There is a pastor of a large, fast-growing African-American church in Palm Beach County who tells an interesting anecdote.

Not long after the 2000 elections, he asked his congregation "Who here believes that abortion is wrong?" Almost every hand in the place went up.

"Okay, who here believes that marriage should be between one man, one woman, for life, and that homosexuality is wrong?" Again, nearly every hand in the congregation went up.

"Let me ask you this, then," the pastor said. "How many of you voted for Al Gore in this presidential election?"

Yet again, almost every hand in the congregation went up.

Surveys have shown the same thing in the vast majority of black churches in America. Godly people who believe in the biblical stance on moral issues still, for some reason, vote overwhelmingly for candidates and a party that are diametrically, unabashadly opposed to those views. Why? As best I can tell, it's because race-baiting charlatans like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have somehow convinced even the African-American Christian community to cast their votes on the basis of race rather than principle. They've been so succesful in fostering a spirit of government dependence that the underlying presupposition (i.e. the best candidate is the one who offers you personally the biggest cut of taxpayer money) is no longer even questionable. The statistically inarguable fact that government programs foster dependence and lessen the standard of living is not given a nanosecond of consideration.

No matter how often guys like Jackson and Sharpton are exposed, it never seems to lessen their influence on the African-American community. So what will it take to break that stranglehold? What will it take to make the black community start voting on issues rather than skin-color?