Lonzie Cox, Jr. – 10/8/04

This page was last updated on October 8, 2004.

Miller a political dinosaur; Lonzie Cox, Jr.; Beaver County Times; October 8, 2004. I am not related to Mr. Cox.

Based on his letters over the last couple of years, it’s apparent Mr. Cox sees the world through a prism of race.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“‘As a proud graduate of Beaver Falls High School, I am not pleased that U.S. Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia will appear at the middle school on Saturday.

“Why didn’t he appear somewhere else, like maybe in Melissa Hart’s hometown or where U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum lives?

“Miller, Hart, Santorum and even U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter: to some degree, they’re all alike.

“They push an anti-public school agenda. They also smear teachers, students and parents in the hope of giving public school money to private schools that will never welcome all of our students the way that public schools do.”

[RWC] What is in the “anti-public school agenda,” Mr. Cox? Please provide examples of the smears.

When he wrote, “in the hope of giving public school money to private schools,” I assume Mr. Cox meant vouchers. I’ll go out on a limb and translate this statement. I believe what Mr. Cox wanted to write was, “in the hope of taking public school money from poor black kids and giving it to rich white kids so they can go to segregated private schools.” It may come as a surprise to Mr. Cox, but many black parents in predominantly black school districts support vouchers because they are fed up with government education. The most recent example is Washington, DC. Both the mayor and the school board president recently came out in favor of vouchers after opposing them for years. Both are Democrats and both are black.

What Mr. Cox doesn’t tell us is that most proposed voucher programs actually result in higher per-student spending in government schools because the tuition of many private schools is less than what government schools spend. I surveyed local Catholic grade and high schools and found commonly proposed voucher programs would more than fully cover tuition. The voucher amount is usually the lesser of 75% - 85% of the school district’s per-student operating revenue and the actual private school educational cost. The school district keeps the difference between the voucher amount and the district’s per-student operating revenue. This means districts with voucher programs actually have more money to spend on remaining students on a per-student basis.

While it’s true underachieving students may not pass some high school entrance exams, the Catholic grade schools I checked had no entrance exams. Also, the Catholic schools gladly accept non-Catholic students.

It’s clear that while not every family would be able to get their child into their first school choice, it’s clear that most families would have a lot of choices.

Perhaps part of the liberal agenda really is to ensure the poor stay down.

“And then the Republicans have the nerve to bring Miller to speak in a public school?

“Why not Beaver where their headquarters are?

[RWC] Not that is should matter, but the rally was originally scheduled for Geneva College. A schedule change forced the venue change.

“To anyone who may not know it, Miller is a political dinosaur.”

[RWC] Ever notice how liberals credit Republicans who break ranks as “having the courage of their convictions,” but Democrats who break ranks are “dinosaurs” or worse?

Was Miller a dinosaur when he spoke at the 1992 Democrat convention and endorsed Bill Clinton?

Was Miller a dinosaur when he was the first governor to attempt to remove the Confederate symbol from the Georgia flag?

Was Miller a dinosaur when he appointed the only black attorney general in the 1990s?

Was Miller a dinosaur when he appointed more black state judges than all the previous Georgia governors combined, including Jimmy Carter?

For what it is worth, Zell Miller supports President Bush only because of the national security issue. He continues to support the Democrat position on domestic issues, though, like many southern Democrats, Miller is more conservative than the “average” elected Democrat.

My guess is Mr. Cox also considers Ed Koch a dinosaur. Koch was a Democrat mayor of New York (1978 – 1989) and is a typical northeast liberal except for one thing, national security. Though he disagrees with President Bush on just about every domestic issue, Koch supports President Bush because he believes national security is the overriding issue in this election.

“He is a perfect example of what Southern Democrats were like after the Civil War and Reconstruction. The Lincoln era Republicans ‘were’ the party of anti-slavery, freedom and equality for all.

“When Democratic Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson supported Martin Luther King and his civil rights movement, Republican Richard Nixon stole segregationist George Wallace’s ideas and won the presidency with his ‘Southern strategy’ that utilized racial code words in place of raw language with the same results.”

[RWC] I cover the “Democrats = civil rights” myth in Republicans – Civil rights and Democrats – The party of civil rights – not.

Democrats planted the idea that Richard Nixon’s so-called “southern strategy” was race based because they refused to admit why they lost the 1968 presidential election. Democrats claim that Nixon’s – and Barry Goldwater’s before him – endorsement for states’ rights was a signal of support – or “code words” – for racism and segregation. Lyndon Johnson declined to run, and Hubert Humphrey lost, because Americans lost confidence that Democrats could successfully prosecute the Vietnam War and get the United States out. It was that simple.

“Strom Thurmond, Trent Lott, Jesse Helms and other Democrats rushed to join the Republican Party as a hiding place for right-wing demagogues from the South. The Democrats, who wanted ‘justice for all’ were called ‘liberals.’”

[RWC] Did the Democrats filibuster the 1964 Civil Rights Acts because they wanted “justice for all?”

It sounds as if Mr. Cox doesn’t like being labeled a liberal. Ever notice that liberals tend to deny they are liberals?

“Miller is the last of the old segregationist Southern Democrats. A few of them remained as Democrats just to wreak havoc.”

[RWC] I guess Mr. Cox forgot about Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV). Sen. Byrd was a Kleagle (organizer) in the KKKK (Knights of the Ku Klux Klan), said he would not serve in an integrated armed forces, filibustered and voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, voted against the nominations of Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall (1967) and Clarence Thomas (1991), and referred to “white niggers” during a 2001 television interview. Maybe Byrd is one of the Democrats wreaking havoc. <g>

Zell Miller is a segregationist but Robert Byrd is OK?