According to the media, I do not exist. I am a black conservative male in the era of President Barack Obama and Democratic control of the House and Senate. According to the mainstream media, Hollywood and academia, I am on the wrong side of history. Am I trying to be white? Have I sold out?

My transformation from a liberal Democrat to a conservative was a long journey. I was raised in a two-parent, strict Christian household in San Diego, CA from the late 1960s until the mid-1980s. My father was a 27- year Navy veteran, a business owner and a church deacon. My mother was a strong, pious woman who was very active in the church.

I began to wonder why my parents always voted for Democratic candidates, even though their agenda did not improve our lives. I was told the same familiar line that Democrats care for the working class, the poor and minorities and that Republicans are the party of the wealthy. As a teen, I accepted this. After all, I was told by the media, the church and civil-rights organizations that I am born a victim and only the Democratic Party can help. My father would complain about taxes and illegal immigration; he hailed the importance of national security. Even at a young age, I understood that the Democratic Party ignored these issues. I also knew that Jimmy Carter’s presidency was disastrous; I remember the long lines at gas stations and the embarrassment of the Iran hostage situation. My family backed the Democrats anyway.

When I attended college, I just wanted to fit in. I was self-conscious about being teased for not using much slang and for “speaking white.” To be more like my peers, I joined extremely far-left radical groups on and off campus that had goals to overthrow the government. Yet, I knew that these radical groups propagated ideas that contradicted my Christian beliefs. I was torn. I finally distanced myself and re-examined my support for the Democrats.

In southern California, the dominant influence on the values and politics of the youth was Hollywood. I noticed that Hollywood—with the assistance of liberals and Democrats— promoted the complete opposite of my Christian values. Hollywood says that conservative values are old-fashioned and we should “live and let live.” The music industry, including rap music, also propagates this message. Thus, what I regarded as a detestable and vile lifestyle was constantly being championed by the prevailing culture and the Democratic Party.

I also questioned why so-called black leaders and all major civil rights organizations insisted that we (black people) give our votes to the candidate with a “D” after his or her name, without questioning their agendas. While I was about to vote in my first election in the mid-1980s, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley made a last-minute campaign stop to my church in San Diego. He told our congregation to vote for him mainly due to his skin color. He did not really discuss the issues. I considered Mr. Bradley’s statement to be arrogant. I voted for the Republican candidate who was the eventual winner, even though I still regarded myself as a Democrat.

For years, I religiously voted for the candidate with a “D” after his or her name. The Democrats were consistently pandering to us, especially by coming to our church the week before an election. They would sing off-key and clap off-beat and pretend they cared. Yet, there was no change or improvement in the black community after every election. The schools were deplorable, the neighborhoods surrendered to gangs and there were more liquor stores than regular grocery stores and banks.

I noticed a common theme: The breakdown of the black family. The American family structure was deteriorating as a whole, but the black family structure was on life support. Liberal democratic social welfare programs became entitlements and these programs tore the family apart. Too many black men were going to prison and were not present to be fathers and to train their children. The two-parent, wholesome family was becoming an institution of the past—as Hollywood and the music industry glorified misogynistic movies and songs.

In addition, when welfare reform was discussed, most in the inner cities were ready to march and protest in opposition. It appeared to me that the goal of the Democratic Party was to keep us subjugated and keep control over us. The liberals’ answer to every problem was that the government could help.

I was dissatisfied with the liberal and Democratic agenda. But I still refused to call myself a Republican or conservative. Maybe I was a so-called moderate or independent. Twice, I refused to vote for President George W. Bush even though I agreed with many of his policies more than with those of his Democratic challengers, Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004.

I took on-line surveys during the 2004 election that showed I was a conservative—but I continued to resist: It could not be possible. The questions were basic. The surveys asked if I believed in the family structure and freedom of speech (even if I disagreed with the message); what my thoughts were on abortion, what my feelings were on national security and gun control and if I believed in lower taxes. I took several of these tests and I was appalled. Could I really be a black conservative?

At last, I met and communicated with other black conservatives and realized I was a conservative, too. I told a good friend of mine, a conservative Jewish man, about my newly-discovered conservative leanings. He welcomed me to the club. He constantly challenged my faith in big government.

I did not share my discovery with too many blacks for fear of being labeled a sell-out. After all, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were huge sell-outs, according to black liberals and the media. The silence and hypocrisy of the black church also appalled me. They were silent as the left took God out of the public sphere; they were silent on social issues such as abortion, homosexuality and the break-up of the family. I realized I had to speak out.

Even though I have been screamed at, cursed and called, “Uncle Tom,” I still stand by my conservative values.

I have since been challenged by black liberals who seem to want to make a black/white issue out of my conservative beliefs. Yet this decision is about lifestyle and beliefs—not race. Is it a black/white issue to have traditional values, love the country that you were born in, believe in a smaller, less-intrusive government and to pay lower taxes? Is it a black/white issue to disagree with harmful entitlement programs, prefer capitalism to a socialist-type economic system, and believe in maximum protection for the country from its enemies and for its borders? Is it a black/white issue to not buy into a utopian-type society where everyone is equal? Is it a black/white issue to believe in the Constitution for what is says, but not what it could say? Is it a black/white issue to believe that the government is the problem and not the solution?

I am frequently asked by black liberals and Democrats (usually in a combative way) how I can be conservative and what would our slave ancestors say? I usually ask them: “How would our slave ancestors feel about you being a Democrat?” I point out that Democrats fought hard to keep slavery, introduced Jim Crow Laws, created the Ku Klux Klan, attempted to block a Republican-backed Civil Rights Bill in 1957 and filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Bill.

The 2008 election was especially challenging. I knew that many of my family and friends blindly voted for Mr. Obama only because of his skin color and not the substance of his policies. They pressured me to do the same. There were heated debates and hurtful things said. I did not waiver. For the first time, I cast a vote for a Republican presidential candidate—even though Senator John McCain ran a weak and miserable campaign. I defied history.

I refuse to follow individuals who consider themselves “reverends” and the self-appointed leaders of Black America. I refuse to approve of their shake-down methods, while they profit and gain more perceived power. I will not be influenced by Hollywood actors or musicians who promote liberalism and harmful lifestyles. I will continue to refute the idea of the Democratic Party as “the party of the people”: It is the party of trial lawyers, unions, academia and radical environmental groups. I refuse to have the mainstream media as my main source for news when their agenda is to promote liberalism. I also will not give my vote away just because a candidate has an “R” next to his or her name. I will view their credentials, policies and beliefs thoroughly before I give my vote.

Unless Mr. Obama suddenly moves to the right, he will not receive my vote when he runs for re-election in 2012. I will not blindly follow him because of his skin color. I will not be moved by his shallow speeches which promote an extreme leftist ideology. I will question his past associations and see their relevance to his current actions. Black liberals and Democrats can yell at me and try to intimidate me, but they cannot defeat my arguments.

I am a conservative, I am proud and I will spread the word. The mainstream media—and society at large—can pretend that I do not exist. Yet there are more of us then you think and we will be heard.