Conservatism and Racism, and Why in America They Are the Same , livre ebook

SUNY series in African American Studies ____________ John R. Howard and Robert C. Smith, editors

 
 
 
 
Conservatism and Racism, and Why in America They Are the Same
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
__________________
Robert C. Smith
__________________
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
 
© 2010 State University of New York
 
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Printed in the United States of America
 
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                        Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 
Smith, Robert Charles, 1947–     Conservatism and racism, and why in America they are the same / Robert C. Smith.
            p. cm. — (SUNY series in african american studies)
    Includes bibliographical references and index.
    ISBN 978-1-4384-3233-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
    ISBN 978-1-4384-3232-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
    1. United States—Race relations. 2.Racism—United States. 3. Conservatism— United States. I. Title.
 
    E185.615.S5814 2010
    305.800973—dc22                                                                         2009054443

              10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
To my granddaughter, Karysa Rae Smith Ortega.
May she live in liberal times.
List of Tables
  Table 5.1 Racial Differences in Attitudes toward Government Spending on Selected Programs, Even if Tax Increase Is Required (percent in favor) Table 5.2 Racial Differences in Attitudes toward the Social Welfare Responsibilities of Government Table 5.3 Racial Differences in Attitudes toward Government Ownership of Selected Enterprises (percent in favor)
Acknowledgments
I usually at the end acknowledge the assistance of my beautiful bird in the preparation of manuscripts. This time, however, I do so at the outset. For over thirty years beginning with my dissertation and through ten books and dozens of papers and articles my wife, Scottie, as critic, editor, typist, and word processor has been the indispensable person. She has provided this assistance discerningly and unselfishly, while at the same time being a grand wife, mother, and grandmother and a tireless advocate for disadvantaged children. I could never find words to adequately express my love, appreciation, and happiness.
David Covin, Mack Jones, Martin Carceri, Ronald Walters, William Strickland, Hanes Walton Jr., Georgia Persons, and James Martell read the manuscript in whole or part and made suggestions that led to improvements. I am especially grateful to Professors Walters and Jones for detailed essay-by-essay commentaries. Their critical insights helped to clarify my thinking and the writing. Their own writings in their unvarnished commitment to the liberation of black people have been an inspiration for me throughout my career.
Professors Walton and Strickland called my attention to several important sources that I had overlooked and along with Professor Covin suggested ways to make clearer the philosophical-ideological linkages. Professors Strickland and Martel also urged me to pay closer attention to the limits of liberalism as a reform ideology and think more rigorously about the idea of the bastardization of Locke. I also appreciate the comments of the anonymous reviewers selected by the State University of New York Press.
This book is published as a title in SUNY's African American Studies series, which I have coedited since 1981. This is my fifth title in the series, and as always my series coeditor, John Howard, gave me a clear and candid critique.
Patrick McCarthy, a graduate student at San Francisco State, provided able research assistance. I am especially grateful for his help in locating obscure but relevant National Review articles. Kelly Barton, Shelly Williams, and the other archivists at the Reagan Presidential Library efficiently facilitated access to the archival material. But my research at the library would not have been possible without the help of my sister, Cleo Barnes. The use of her sofa and car were the indispensable source of financial support needed to defray the costs of my numerous visits to Simi Valley. In addition, the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the Department of Political Science at San Francisco State provided support for the preparation of the manuscript.
I had the opportunity to present some of the ideas in this book at Behavioral and Social Science College colloquia at San Francisco State, at a 2004 symposium on blacks and conservatism sponsored by the Stanford University Black Law Students Association and at the 2009 Alan B. Larkin Conference on the Presidency at Florida Atlantic University.
Introduction
I decided to write this book shortly after Ronald Reagan's funeral. In the long lines of mourners who gathered to pay their respects to the president at the Capitol in Washington and the presidential library in Simi Valley, California, there were very few African Americans. In the course of the nearly week-long commemoration of Reagan's life and legacy—where he was lauded as one of the nation's greatest presidents—I did a number of interviews where I was asked to explain the absence of black mourners in Washington and Simi Valley. My explanations dealt less with Reagan as an individual or as president than with conservatism as a philosophy and ideology. Ronald Reagan was not mourned by many African Americans because he was a conservative, the most successful conservative president of the post–civil rights era and one of the most successful conservative presidents in the twentieth century. Conservatism as a philosophy and ideology, I explained, is and always has been hostile to the aspirations of Africans in America, incompatible with their struggle for freedom and equality. Thus, very few blacks could mourn the passing of a man who was an icon in the cause of twentieth-century American conservatism.
In the nature of modern media it was difficult to convey this rather complex idea in a brief interview. However, I found that even in extended hour-long interviews it was difficult to fully explore this complex relationship between conservatism and black aspirations. Repeatedly, I was asked, “Are you saying that conservatism is racism, that all conservatives are racist?” “Aren't there black conservatives? Are they racist?” “Are the millions of Americans who supported President Reagan racist?” “Are President George W. Bush and the conservatives who control the Congress and the courts hostile to African American interests?”
My answer to most of these questions was a qualified yes. But the many qualifications and caveats left me, the interviewers, and the audience without the kind of clarity one would hope for when professors are called upon to explain complex issues to the public. In going through the literature on the subject of conservatism and race in the United States, I was not surprised to find that there was no systematic treatment of the relationship between the two phenomena. Since the 1980s in the wake of the election of Reagan to the presidency, there have been a few books on blacks and conservatism and a couple of dozen articles. These works, however, are largely descriptive and deal mainly with the rise of black conservatives during the Reagan presidency. Thus, I wrote this book. 1
In my interviews I contended that conservatism in America (I emphasize in America because my argument about conservatism and racism is specific historically and situationally to the United States) as a set of philosophical principles and as a governing ideology was hostile to black Americans. I also contended that as a separate matter the conservative movement that came to power with Reagan did so partly on the basis of racism. That is, I contended that a major part of the support of the conservative movement that elected Reagan was based on appeals