Political Pavlov’s Dogs

By Lucius Gantt

The last two dogs I owned were African Mastiffs. Tambo and Zulu were trained guard dogs. They were “work dogs”, not pets that I would kiss in the mouth every day or allow the dogs to sleep with me in my bed.

They both weighed about 200 pounds, and they had a large kennel and a large doghouse where they could stand up and walk around in.

Whenever; I went to feed them, I called their names, and they ran to me. Soon, they came when I called them whether it was mealtime or not.

They were just like Pavlov’s dogs, who came to Pavlov every time he rang a bell.

White Democratic political advisors think African American voters are political Pavlov dogs, so to speak. They believe all that needs to be done is to tell Blacks there is an election in November, and Black voters will run to the polls and vote Democratic like dogs that run to a bowl of dog food.

It’s sad to say but history has proven that they are somewhat correct.

The problem is Blacks turned out to vote for Barack Obama in extraordinary numbers. But Black voter turnout in post-Obama elections has been steadily declining.

Don’t take my word for it. Voting records are public information and in most federal, state, and local elections after Obama, if 35% of registered Black voters turn out to vote Democrats consider it a “landslide” amount and that is ridiculous!

When Stacey Abrams ran for Georgia governor, SCLC and NAACP people were paid to register voters. They went to several predominately Black colleges and predominately Black cities in the Peach State and registered around a million new qualified voters but at least 400,000 new registered voters didn’t even vote in the gubernatorial election!

The Chairman of the Georgia Democratic Party was told political professionals lived in Georgia. When Chairman Nikema Williams, now sitting in the late Civil Rights Champion John Lewis’ Congressional seat told me, “All of the Party money is going to white people”, we need Blacks to volunteer”!

Of course, I never spoke to her again.

White Democratic political consultants target substantial dollars to try and influence white men without a college degree to vote for Joe Biden and against Donald Trump.

Good luck with that. Gantt Report readers know that MAGA Democrats have no problems voting for wannabe dictators and authoritarians. Political wolves wear sheep clothing and have no problem voting for candidates who call for Blacks to reside in a political doghouse!

Democrats are quick to say I love Martin Luther King and I ride in the HBCU homecoming parade, but Democratic candidates, Democratic National Committees, and local Democratic bodies want your votes but don’t want to even spend money contributed by Blacks to Democrats to Black vendors and professionals.

I know two Black consultants that can probably get million dollar deals to help the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates. They are Elie Mystal, a Constitutional lawyer and political advisor, and Cornell Belcher, an excellent pollster.

If you don’t know, they both are considered “safe”. I think they both went to Harvard, they have white friends, classmates, and connections but probably have few connections in Black circles and on Black neighborhood streets.

I wish they would tell Democrats to have meaningful diversity in all campaign areas, especially in media where most money will be spent.

Every voting group will be respected but yours. Hispanics won’t beg to be a part of political purchasing transactions, women won’t beg, Jews won’t beg, and Bubba and Amy won’t beg to join any political team.

The Democratic Party needs their most enthusiastic supporters to cast votes to win convincingly in November.

To increase Black voter turnout, the Democratic Party policy of “any Negro will do” must be discredited and abandoned!

You and I are not political Pavlov’s dogs and will not rush to the polls at the sound of a bell!