Black Americans Vote Democrat not Because of Self-Interest but Out of Habit

"Black lives matter." That's what black leaders say as they cosy up to Hillary Clinton and mainstream media. Tuesday, black Indiana voters will repeat their self-defeating automatic vote response to the Democrat/Progressive siren song. Why??? ~~~~~ In many American cities led by Democrat politicians for years, black residents are either few or falling in number, eliminated by Progressive policies that harm working and middle class people, and blacks more than others because they start further behind economically. Black median household income is $35,481 per year, compared with $57,355 for whites. The wealth gap -- largely determined by home ownership -- is wider. Median household wealth is $7,133 for blacks and $111,146 for whites, according to a study by Demos and the Institute on Assets and Social Policy. The most Progressive cities -- home to some of the loudest voices alleging conservative animosity toward blacks -- are either experiencing an exodus of blacks or are not attracting them. They also impose economic situations -- the job-killing $15/hour minimum wage, for example -- in which blacks cannot compete. And Progressive environmental and energy policies hurt black Americans most. ~~~~~ Prosperous, growing western cities -- the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, Seattle -- should be able to provide upward mobility because they have fewer disadvantaged people, but they attracted far fewer blacks during the 20th century Great Migration, when millions of blacks moved north. As a result, their black populations are small, compared to eastern cities -- 5.6% in Portland, 53.4% in Cleveland, and 46.9% in St. Louis. And many western cities are driving away their small number of black residents. Portland is part of the 5th-whitest major metropolitan area in America -- 75% of the region is white -- and it has the third-lowest percentage of blacks, at 3.1%. (In total, America is 13.2% black.) Metro Portland’s black population grew by 0.3% from 2000, trailing America's 0.5% growth rate. The San Francisco Bay metro area has lost black residents since 2000. The Los Angeles metro area has fewer black residents now than in 2000. America’s most Progressive city, San Francisco, is only 5.4% black, and the rate is falling. ~~~~~ These statistics would mean little if they reflected a choice by blacks to move, but evidence suggests that leftist public policies in these cities effectively exclude and drive out blacks. The greatest problem is restrictive planning regulations that prevent expanding the housing supply. In a market with rising demand and flat supply, prices go up. The rule is that a household should not spend more than three times its annual income on a home -- a 3.0 multiple. But in West Coast markets, housing prices are far exceed 3.0. The median multiple is 5.1 in Portland, 5.2 in Seattle, 8.1 in Los Angeles, and 9.4 in San Francisco. Planning regulations explain much of the difference in homeownership rates between whites and blacks -- and they help create the racial wealth gap. Policies that price homeownership beyond black family reach affect their upward mobility. Leftist commentator Matt Yglesias calls housing affordability “Blue America’s greatest failing.” But, Yglesias doesn’t mention the role of environmental policy in creating high housing prices. Portland, for example, has an urban-growth boundary that severely restricts land development and drives up prices inside the perimeter. The growth-stifling effects of the California Environmental Quality Act are notorious. California also has some of America’s toughest energy regulations, putting a huge financial burden on lower-income (e.g., black) households. A million California households spend 10% of their income on energy. ~~~~~ Dear readers, Progressives often attack suburban land-use restrictions that can be indirectly discriminatory. They don’t admit that their own environmental and energy restrictions on housing are indirectly discriminatory. Why do black Americans vote overwhelmingly Democrat? Habit, I guess. It certainly isn't self-interest at work.