Pragmatism on the Right
Ross Douthat has an post up on the problems that conservatives in America face when courting the so-called Black Vote. Douthat argues that although conservatives should not compromise their core vision nor their criticism of liberalism’s stranglehold on the minority vote (as, he alleges, George W Bush did), conservatives should try to find innovative pragmatic policy solutions that can make a big difference to those on the ground while not compromising on conservatism itself.
I agree with this point on a policy level insofar that making people happier is generally a good thing. But more broadly speaking, I think Douthat misses the meat of the political problem. The rift between the black vote and conservatism cannot be solved by innovative conservative policy solutions, because conservatives wouldn’t get the credit for any progress on race issues. That’s a bad thing from a strictly policy perspective, but it’s unfortunate from a political perspective.
A consequence of both ideological beliefs and partisan allegiance is that people are likely to read their own biases into their interpretation of causality. In my more libertarian mind, the current economic crisis was based in large part on the government encouraging bad lending practices through legislation like the Community Reinvestment Act and the government encouraging bad spending practices through the social programs jump-started under Johnson’s Great Society. In other words, there was too much government. This crisis has strengthened my faith in conservatism. In the minds of my more paternalistic acquaintances, the current economic crisis was caused by a lack of government intervention and greedy bankers running amok. This crisis has strengthened their faith in liberalism.
As long as Republicans are seen as “tough on crime”, liberals will perceive any police brutality, any perceived injustice in law enforcement, and any racial disparities in sentencing to be just the overzealous reach of conservatism gone wrong.