It must be the paucity of the Republican message that makes Nick Kaskoff equate voter registration to Democratic machines. I’m with Rick James that all people have the right to organize to register to vote and to vote for candidates that they best represents them. Christian conservatives have long since equated their moral and religious efforts with direct efforts to take over the Republican party and through them various functions of governments.

As for LogicPrevails, clearly it doesn’t your case. The broad brush stroke talking about Jackson and Sharpton–who have little to do with actual local organizing–obscures the fact that many local churches are doing what you claim that you would do.

Perhaps if white leadership wasn’t such a joke we wouldn’t have this crisis of housing foreclosures, bad loans, economic downturns, rising unemployment and increasing fiscal insolvency of the national government.

United, you obviously blame everyone but the individuals who bought homes they couldn’t afford for the problem. Your comments, then, make sense..everyone else is to blame. I used Jesse Jackson and Sharpton as an example of lousy black leadership. Here in St. Louis, perhaps the lousy leadership is Lacy Clay. Perhaps it’s all the other black aldermen. Not sure which one is to blame for poor leadership. Ultimately, it goes to individual responsibility..something that is loathed by liberal Democrats.

As for local churches doing the job, you failed to read my comments thoroughly..I was not saying churches should take the lead, but they should be used as the headquarters for leadership groups. I understand that churches are doing some of the work. In fact, there is a Catholic Church (drawing a blank on the name) down the street past the Fox that has done a tremendous job, cleaning up the area and seeding the neighborhood..but it will take more than just a church and one priest/pastor to do it.

So far, the Democratic party has done little for the black community..but their candidates continue to be voted into office. Tell me what our black President Clinton did for blacks? Christian conservatives, ironically, represent much of what the black community is all about: pro-church, pro-life, pro-family. I would say that Sarah Palin better represents blacks than Joe Biden does.

Do you think it is just a coincidence that the cities with the highest crime rates, highest poverty rates and worst schools all have democrats running them, and have for the last 40 years?

African Americans have been voting for dems forty years, what has it gotten them? Instead of voting for “Change”, what they need is a change in voting.

An Anti-Violence campaign shifting to voter registration is nothing new. We did this in the 1960’s as well. Voter registration drives sponsored by groups supporting Non-Violence are not party specific.

To those who are trying to disparage this drive as somehow only benefiting the Democratic Party — help register people to vote yourself.

As to why we need this type of non-partisan drive, read Harper Barnes’ book “Never Been A Time”.

So Penelope, if somebody in St. Charles formed an organization aimed at “getting white Americans to the ballot box” that would be ok? Or is racially oriented electioneering only acceptable when it is a black or Hispanic group doing it?

RHarnack — are you STILL commenting on American society? Why don’t you first work on the mess you left for the Vietnamese people.

===