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When he won in 2016, flipping five battleground states by razor-thin margins, the white vote nationally totaled 70%. This dropped 3 percentage points in 2020 to 67%.
It’s clear that if Republicans, and those who care about the Republican agenda, want a future, they are going to have to pick up more support among nonwhite Americans. Is this possible? One core factor separating Democrats and Republicans is belief in government.
In a recent Gallup poll, 64% of Democrats, compared to 20% of Republicans, expressed “a great deal or a fair amount of trust” in the federal government to solve domestic problems.
We may conclude that non-white Americans, compared to white Americans, choose more rather than less government to solve their problems.
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation recently compiled comparative household median income data for the nation.
In 2022, median national household income was $74,580.
Median white household income was $81,060. Median Hispanic household income was $62,800. Median Black household income was $52,860. Lagging income is clearly a major problem in America’s communities of color.
Hoover Institution economist John Cochrane calls “sclerotic growth … America’s overriding economic problem” and points out that it’s economic growth that drives income.
The U.S. economy grew at an average rate of 3.5% annually from 1950 to 2000, per Cochrane. If it grew over those 50 years at 2% per year, around where it has been for the last 15 years, income would have been 54% lower.
What causes “sclerotic growth”? Too much government.
We need major reeducation in the nation’s communities of color that big government is not their friend.
The federal government is now sucking up 25% of the U.S. economy. The Congressional Budget Office now projects average growth over the next 30 years at 1.6% per year.
Not a pretty picture, and lower-income Americans will suffer the most.
The title of one of my books is “Uncle Sam’s Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America’s Poor and What We Can Do About It.”
The Civil Rights Movement was a fight for freedom. Unfortunately, too many Black Americans have used their freedom to choose the government plantation.
Now this is a challenge not just for Blacks but for the whole nation.
Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.” Her recent book, “What Is the CURE for America?” is available now. To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www. creators.com.
