Democrats Gave Blacks The Vote?
Elijah Eugene Cummings (D-MD) is a professional politician in the U.S. House of Representatives for Maryland’s 7th congressional district since 1996. The district includes about half of Baltimore City, most of the majority-black precincts of Baltimore and Howard Counties. He was previously in the Maryland House of Delegates for 14 years. A lifetime in politics. Even in college, he was a class president. A member of the Democratic Party and, based on his long tenure, the newly appointed chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
The Democrats policy is to choose chairmanships by seniority rather than by competent experience and that means that it is common for the “worst of a bad lot” to be in the most powerful positions. The gerrymandered districts ensure reelection of the black pol in predominantly black districts thus guaranteeing seniority eventually. Republicans have term limits on their chairmanships.
Cummings kicked off his part in the anti-Trump campaign being carried out by all the new Democrat House Committee chairmen with the hearing featuring admitted liar, Michael Cohen. He promises to investigate Trump’s personal finances including his hotels. The Democrat chairs are not taking their committees’ responsibilities seriously as they are instead concentrating their resources to destroy the duly-elected president and his administration. Their personal hatred of this president and his mostly free-market policies cloud their constitutional duties. Party politics dominate career politicians’ actions.
Let’s first look at his voting records in Congress. (For links to the details of each rating Ctrl+Click on the rating organization name.)
- The non-partisan National Taxpayers Union (NTU) scores Cummings an “F” at 6%, one of the very few under 10% of the entire Congress. See One America News video here.
- The non-partisan Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) has examined roll call votes to help identify members of Congress who have defended taxpayer interests and which ones have backed away from their promises of fiscal responsibility. Cummings is way down in their latter category. They call him “Hostile to Taxpayers.”
- Another low 8 rating: See his votes as rated by the conservative Heritage Action For America.
- The Club for Growth rates on how votes are good or bad for the economy. Cummings got another single-digit score, a lifetime 7. The Club members believe that prosperity and opportunity come through economic freedom. Cummings, by his votes, clearly does not agree with that concept.
- The Liberal-left group Americans for Democratic Action rates Rep. Cummings at 75% without any negative votes but with some missed votes. ADA lists their current top five issues with #1 being “Resisting Trump.”
These and other rating agencies prove it is “by their votes ye shall know them.” And it is their votes that have burdened us and especially our children with an incredible $22+ Trillion –and growing!– debt.
As are our other Poster Children for Term Limits, Elijah is a Big Spender. A Really Big Spender! What else has he done?
In his speech at the 2016 Democrat National Convention, Cummings claims Dems gave blacks the vote. However, the truth of the matter is that Democrats opposed the 15th Amendment and filibustered the Civil Rights Act, see the Federalist Papers Project.
The House voted 144 to 44, with 35 not voting. No Democrats supported the bill. Only three Republicans voted against it because they thought the measures did not go far enough in its protections. The final vote in the Senate was 39 to 13, with 14 not voting. The Senate passed the amendment with a vote of 39 Republican votes of “Yea.”
Again, not one Democrat voted to ratify the amendment that would give black Americans the right to vote.
The Democrats’ rewriting of history to claim the “champion” mantle of the black community in America is nothing less than a grand lie. It falsely takes credit for many of the painful and long-fought-for societal evolution’s brought about by Republican politicians.
Cummings is a leading member and a past chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) which, by definition, is racist. Yet this is generally overlooked by Congress. A notable exception was Oklahoma congressman J.C. Watts who famously called the group, “race-hustling poverty pimps.” Because he voted as a conservative, they labeled Rep. Watts an “Uncle Tom.”
We shouldn’t have to mention the fact obvious to any honest American that the color or shade of one’s skin is not a meaningful distinction to differentiate among ourselves. Actual discrimination by race is increasingly rare today. Using long past abuses to gain some advantage today is a political ploy. CBC is a monolithic group with virtually identical voting records, disgusting behavior and a complete disregard for their oaths of office.
In the last decade, every single House Democrat sent to prison for financial crimes was a Congressional Black Caucus member. In the last twenty years, it’s been over 80%. After the midterms, the CBC has grown past a record of 50 members. But that doesn’t mean it’s getting better. Power makes it worse.
Prior to his being appointed chairman Cummings was the ranking member of the Oversight Committee where, among other efforts, he worked with the IRS to target conservative groups like True the Vote.
Limiting congressional terms of Congress are not guaranteed to solve every problem of government. But the status quo is so bad that sensible change is absolutely necessary. We’ve seen this reform succeed in the States that have term-limited their legislatures. My state Florida is a great example.
Imagine if Elijah Cummings and the other Poster Children had been limited to 3-terms in the house and 2-terms in the Senate. They would have been replaced long ago with new members chosen in competitive open-seat elections. Can you imagine any other reform that could be more effective in draining the swamp?
+++++
