Such is the place we find ourselves in America's dialog on race relations, which has become a political contest won by one political party. Democrats have garnered 88%-to 93% of the African-American vote in the past three presidential elections, an astounding record among any ethnic or demographic group in American politics. The Democrat political advantage on race has been established and growing for decades, but it has now become the "strange fact" of American politics. No other demographic percentage, women, men, Hispanics, Jews, shows such lopsided favor toward one political party. This total domination by Democrats on race has caused Republicans to wave their arms saying, "Hey, wait a minute, wait for us. Look at us. We've got something to offer too." And yet, election after election, the Democratic presidential candidate laps the field in dominating the black vote. The "post-racial candidacy" of Barack Obama changed this not one iota.

But what are the consequences of this strange unbalanced phenomenon? They are many and varied. To begin with, this unequal black representation in the two parties is hurting blacks, denying them leverage with either party. Secondly, it is hurting the country as a whole by keeping the focus on politics instead of equal opportunity. Thirdly, Democrat dominance is impeding the progress toward healing our division over race.

What are we to make of this? How did we get here? Will anything change it? Why has the election of Barack Obama had virtually no effect on our nation's racial conversation, despite the fact that the president has repeatedly called for a deepened national discourse on race? In fact, many people believe that our dialog on race has deteriorated, not improved, during the past nineteen months of the Obama presidency. In our public discourse, accusations of racism seem to be advanced now more than ever.

Let's talk politics first. They say lobbyists give money to both political parties for one reason, access. They want the ability to influence legislation and dare not be far from the table at negotiation time. Money insures their voice will be heard. If this is true, then average citizens have only one piece of influence over politicians, their vote. The reason Independents have been swelling in numbers recently is directly related to the electorate's unhappiness with either political party. This reality produced change in 2008 and is likely to produce a lot more in 2010. The Independent voter is being coy until he or she hears the right message.

But when it comes to party loyalty, little of this is likely to change African-American allegiance, which though it began rooted firmly in the Republican Party after the Civil War has been solidly and increasing Democratic since FDR's New Deal and northern migration to cities after World War II. But after two generations of lockstep with one party, where are African-Americans now? One the one hand, there is no doubt that a black middle-class has emerged that has simply joined itself to the rising tide of the American economy. However, few cultural observers credit Democratic Party politics with any rise in the black middle class, especially with the verdict that under LBJ's $6 trillion dollar War on Poverty, "poverty won." Furthermore, the black underclass has remained steadily behind the economic, educational and cultural climb that defined the post World War II generation, particularly since the 60's as Daniel Patrick Moynihan demonstrated. Teen unemployment, rampant out of wedlock pregnancies, which have admittedly climbed overall but more-so among blacks, drug-use, violence, and incarceration rates have all remained stubbornly high among the African-American population. Accordingly, what benefit is there to being a Democrat for African-Americans? Why such overwhelming loyalty to the party of Jefferson and Jackson?

If this economic and cultural declension continues to occur, then why do not disappointed African-American leaders attempt to lead their followers out of the Democratic Party, particularly as Democrats increasingly embrace secularism, gay marriage and other issues that African-Americans deplore as a whole? More pointedly, why do the rank and file continue to give their loyalty to a political party that gives so little benefit to their concerns or provides so little "hope and change" of any lasting value?

Part of the answer must be the politics of race and how it is played by Democrats. The race-game is played first of all by pretending we are still in the 1950's and 60's and that the biggest problem for blacks is still racial prejudice, when it clearly is not. Henry Louis Gates, the so-called victim in the Cambridge police incident has shipped his handcuffs to the Smithsonian Institution for display, as a kind of "see I told you so" reminder that America is still a racist country. Democratic leaders thunder about "Racist Tea-Party" behavior on Capitol Hill when they fail to produce even one piece of video evidence that it occurred. A compliant and lazy media let them get away with it. Though racial incidents like the Selma Bridge crossing in the 60's are appropriately remembered, comments by Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis hold out the unlikely possibility that such incidents will happen again if we are not careful. Not likely. The message is two-fold. White Republicans are racist until proven otherwise. Black Democrats are racial victims until proven otherwise. Both are a distortion. And so the dance of history continues somewhat unrelated to the real problems of African-Americans today, to the benefit of the race-based careers of "black leaders." While listening to NPR recently, I heard a liberal black leader say "These experiences defined us. We cannot forget." But are these "never forget" experiences somehow blinding African-Americans to the pursuit of solutions to today's problems? I think so.

If emerging black leaders were smart, they would act like lobbyists and make sure they were "at the table" with both parties. Right now, one party has no sway with them. The other takes them for granted. This is a recipe for powerlessness in the purely political realm and mutes the dialog between blacks and Republicans today. It has raised the often asked question whether the Republican nominee for president will be invited to speak to the NAACP, or whether it is worth his time to accept. Today the NAACP is viewed by most Americans as a liberal organization, rather than a black one, and it has become increasingly leaderless and irrelevant.

The truth is that race should never be mostly about politics at all. Like him or not, Glenn Beck was right about principle over politics on race in his recent rally. This is why, despite the presence of many blacks in his August 28th Lincoln Memorial event, liberal leaders had to denounce him as racist. Their political higher ground was threatened, despite the fact that politics will never solve America's racial wound. But to admit that we have taken a wrong turn into power politics on race is to upset a ton of vested interests. Unfortunately, this confession of failure is absolutely essential if we are to make any progress.

To get back on track, we must get real about Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy. Very soon after the 1963 March on Washington, where King called America back to its first principles, using the Declaration of Independence, the hymn "America" and his famous phrase that humans must be judged "not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," King began to experience political pressure from the "black power" movement, exemplified by Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Eldredge Cleaver and others. In response, King traded much of his moral and Constitutional stand for penultimate political issues like jobs, the minimum wage, union strikes and the Vietnam War. Despite his enduring legacy, King had traded morality and justice for politics. We have been squabbling about race ever since.

Race has since been relegated to an argument over which political party has the best ideas, most of which will never help anyone who is a real victim of racial prejudice or wants an opportunity to succeed in life. We have thus ceased speaking about equal opportunity and continued demanding equality of result. This is a fool's game. The legacy has been quotas, prejudice against other groups and individuals, dependency-producing government programs, a lack of accountability in housing and education, and overall dirth of progress for the black underclass.

So what is the answer? It is one that the entrenched liberal leadership seems not to want, a refocus on first principles and private initiative, rather than political power and racial politics, as the more productive way ahead. To the extent that institutional prejudice still exists, we must focus on 'equal protection' under law throughout our legal system. No system is perfect but we have experienced radical improvements here since the 1960's. We must continue to improve race relations by building community partnerships across racial lines. We must assist churches and religious institutions as they preach and teach on overcoming the fear and distrust that produce discrimination. One program that appears to hold promise is the partnership emerging between mostly white suburban congregations with their inner city black counterparts. We must help to build stronger father-led black families by building a culture of responsibility among young black men. We should continue to set up mentoring and apprentice-type programs for young black men to overcome the drug addiction-incarceration syndrome and help them enter legitimate career tracks. Abstinence programs for teen black women are essential. Lastly, we must focus on equal opportunity, not outcomes, to produce a culture of hard work and success for all.

But none of this will happen unless something else happens with it. African-Americans must believe enough in first principles and these mostly private initiative ideas to abandon the Democratic Party and its race-based politics in droves. Or, far less likely, the Democratic Party must renounce its stand on race-based politics. (I too have a dream.) We are not living in the 1950's and 60's any more and it is time we acknowledged this. Despite "black leaders" acting as if we are in the Moses generation," we must realize that "Moses is dead." We are now in the Joshua generation, yet no Joshua has emerged with credible leadership, though I see Joshua's-in training like Washington DC's Bishop Harry Jackson. As Bill Cosby has pointed out, most of the problems African-Americans face today are not due to racial prejudice, but of their own making. When I worked for Citigroup years ago, there was a company-wide initiative to hire minority workers including financial advisors and workers of all kinds. The problem was that the minority workers that were hired too often could not keep their jobs, but the jobs were there for the taking. There is no lack of opportunity in America today, except the one we are all experiencing right now due to the recession. But this too shall pass.

The truth is that America has never guaranteed anyone outcomes as a promise or a right of citizenship. America's gift is opportunity. What each of us does with that gift is up to us. What could our nation become if we left racial politics and returned to our first principles, not just for blacks but for all of us.

On July 10, 1858, Abraham Lincoln spoke in Chicago and uttered these words.

"I have only to say, let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior and they must be placed in the inferior position. Let us discard all these things and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal."

It is far past time to realize that politics has only served to entrench race-based interests and further the careers of those invested in racial politics. If equality is really about the promise of America and her people, we must return to first principles or forfeit both the promise and the progress black Americans and all Americans deserve. The sooner African-Americans realize their wagon has been hitched to the wrong star, the sooner they will have a bigger part to play in both political parties and the sooner they will find their share in the American dream.

---Jay Haug is a member of Redeemer Anglican Church in Jacksonville Florida. You may e-mail him at cjcwguy@gmail.com