Once upon a time the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln. It went to war to eradicate slavery. One hundred and fifty years later African-Americans support the party with but single digits.
The reasons are many and varied from the Democratic Party’s incessant pandering to most Republicans most recently choosing the rule of law, understandably, when it comes to the nation’s borders rather than donkey denial.
Yet, the Republican Party can rightly be criticized for not enthusiastically taking their message to where Democrats have failed so miserably in the urban cores and elsewhere. That’s why suggestions about holding the 2016 Republican National Convention in Detroit were so intriguing.
The Jack Kemps of hope and optimism have been too few, although a renewed emphasis by Kemp acolyte Paul Ryan in this regard is promising.
Despite the dearth of messengers, messages predominantly involving school choice are thankfully starting to make inroads. Liberals like Bill de Blasio attempting to stop it are on the wrong side of history with political consequence soon to arrive with more dispatch. 
But then along comes remarks like those by Arizona Republican Senator Kelli Ward who warned of a “slippery slope” in a Tweet yesterday following NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s proper punishment of Donald Sterling.
The ill-timed Ward tweet read as follows:
“If you offend, I guess you should expect to be stripped of your property & banned for life #PoliticallyCorrect #WhereAreWeHeaded,”
Presumably Ward is concerned about some notion of property rights while being shockingly tone deaf to warrant a political hearing aid.
That an Arizona lawmaker like Ward would make such a backwards and naïve observation is frightening. The NBA is an association and club. And just as if someone cheats or berates Jews at a country club, for example, they can be excused for conduct unbecoming. Or, perhaps a better example is when one embarrasses the legislative club of which Ward is a member – like say Bundgaard or Daniel Patterson. Other buffoonish acts get punished by voters. In this case the NBA owners are the voters. For Ward to suggest there is some type of danger in banishing Donald Sterling to slumdog billionaire-hood is complete nonsense and reminds us just how far the GOP still has to go to make inroads with minority voters it can and should. Eventually there will be an awakening among these voters as it becomes so obvious the Democratic Party’s failures. We just need more Paul Ryans and fewer Kelli Wards to get us there quicker.