I am still a work in progress Black Diaspora, I want to see black folks think cractiilly and not monolithically, I want us to rise up from the bottom of almost ever demographic. Unfortunately, I think our focus misplaced as a people.I respect your positions and your candor. Thanks for sharing them with me.I believe that you're also sincere in your wish to have blacks improve their lot in life.In that we're in agreement.As I write this, Barack Obama has already been elected President Elect.The Dems don't give a hoot about our schools, crime, poverty or any of the social blights of Black people they just use us to garner votes and I will not comply.National party politics--that is, politics at the congressional and presidential levels--can only legislate mandated directions, and perhaps fund some of those mandates. Take the No Child Left Behind law. According to some teachers, it is a good law (not all agree, of course). The problem with it, I'm told, is that it was underfunded, or not funded at all.My point: improving schools, ending poverty, and crime, are almost exclusively local problems that require local solutions.I would like to see a local confluence of resources--people and money--to strive toward a resolution of these seemingly perennial problems.If there's a role for the federal government in this effort, then it should participate. Otherwise it should leave the task to those closest to the problem.McCain's motto was Country First. A better motto would have been People First.Country and people are not always synonymous.We need solid solutions to these problems with the awareness that people (educated and working) are our greatest resource, and We the People should act accordingly.Black bloggers--conservative and liberal--can be powerful weapons in our communities to change them for the better.What we need are strong, viable coalitions dedicated to the betterment of our various black communities.That will be my goal during this next administration and beyond.