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 For all the recent flip-flopping of Democratic politicians, the party has remained remarkably consistent on at least one point; keeping African Americans dependent upon Democrats for their survival remains a central platform of the party. During the post Civil War years, Southern Democrats devised the repugnant sharecropping system whereby newly freed slaves would enjoy their freedom by working for white landowners. Black laborers were forced to rent the land they worked on from white Democratic landowners, purchase their supplies from them and then sell back the finished product to them at extortionist rates. The effect was to prevent many black laborers from truly benefiting from their own toil and joining the ranks of land-owning citizens. Democratic legislatures in the South, protected by a Democratic Congress after 1876, refused to offer blacks legal protection against this debilitating arrangement. Democratic landowners argued that they were in fact protecting black sharecroppers from the cruelty of the open market. The white supremacist worldview held by these Democratic landowners encouraged them to perceive themselves as the benevolent guardians of a benighted race.
Today, the Democratic Partys condescension takes a more subtle form. Convinced that blacks still cannot compete in the American economy, Democratic politicians continue to champion paternalistic and socialistic government programs. These welfare programs offer lower income African Americans physical sustenance, while stripping them of the opportunity for upward mobility. Once on government assistance, it is extremely difficult to escape it because any full time employment signals the cessation of benefits. Beneficiaries of these programs are thereby warned not to wander off the reservation in search of a better life. Another pernicious aspect of these programs is that many of them will pay women for child support only as long as they are not living with a legal spouse.  This stipulation encourages many welfare recipients to shun one of the most potent ingredients of financial success, a stable and committed family structure. Many black voters today are told that if they ever cease to vote Democrat their livelihoods will be stripped away by greedy Republicans. The truth, however, is that the Democratic Party is engaged in a dehumanizing votes for benefits deal that prevents the black community from achieving its true potential.
The Chicago Republican Party wants to look beyond simple government handouts to explore ways of bringing true economic and intellectual capital into the African American community, and unleashing the creativity and productivity already present. Through policies such as school vouchers, an increase in tax incentive financial zones (TIFs), and low interest business startup loans, the Republican party calls for an end to dependence laden paternalism and a fresh movement towards black empowerment and prosperity.
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