In order to change the actions of individuals, you first need to understand what motivates them, and this is especially true within politics. For Republicans, there’s no bigger mystery than why black Americans overwhelmingly vote for their opposition when they feel the Democrats aren’t providing anything beneficial for them.
Republican voters too often only see politics on a federal level, glorifying the national party’s positions without understanding that the micro of regional politics matters as well. Many rural and suburban Americans have experienced politics locally from both parties, but for many residents of the largest cities in our country, their political resonation has only been of the Democrat persuasion.
For example, Chicago hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1931, Philadelphia since 1952, and Baltimore since 1967. Even in a “red state” like Louisiana, the city of New Orleans hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1872. What all these cities have in common is a large, concentrated population of black Americans as its residents.
This geographical reality matters, because we’re all creatures of our environment, and this includes our political environment. I’ve known of families who’ve been voting for the same political party for three consecutive generations as a familial tradition, so the likeliness of deviating from a cultural norm even within your own household is minimal.
It’s even starker for black families who live in these Democrat strongholds as their exposure to Republicans is quite literally remote, because the Republican National Committee (RNC) has long given up attempting to compete for their vote locally, leaving the outlier urban Republican candidate to fundraise and campaign without the support of the national party.
This political reality has created unfair narratives placed upon black Americans from the political right. For example, when a viral video goes around about some form of criminality happening in the city of Chicago, especially in a black neighborhood, the reflex is to condescendingly mutter, “Well they voted for this,” meaning they voted for Democrats to oversee the city, hence, they deserve the chaos.
However, in 2019, for Chicago’s mayoral election, there was a total of zero Republicans who even attempted to run for this position. Even if you believe Chicago is a unique case study, this pattern of purposeful withdrawal from the Republican Party is replicated throughout the country.
Republican voters have been encouraged to repeat the rhetoric of black naivety, believing that we’ve always been gleeful about our choice to vote for the party with historical ties to the KKK and Confederates, while providing no local alternatives, allowing their Democrat adversaries to solidify a new cultural narrative that explains the political neglect of the right: “The Republican Party are the party of racists; that’s why they stay far away from black people.”
You can’t vote for what isn’t there, just like you can’t buy a car that isn’t for sale. Voting for either party isn’t just a choice between who possesses the best policy ideas but also a battle to sustain cultural norms in your locality, and this nationwide reality of Democrat domination in populated black cities has been adapted into black cultural norms.
The black activists you’re inundated with in the media are actually the outliers that exist among the black American population, and it’s the manipulation of mainstream media propaganda that convinces outsiders to believe we’re something we’re not for the purpose of further dividing our nation by racial lines and to legitimize the political right’s nihilism about our potential to become swing voters.
The question shouldn’t be why black Americans vote for Democrats; the question should be where have the Republicans gone? You can’t convince me that since 1872, there wasn’t a single opportunity for a Republican to become mayor within New Orleans. I’ve witnessed situations where Republican state and federal candidates completely avoid campaigning in any of these cities, and you have to ask yourself why.
Through lobbying efforts, telecommunication companies have regional service monopolies throughout America. As a result, in many areas of the country, we as the consumer only have one option for a cable provider and no competition to combat corporate price gouging. I wonder if we’re witnessing the same type of collusion for regional domination but in political form by both the RNC and DNC.
Americans seem to be suffering the consequences of an unwritten rule to respect each other’s sacred cow territories, leaving regular people with status quo choices.
Our political parties have constructed a monopoly system, and Republicans are satisfied with not passing “go” into urban America or collecting $200.
