I have always thought that the greatest tragedy/evil of slavery in America is how it made blacks feel about themselves.  In the late '50s, early '60s, when I was a kid, I picked up the vibe that “light-skinned” blacks were better than us dark-complexioned blacks.  When I was outside playing with my four younger siblings, Mom would yell, “Get in here out of that sun, y'all are gettin' too black!”  I remember distinctly thinking, “What is wrong with getting blacker?”

As I was her eldest, mom shared things with me. She told me about the heartbreak she felt as a thin, shapely young woman, dressed in her prettiest outfit, applying for a job for which she was well-qualified: a sales clerk at a downtown Baltimore department store.  Mom said because she was dark-skinned, they automatically wanted to put her back in the kitchen.  I could tell that that hurt her deeply.

In 1968, James Brown wrote and recorded a funk song titled “Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud.”  To his credit, Brown was attempting to break the paradigm, encouraging black youths to feel good about themselves, proud of who they are.

I am pleased to report that almost twenty years ago, I heard about black youths laughing at Brown's song.  While I think black youths should respect those who paved the way for them, I delight in the fact that black youths thought it absurd to sing about being proud to be black.  Blacks of all shades are thriving in every area of the American experience.  Praise God!

Folks, I submit that the Republicans are experiencing a self-shame for who they are similar to what blacks felt in the past.  Now, before you libs out there go crazy on me, I am not diminishing the pain, horrors, and suffering of slavery.  I am talking about what happens to human beings when they are constantly and relentlessly demeaned simply for being who they are.

For decades, the Democrats have owned the liberal mainstream media, whose bully pulpit has been used to brand any and all things Republican as stupid, selfish, insensitive, racist, sexist, and homophobic.

Not only has the Democrats' and MSM's campaign worked on millions of low-info voters, but it has worked on many Republicans.  As if ashamed of what Republicans have traditionally stood for, much of the GOP establishment is trending toward embracing lighter versions of the Democrats' agenda: amnesty for illegals, for one, and the lowering of moral and cultural standards.

Now that we've been under Democrat rule for the past six years, a recent poll disclosed that 58% of Americans believe that our country is “going to hell in a handbasket.”  And yet another poll says that a majority of Americans believe that Democrats are best able to fix our problems.  That doesn't make any sense.

So, clearly, Republicans have a PR imaging problem.  What do you expect when the Republicans refuse to stand up for themselves, fearful of promoting a bold-colored agenda in contrast to the agenda of the Democrats?

What I find so frustrating is that I am a black American who has chosen the Republican Party solely for commonsense reasons.  Without going issue by issue, most of what the Democratic Party stands for is emotion-driven, void of logical or reasonable thinking, and is built on a lowbrow sinking-sand foundation of lies, class envy, lowered standards, evil, hate, and an anti-America-as-founded agenda.  The Republicans have the better product, pure and simple.

And yet, rather than boldly touting higher standards that lift us up as a nation, many Republicans have succumbed to the Democrats' and MSM's narrative that any expectation of responsible and moral behavior from Americans is racist and “easy for you to say.”

As a result, Republicans act ashamed of themselves.

Must I pen a song titled “Say It Loud, I'm Republican and I'm Proud”?

I have heard pundits on TV say that to win the upcoming 2016 presidential election, Republicans must persuade those extreme Tea Party nuts to embrace a more moderate presidential candidate.  That always annoys me.  What on Earth is extreme about the Tea Party?  All we want are candidates who will boldly support traditional Republican principles and run our country according to the Constitution.  And for that, we are branded extreme crazies.

What pundits advising Republicans are really saying is that we have lost the country.  A majority of Americans are willing to surrender total control of their lives over to government in exchange for the promise of cradle-to-grave handouts and bogus security – allowing government to confiscate and redistribute wealth, decide what food we eat, cars we drive, what we can and cannot say, and force its version of morality upon us.

Americans who embrace Obamacare are willing to allow government to decide whether their grandma receives a life-saving operation or is sentenced to death because bureaucrats do not think she is worth spending the money.

Allow me to remind you what founding father Ben Franklin said about people who are willing to give up freedom for security.  “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Pundits and many Republicans believe that the best Republicans can hope for is to embrace the Democrats' and MSM's lesser America and convince voters that they can manage our welfare and anything-goes nation better than the Democrats can.

Folks, I believe in my heart that Americans are better than who the Democrats, the MSM, and weak Republicans think we are.  It's a God thing.  When we follow our God-given instinct to succeed, we reap self-esteem and other bountiful internal and external fruits.

If Republicans can conjure up enough self-confidence to believe in themselves and what they stand for, we can turn our nation around.  My generation of baby-boomers are still the largest demographic.  We still remember when America was that shining city on a hill that President Reagan talked about – a beacon of hope, promise, and exceptionalism.

All we need are a few courageous Republican voices to lead the way – boldly, cheerfully, and confidently articulating traditional Republican principles to the masses.

Truth: America is the greatest land of opportunity on the planet for all who choose to go for it!

By the way...James Brown, “the Godfather of Soul” was a black Republican.