Knowles: There's nothing compassionate
about getting people stuck
in generational webs of government dependence.
Student: Everybody knows the quote, what LBJ said,
he is all like, "Oh, we'll have these n-words voting
for such and such years" or whatever.
And after I said that, she just said,
oh, disregard that, the Democrats are still
for the black people or whatever,
they're still for us or whatever.
So basically what my question is,
how are we going to get the truth out there?
How are we going to make sure
that everybody's staying in line with the truth?
How are we going to make sure
that the information that everybody's getting is veritable
and fact-checked, because we have people out here
that don't necessarily
follow the facts.
They don't necessarily believe
in things based on reality.
So how are we going to get that going?
Knowles: The key is dispelling this leftist premise
that conservatives hate black people
and brown people and Hispanic people
and every kind of people,
other than like Mitt Romney, basically.
Other than, you know,
just the whitest imaginable guy.
You have to dispel that first,
because I'm sure you were making many eloquent arguments
about how leftist policies have really wreaked havoc
in the black community,
and Thomas Sowell has written extensively on this topic.
Thomas is still one of the greats of modern times.
And he's written extensively about how
until those massive welfare programs
of the new society and the spending
of the '60s and '70s,
until then, in the black community
murder rates were going down,
crime rates were going down,
out-of-wedlock birth was going down,
divorce was going down,
poverty was going down.
And then as if all of a sudden during
that cultural revolution of the '60s,
all the trendlines reversed.
And so what the Left would say is forget about all of that.
We, the leftists, like black people
and those mean conservatives hate you
because of the color of your skin.
And that's an argument based on identity
but it's a very strong argument.
If I really were to believe
that some group of people hated my guts,
then it wouldn't matter too much
how much they lowered my taxes
or fixed some problems in my neighborhoods
because I don't want to elect people who hate me.
Now, the reality, of course, is
that conservatives do not hate the black people
or anybody else,
and you could make an argument
for racial prejudices
on the Left.
What Mr. Gerson referred to as the soft bigotry
of low expectations,
to say we will never expect certain social standards
from you because you are just not capable
of it on the basis of your skin.
And that's a horrifically bigoted point of view,
and it's one that the Left holds.
I think you've got to make the argument first
from
compassion, from dispelling this myth
that the Left is compassionate.
It's not, there's nothing compassionate
about getting people stuck in generational webs
of government dependence,
living in absolute
abject misery
and squalor and hooked on welfare payments
and hooked in bad schools that
they're not allowed to break out of.
Even just on that one issue of school choice...
For so many people, getting into a good school
can radically change your life outcomes.
It is the best shot you have of getting out of poverty,
having not only a materially prosperous life,
but a spiritually and culturally prosperous life too.
And you have the Left,
especially in inner cities saying we're going to lock you
and trap you in failing schools where you'll learn nothing
and you'll very likely join a gang.
And you have conservatives going out there
and saying, we need school choice,
we need to encourage vouchers,
we need to encourage charter schools
to at least give you a chance,
and what does the Left do?
They say, that's cruel, that's racist
that's bigoted.
You've got to break that first.
There's nothing compassionate
about trapping somebody in a cycle of poverty
because you don't think that they can accomplish anything.
And there's nothing worse
that you can do for a young person
than to say, hey, you'll never accomplish anything
because the whole world's out to get you
and there's a patriarchy and there's a white supremacy
and there are these structures.
You can't do anything,
so just sit down and shut up.
There's nothing worse
that you can tell a young person.
And if you can show people how cruel that is,
then I think only at that point
can you start making arguments based
on policies, based on all of those data over the years
and then we win.
Yeah, great question.
[audience applause]