There's a whole lot more to the African-American community than entertainment and sports.

Affirmative action is a little like the professional football draft. The NFL awards its No. 1 draft choices to the lowest-ranked team in the league. It doesn't do this out of compassion or guilt. It's done for mutual survival. They understand that a league can only be as strong as its weakest team.

My father taught that the only helping hand you're ever going to be able to rely on is the one at the end of your sleeve.

Most of all, however, critics of black conservatives say we've forgotten where we came from. I may forget a federal budget number or, God forbid, to set the alarm clock for my weekly 6 a.m. flight to Washington, but I know exactly where I came from.

My views on everything from welfare to a balanced budget to affirmative action can be traced to what Buddy and Helen Watts taught me as a young boy growing up poor but proud in Eufaula.

Americans are hungry for a discussion on policy solutions to the problems in their communities that work.

I think Newt Gingrich has a proven track record of changing Washington and getting results.