Could Republican’s Tim Scott be the party’s next Ronald Reagan?

THE Democratic party in the US has in recent years become the subject of much criticism for presuming the perpetual support of black communities. To many observers in America, the Democrats have overlooked changes in the African-American demographic that could presage some surprising electoral results down the road.

When affirmative action to benefit black Americans and redress the ancient crimes around the profitable but despicable institution of slavery became a legislative reality in the mid-1960s in the US and a government imperative under President Jimmy Carter ten years later, a major objective was to ensure legitimately equal access of all races to the American Dream.

Equal Opportunity programmes proliferated under Carter, and many remain in place across American society, from the government to industry to academia.

And they have succeeded. And as they have succeeded, these programmes have helped to create an environment in which black Americans can become moguls like Pillsbury and Burger King executive and one-time presidential candidate Herman Cain; high-ranking public figures like Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, and distinguished academicians and esteemed commentators like Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post.

Black public figures are now freer than ever to express their views publicly and to experience a respectful response. But a misleading and potentially dangerous undercurrent persists. That is the notion that African-Americans are natural supporters of the Democratic Party and that this is the right and proper way of things. Evidence to the contrary is still widely disregarded as singular and insignificant.

It isn’t.

If the natural maturation and result of the nearly 50-year-old Carter-era EEO programmes in the US is the establishment of a black demographic that more closely resembles the country’s white population, then increasing numbers of prominent African-Americans will turn out to be conservative politically and socially. The Dems continue to ignore this reality at their peril.

Strong evidence of this theory came from two disparate sources over this past weekend.

Jim Brown passed at age 87 and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott announced his intention to run for president at age 57.

In different ways, these two men exemplify the growing trend toward black conservatism in the American population.

By now, you have probably seen accounts of Jim