Let's Talk

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, Americans feel race relations are the worst they have been since the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Sixty-one percent of Americans say race relations are bad, while 34% say they are good.

Those figures are sadly ironic considering that millions of Americans voted for Barack Obama hoping our nation's first black president could bring racial reconciliation. Instead, Obama's tenure in the White House seems to have accomplished the opposite.

Many in the media and on the left have repeatedly called for a national conversation on race. Of course, when the left says "conversation" it really means conservatives need to shut up while we listen to lectures from Al Sharpton or Barack Obama.

But I think everyone would appreciate a real conversation where each side listens so that fewer people end up like Freddie Gray or Officer Brian Moore. Let's start with both sides conceding a few points.

For example, the left should stop supporting programs that undermine family formation. There are a lot of police in black neighborhoods in part because there are so few fathers.

More than 70% of black children are born out of wedlock. Research shows that children raised in fatherless homes are more likely to grow up in poverty, attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol and drop out of school.

The left should stop the charade that "lack of investment" or spending is the problem. Consider this: In 2001, George W. Bush's budget requested $40 billion for the Department of Education. This year, President Obama's budget calls for spending more than $82 billion. And don't forget the $100 billion schools got in the 2009 stimulus bill.

Perhaps some on the left might reconsider their opposition to school choice, thereby empowering low income families to free their children from failing schools.

Now, what about the economic/establishment wing of the Republican Party? Perhaps they should drop the rhetoric about eliminating the minimum wage. Overwhelmingly people want it raised -- including many Republicans. Yes, I know all of the arguments about how a higher minimum wage can destroy jobs. But we will never win that argument.

In addition, the corporate wing of the GOP could rethink its support for amnesty for illegal immigrants. There is little doubt that high levels of immigration, especially illegal immigration, have hurt minority communities by driving down wages.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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