The upcoming special election to replace embattled Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr’s Illinois seat has been provided with a small miracle in the form of an African-American *conservative* candidate who is running for the seat.
Paul McKinley, whose grassroots work to challenge Black leadership in the wartorn south and west sides of Chicago, has been covered on this site for his leadership in forming “The Broke Party” and challenging Barack Obama for abandoning the poorest Black Chicagoans who had supported the President’s campaigns.
I’ve met McKinley more than a few times, and he’s the real deal. He came to conservative beliefs on his own, and seeks to destroy the “Chicago democratic machine” that has so ill-served his community. He may very well be leading the beginning of a grassroots revolution within the Black community that has embraced the conservative ideas that address their plight: 2nd amendment rights, opportunity through unfettered free markets, removal of union control, and traditional marriage.
The first time I came across him was when he and a friend showed up at a Chicago Tea Party meeting to see for themselves what the organization was all about. Since then, I learned more of his story, of having read the Bible while incarcerated in his youth, and gradually opening his eyes to the truly despicable ends most Chicago democratic politicians in particular those from his community, seek. Namely, to do anything but help the Americans who live daily with a violence that can only be compared to combat.
The union operatives who siphon any jobs that might come to the community, and according to many in McKinley’s Broke Party discriminate against the hiring of Blacks, only further his campaign to eschew the union, the Democratic machine, and the Republican establishment that rule Chicago.
McKinley’s adherence to conservative principles comes not out of party affinity but true belief in the tenets through hard-won experience. Rebel Pundit’s Jeremy Segal recorded McKinley’s remarks from a candidate forum last week, writing:
Paul McKinley, an outspoken grassroots activist against the Chicago Machine and resident of the 2nddistrict’s urban community on the south side of Chicago, told voters, “The reason I feel like I need to run for this district, is I have been fighting the Jacksons for years… There are two black Americas, and they’re separate and unequal. There are the black folks that think we just work for them and then there’s the rest of us that get used by them, and Jesse Jackson Jr., was one of them.”McKinley went on to explain his strong beliefs in the first and second amendments and his staunch opposition to same-sex marriage. He discussed how the charge for President Obama’s task force against gun ownership is being led right here in Chicago and explained how banning gun ownership in housing projects like Chicago’s Cabrini Green in the ‘80s simply stripped the rights away from citizens and essentially advertised to all the criminals, “ain’t nobody in this building got a gun, you can go in there and do what ever you want to do.”McKinley closed his remarks by confessing to the crowd some of his own troubled past. “I am an ex-offender,” he paused, “trying to prevent the next offender,” alluding to the more recent records of Democrat and Republican politicians in Illinois and Chicago. That may not sit well with some voters, but McKinley’s candor was received with warm applause.
The residents of Jesse Jackson Jr.’s seat ought to take a look at this outsider as they consider their options for replacing his seat. Selecting a true patriot, conservative, and reformer, would be the best Christmas gift they could give themselves.
McKinley is one of four Republicans candidates vying for the Republican nomination. The primary election will be held on February 26, 2013.
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