and mortgage bailouts, we are seeing our government reward failure. A continuation of these policies will not give people the drive to go to a higher level. We will soon become comfortable allowing the federal government take over everything in our lives, and we will transform into a nation of only mediocre people. Our country will not be great anymore. Admire the French for their extraordinary architecture, food and wine not their government.

Top Ten Tuesday

A republican winning the presidency in 2012 is still probably a long shot, but here are my top 10 picks. Notice Gov. Mitt Romey is not on my list; unfortunately, he will probably be our nominee. I'd like to hear some of your choices for 2012. If you are a democrat please feel free to tell me who you'd like to run in 2016.

10. Gov. Mike Huckabee


9. Gov. Tim Pawlenty


8. Mr. Jack Bauer


7. Gov. Jeb Bush (too bad his last name is Bush)


6. Senator John Thune


5. Dr. O (i guess there could be a constitutional amendment allowing 31 year olds to be president)


4. Rep. Eric Cantor


3. Dr. Condoleezza Rice


2. Speaker Newt Gingrich


1. Gov. Bobby Jindal

Big Bad Barack

I apologize for the week of no posts. My MAC died. But, I got a new one. Anyway I have a lot to say!!

When is President Obama going to realize that he is President Obama and not Candidate Obama? Americans really need to think about some of the things our president was saying Monday night in his “press conference” concerning the stimulus package. I really do sometimes feel that President Obama thinks Americans are so brainless that he can say anything and get away with it.

Couple things:

Monday night he said several times that this bill will “create or save 4 million jobs.” CREATE or SAVE—what does THAT mean?

Secondly, he mentioned that he inherited the failed polices of the last eight years. I have a few problems with this. First, he needs to stop blaming Bush. Obama is president now. Whether Obama is right or wrong about what caused this mess, he needs to stop blaming people and start fixing the problem. Now whether you liked Bush or not, I think we can all agree that at least he did not blame anyone. Bush took full responsibility for everything even when the blame could be placed elsewhere. Now, if Obama wants to place blame, he needs to realize that it was the democrats who, I believe with good intention, forced banks to give out shady loans so that everyone could be a part of the American dream and own a home. And, that was what started this “catastrophe.”

Thirdly, Obama needs to be careful with absolute phrases. A couple of days ago in an interview with Andersen Cooper, he said that there was less than 1% of pork in the bill. Immediately, I did the math in my head and I was able to come up with more than $8,000,000,000 worth of pork, which is more than 1%. So that statement was false. Monday night he said that there were NO earmarks in the bill. All I have to do is tell you one earmark in this package and Obama either does not know what’s in the bill he is supporting, or, he is lying to the American people. So here goes: As Sen. Colbern revealed, there is $2,000,000,000 allotted for FutreGen, a program to produce mostly emission free power plants that BLAGO lobbied for, or, as I like to call him, Blagobamavich. There are more earmarks, but fortunately I only need to name one since Obama said that there are NO earmarks.

Fourthly, why is President Obama saying that the Republicans are playing games just because they don’t want to vote for the bill? Could the reason they don’t want to vote for this bill is that the bill is AWFUL and that they have fundamental philosophical differences. They even made it easier for the democrats and came up with an alternative bill. This is something that was not done very often during the Bush administration when the dems were at odds with republicans. I digress. This bill is awful, and I sincerely believe the president knows it. Frankly he should have written it himself. It would have been much better.

Fifthly, President Obama barley needs republican support. He can pass this bill easily with only about 5 or less republicans in the entire congress. So why doesn’t he do it? I will tell you. If this fails, he can’t say it was a bipartisan effort. One thing the democrats could not totally get away from was the Iraq war because they voted for it. When all of a sudden Secretary Clinton, VP Biden, and Senator Kerry were against the war, the republicans could always say that those folks voted for it also. Well when this stimulus package does not work, the dems can’t say, “well you voted for it too!”

Lastly on a positive note, I did appreciate Obama doing this press conference. I wanted Bush to do more when he was in office. Hopefully, Obama will do this more regularly.

Ummm Taxes... What Taxes?

I always thought that if you didn’t pay your taxes, you’d go to jail. But I learned this week that if you don’t pay your taxes you could be a part of the Obama cabinet.

When President Obama picked Timothy Geithner to be Secretary of the Treasury, I was really encouraged. I actually like Tim Geithner. I think he is extremely smart and will be an asset to the Obama financial and economic team. But as we all know, MR. GEITHNER DIDN’T PAY SOME OF HIS TAXES: a man who will oversee the IRS. There is no way to spin this; how could he have be confirmed?


Then we have Tom Daschle who President Obama nominated for Secretary of Heath and Human Services, and it comes out that HE decided not to pay $125,000 in taxes. And, Obama still gave Daschle his full support. I really don’t understand this either. President Obama what happened with weeding out all of the corrupt people in Washington? Does this mean everyone accept the members of your own cabinet? I mean there are smart people in America that can do those jobs as well as pay their taxes. What frustrates me the most is that the Democrats want to raise our taxes, but personally find ways to evade their own. Now I don’t know if Mr. Daschle will be confirmed; nonetheless, Senator Ried and President Obama seem to think that Daschle's confirmation is a sure thing and have not wavered on their support.

Thank You House Republicans

Yesterday the house voted 244-188 to pass the GIGANTIC “stimulus” package with NO republican support. The package still has to pass through the Senate, which will also likely happen. Let’s hope the republicans in the senate will be as brave as the house republicans and stand up and say NO!

I also have to thank the eleven house democrats who opposed the package. Some of whom are blue dogs, and in many ways are the bravest representatives in house as they have a record of going against their party. I want to give special thanks to democrat Rep. Jim Cooper of the 5th congressional district in TN for voting against the package. My democrat representative John Tanner of the neighboring 8th district, supposedly a blue dog, must have felt the pressure of Queen Pelosi.