Not long after the racial remarks made by Harry Reid, Newsweek’s Howard Fineman appeared on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown and claimed that, in addition to blacks, “everybody else in the society pretty much” would view Democrats more favorably on racial issues. Fineman, trying to downplay the incident, said that “fair-minded” people would side with Democrats for doing more to help blacks.

Let’s review the results of roughly four decades of blacks being influenced by the political left and see how well they’ve fared under contemporary liberal guidance.

Family breakdown/illegitimacy rate - In 1940, the illegitimacy rate among blacks was 19 percent, in 1960, 22 percent, and today, it’s 70 percent.

Drop out rate - High school dropout rates are higher for blacks compared with other groups. Interestingly, these same schools often are in cities dominated by Democrats, with school boards, teachers, and principals that are predominately black. Additionally, these areas have per pupil education expenditures that are among the highest in the nation.

Crime rate - Has greatly increased and remains high compared to the levels seen in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Across the U.S., black males represent up to 70 percent of prison populations, and their victims are primarily other blacks.

Welfare dependency - Leftwing politics claims it is only helping people by creating dependency on the government. But replacing a father with the state has only lead to disaster.

Democrats have done a lot — a lot of harm to the black community.

Yet, despite the horrendous track record, a recent AP headline reads, “Black Leaders in Nevada Rally Around Reid.”

When will the black community abandon the Democratic Party? Only if it takes an honest look at itself and asks the question of whether their allegiance to modern liberalism, with its victim mentality and welfare state dependency, helps more than it hurts, or hurts more than it helps.