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Jewish World Review /Sept. 7, 1998/ 16 Elul 5758

Larry Elder

Why blacks shouldn't support Clinton

"Guilty or not, we love you, O.J." The sign -- held by a black woman outside of the O.J. Simpson criminal courtroom -- still chills. During a ceremony honoring Martin Luther King, a black speaker told a scandal-weary President Clinton that blacks stand by him "through thick and thin." They do. The president's job approval rating among blacks? Eighty-five percent!

Blacks feel that Clinton "feels our pain." Good thing, because here are 15 ways he increased it.

1. Tax hikes. During the dastardly Reagan years, black teenage and adult unemployment fell faster than did white teen and adult unemployment. Why? Lower taxes generate capital for business formation and expansion, creating employment opportunities for low-skilled people.

2. Affirmative action. Clinton's fervent defense of preferences continues the Big Bang Theory of the Black Middle Class. Many blacks falsely believe that their middle class owes its existence and continued expansion to affirmative action. Not true. The black middle class grew before affirmative action and did not accelerate because of it.

3. Minimum-wage increases. Economics Nobel laureate Milton Friedman calls the minimum wage "one of the most, if not the most, anti-black laws on the statute books." Minimum-wage hikes destroy entry-level jobs for second paycheck earners, teens and others with low skills.

4. Welfare. Clinton encouraged dependency by resisting welfare reform. Today's declining welfare rolls shock experts, many of whom underestimated the drive and work ethic of welfare recipients. Clinton only signed the welfare reform bill under pressure from Republicans.

5. Gun control. The president opposes permits allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons. Urban dwellers remain the most vulnerable to crime. Studies show that when states allowed citizens to apply for CCWs (permits to carry concealed weapons), the murder rate fell.

6. Opposition to school choice. Most black parents want the right to send their children to a school of their choosing. Competition improves quality, as demonstrated by promising voucher programs in Milwaukee and Cleveland. And minorities in urban Catholic schools outperform their public school peers.

7. Opposition to the privatization of Social Security. Due to shorter life expectancies, blacks get especially hurt by Social Security. The government should allow workers to invest and control their own retirement funds. The deceased could leave hundreds of thousands of dollars to be used for college, housing or starting a business.

8. Expansion of government in health care. "Mandates" simply make health care more expensive, decreasing the chance that small employers can afford health-care benefits for workers. As usual, the least skilled and most vulnerable get whacked the most.

9. Treatment of black "friends." The president, it appears, did not tell close friend Vernon Jordan about the significance of Monica Lewinsky as Jordan sought job offers for her. Secretary Betty Currie, perhaps illegally, retrieved the president's gifts to Monica Lewinsky. For their loyalty, Jordan and Currie appeared before a grand jury, incurring legal bills. With friends like President Clinton ...

10. Expansion of the war on drugs. We stack our prisons with minority drug dealers, many of whom never committed a violent offense. The drug trade increases crime, violence and corruption. Punitive anti-drug and forfeiture laws step on our civil liberties.

11. The Race Advisory Board. The traveling panel continues the myth that what ails black America remains a "lack of understanding" between the races. As to the plight of the black community, crime, welfare dependency, poor schools and illegitimacy rank far higher on the "problem scale" than does racism.

12. Another investigation into the assassination of Martin Luther King. Oh, please. Years ago, black liberal Rep. Lou Stokes (D-Ohio) headed a House subcommittee on the assassination. The conclusion? James Earl Ray killed Dr. King. The commission unearthed little for conspiracy buffs to chew on. Re-opening the case keeps the "blacks-are-victims" cottage industry pumping.

13. The Monica Lewinsky scandal. Understand the message sent by the president: One can lie under oath provided it serves a "higher purpose." Defense attorney Alan Dershowitz says that the police frequently commit perjury -- "testi-lying." Assuming Dershowitz is correct, won't cops feel even less reluctant to "testi-lie"? After all, the prez did it.

14. Expansion of hate-crime legislation. A crime is a crime. Punish the offenders. The emphasis on a criminal's motive exaggerates the significance and frequency of "hate crime," while minimizing far more frequent same-race crime.

15. War on cigarettes. A higher percentage of lower-income people smoke. Smokers bear the brunt of tax increases to fight teen smoking or whatever "problem" government wishes to attack with cigarette tax revenues. Some cities use "sin taxes" to build sports stadiums for rich owners and players. And the "sinners" who help build the stadiums can't even smoke there!

Black voters face this dilemma. Whether to vote for the warm and fuzzy or for a president whose policies promote health, safety and welfare. Brown.