Lonzie Cox, Jr. – 12/1/04

This page was last updated on December 4, 2004.

Election played racial game; Lonzie Cox, Jr.; Beaver County Times; December 1, 2004. I am not related to Mr. Cox.

As of December 4, 2004, several letters from December 1^st – including this one – published in the Times print edition had not been published on the Times web site. Since I was unable to cut-and-paste the letter, I apologize up front for any transcription errors.

Based on his letters over the last couple of years, it’s apparent Mr. Cox sees the world through a prism of race. I’m glad I don’t live in his world.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In the three weeks since the U.S. system of elections was exposed as flawed before the world, I have grown tired of the boasting and gloating by some of the so-called winners. You know who they are: Republicans, neo-cons, unemployed gun dudes, Zell Miller fans and now the evangelicals, who consider themselves to be the super-duper prototype Christians.”

[RWC] “Unemployed gun dudes?” Does anyone else believe Mr. Cox is a sore loser? <g>

“The evangelicals have gladly accepted the award as the voting bloc that cursed the world with four more years of the Bush administration. They’re the ones who put Bush over the top to win his first ‘elected’ term as president. So we remain stuck with his mindless war, unemployment, outsourcing and taunts from Osama bin Ladin [sic]. This is what the evangelicals ‘won.’ Hooray! I hope they’re as happy as Bush is. Of course, Bush doesn’t need them anymore, either.”

[RWC] As many liberals, Mr. Cox tries to pin the victory of President Bush and other Republicans on something irrational so he can claim the high moral ground, if only in his mind. Mr. Cox refuses to accept the fact that a majority of voters preferred President Bush and his platform over Kerry and socialism.

There were a lot of reasons people voted for President Bush and no single group can take credit for his victory. Mr. Cox wants to blame a group because dividing people into groups is a fundamental liberal tactic, as in divide and conquer.

Mr. Cox’s “points” are a hoot. He still clings to the 2000 election myth, wants us to believe 5.4% unemployment is high, and wants us to believe President Bush invented outsourcing and it is responsible when anyone loses a job.

“The statistics say that 2 percent more African-Americans, either led or misled by their pastors, voted for Bush this time. Blacks should be careful not to support the hidden bigotry of the Southern-based evangelical Christians because the movement’s originators were the same Southerners who fought for slavery, Jim Crow and race discrimination while resisting Martin Luther King until he was finally murdered.”

[RWC] Mr. Cox would like us to believe there was some significant shift of black voters to President Bush. In 2000, 9% of blacks voted for President Bush. In 2004 the figure increased to a whopping 11%.

Mr. Cox claims pastors were responsible for the additional 2% of blacks who voted for President Bush. That’s a little hard to believe. Does anyone remember who we saw campaigning in so-called black churches on Sundays? It was John Kerry, just as Al Gore did in 2000. Regardless of race or religion, how many of us vote as directed by our pastor?

So, the same people who fought for slavery up to and including the Civil War also resisted MLK? Man, they sure had long lives! <g>

“The moral concerns of African-Americans cannot be addressed by them being sucked in by some right-wing religious ‘rope-a-dope,’ where their (blacks) faith will be used against them.”

[RWC] In this paragraph Mr. Cox implied blacks are too stupid to separate fact from fiction when he wrote about “them being sucked in by some right-wing religious ‘rope-a-dope.’” You’ll note Mr. Cox doesn’t tell us what makes up the “right-wing religious ‘rope-a-dope.’” Throughout the letter Mr. Cox merely smears “evangelical Christians” by implying they are racists. I believe Mr. Cox’s letter reveals bigotry, but not by “evangelical Christians.”

Mr. Cox failed to note how liberals play the race game. In 2000, Democrats claimed electing Republicans would result in burning black churches and electing President Bush would encourage people like those who dragged a Texas black man to his death in 1998. In 2004, Kerry and Edwards claimed black voters were “disenfranchised” by Republicans in 2000 and that Republicans were trying to do the same in 2004.

“The actions of George W. Bush are openly hostile to black interests such as equal opportunities for jobs, education and housing. The black vote is too important to allow it to be used in ways that promote confusion of the issues, whether they’re moral or strictly political.”

[RWC] Mr. Cox claims President Bush’s actions are “openly hostile to black interests” yet provides no examples of the hostile actions. By the way, what is a “black interest?” What about a “white interest?” Again, Mr. Cox is bound and determined to group people and then set the groups against each other.

If President Bush is so hostile to blacks, why did he appoint blacks – Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice – to two of the most important cabinet positions? President Bush also appointed a black man – Rod Paige – Education Secretary. Check out President Bush’s judge nominations and you’ll find blacks there as well. If the opportunity presents itself, President Bush will likely nominate Justice Clarence Thomas for Chief Justice. If President Bush is so hostile to blacks, why do more minorities own their own home now than at any time in history? Quoting black syndicated columnist Larry Elder in reference to Ronald Reagan, “If this is ‘torture,’ more, please – and a side of fries.”

“The black vote?” Are we to believe all blacks should share the same beliefs and vote the same way? What about whites? What about Christians, Jews, men, women, and on and on?

Mr. Cox won’t admit it, but “the black vote” means nothing anymore. Since over 90% of blacks vote Democrat in nearly every election regardless of the candidate or platform, Democrats know they have “the black vote” in their back pocket. As for Republicans, they don’t have a need to fight for black votes because Republicans have been winning without “the black vote.” In other words, black voters have no bargaining power. So-called “black leadership” is to blame for the situation.

Fortunately, other minorities aren’t following the black model. Though minorities tend to vote Democrat, they don’t vote monolithically so their vote can’t be taken for granted. Approximately 44% of non-black minorities voted for President Bush in 2004.