The release of Bill Cosby’s new book “Come On, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors,” has revived charges from progressive corners that he is just a big, rich “meany-pants” picking on the poor and down trodden.

Contrary to this critique, Cosby and those that agree with him are actually filled with Black pride. It is precisely because we are a strong and irrepressible people that it is good to talk about what we can do to make things better. It is good to talk about the things we can do to improve the chances of children, to lower poverty rates, to increase our economic muscle … in short to empower ourselves. In this sense, Cosby’s words have more in common with Marcus Garvey’s command to rise “up you mighty race. You can accomplish what you will” than they do denouncing the black underclass as being culturally inferior.
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High rates of out of wedlock births and the decline in marriage are real and provide a negative drag on our success – on our American success. Oddly enough, those most strident in their criticism are the very same folks -- ideologically speaking -- largely to blame for the current state of affairs. It was progressives and new liberals that in the late 1960’s and early 70’s proclaimed American cultural institutions and mores rife with the stain of racism thus rendering them illegitimate. The counter culture revolution would not simply eradicate oppression but would dismantle all of American culture as well, rebuilding it from the ground up. Gone went traditional notions of sexual propriety. Gone went the idea of gender roles and traditional ideals of marriage and family. Gone also went the faith in man’s capacity to rule himself. Black authenticity was now defined by a cultural revolutionary defiance. Alas, the baby truly went out the window with the bath water.

The progressive mantra has changed very little over time. When individual behavior is criticized, they respond that the real culprit is white racism manifested in the entire American system. Deconstruction remains the call. What remains unclear is how the white racist power structure prevents one from engaging in responsible sexual and cultural behavior. George Bush and Dick Cheney haven’t a thing to do with a man honoring his woman with marriage, raising his children from within the home or parents insisting on academic excellence.

Progressives would have us believe that men are powerless without experts trained in our finest universities working with government to deliver us from the evil of individualism. Cosby is the latest in a long line of folks that have maintained that our current trials are not due to systemic racism, but a culture that makes excuses for irresponsible behavior, thus absolving individuals from any culpability for their circumstances, and subsequently draining them of any power to change their lives.

This is the inherent strength of Cosby’s message and the weakness of those that would shout him down. Cosby is saying to people – the very people progressives claim to be protecting – that they have power, that the changes they seek begin with the choices they make. Indeed, Cosby points out that it is adherence to the traditional mores of family, faith and idealism that made us strong, that provided the soldiers of character and conscience that fought and won the civil rights battles of the 50’s and 60’s. Moreover, these same values will provide the moral and cultural foundation for the warriors of the next generation.

During Cosby’s recent appearance on Meet the Press, he was clear: “No matter your economic status, no matter your age, no matter your race, no matter your gender, no matter your religion. Many families in tight-knit communities are crumbling at an alarming rate. We need to see this as a reality, not something to just talk about but to act on.” To imagine progress is possible without individual initiative is folly. To believe cultural revolutionary defiance will lead to victory is to skip blindly down the garden path.

 Joseph C. Phillips is the author of “He Talk Like A White Boy” available wherever fine books are sold.