Since 1965, the number of black elected officials has exploded.

Between 1970 and 2012, it grew from fewer than 1,500 to more than 10,000.

And oh yes, a black man was elected president twice.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that all these political gains would lead to economic gains,

but that is not proven to be the case.

In fact, during an era of growing black political influence,

blacks as a group progressed at a slower rate than whites,

and the black poor actually lost ground.

Why was the Conventional wisdom wrong?

Because it was based on the incorrect assumption that politics was the pathway to black progress.

Only black politicians, so the thinking went, could properly understand and address the challenges facing black Americans.

It wasn't stable families, hard work, or education that would lift blacks into the middle class.

It was more black city councilmen, congressmen, and senators.

But the evidence, even according to liberal social scientists like Gary Orfield,

indicates that there may be little relationship between the success of black leaders

and the opportunities of typical black families.

So while black politicians from Tom Bradley and Marion Berry and a Maxine Waters and John Conniers

achieved considerable personal success, their constituents did not.

Yet this calculus, political success as a prerequisite to a better life,

remains progressive orthodoxy today.

When Michael Brown was shot dead after assaulting a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014,

much was made over the racial composition of the police department and city leaders.

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