Originally Posted by
Dachshund
The idea that Richard Nixon used a racist "Southern Strategy" is a phony old myth.
It is still pulled out, on the odd occasion, by Leftist nit-wits in the context of debates about the politics of race in America in the 20th century.
Once upon a time, the Democratic Party was the Party of Jim Crow, and the Republican Party was the Party of emancipation and racial integration.
Democrats were the Confederacy and Republicans were the Union. Jim Crow Democrats were dominant in the South and socially tolerant Republicans were dominant in the North.
But then in the 1960's and 1970's everything supposedly "flipped". Suddenly, the Republicans became racists and the Democrats became the champions of Civil Rights
Why did this happen?
The story - which was fabricated by left-leaning academic elites and journalists - went like this...Republicans could not win in a national election by appealing to the better nature of the country, they could only win by appealing to the worst.
The leftist media pinned this plot on their all - purpose "bad guy" the villainous, Republican President Richard Nixon, and it came to be known as "The Southern Strategy".
The "Southern Strategy" was very simple. Here was its rationale...
(1) WIN ELECTIONS BY WINNING THE SOUTH.
(2) TO WIN THE SOUTH APPEAL TO RACISTS.
(3) SO THE REPUBLICANS, THE PARTY OF FREEDOM, WERE NOW TO BE LABELLED THE PARTY OF "RED-NECKS."
BUT THE STORY OF THE TWO - PARTIES SWITCHING IDENTITIES IS A MYTH. Actually, it's THREE MYTHS rolled into ONE BIG FALSE NARRATIVE.
MYTH (1).... In order to be competitive in the South Republicans started to pander to White racists in the 1960's.
THE FACTS...Republicans actually became competitive in the South as early as 1928 when Republican Herbert Hoover won over 47% of the South's popular vote against Democrat, Al Smith. Then in 1952 Republican President Dwight Eisenhower won the Southern States of: Texas; Florida and Virginia. In 1956, he picked up: Louisiana; Kentucky and West Virginia too. And this was after he supported the Supreme Court decision in "BROWN vs BOARD of EDUCATION" that desegregated public schools. It was also after he sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock Central High School to enforce racial segregation.
MYTH (2)....Southern Democrats angry with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 switched Parties.
THE FACTS....Of the 21 Democrats who opposed the Civil Rights Act, just ONE became a Republican. The other 20 continued to be elected as Democrats or were replaced by other Democrats. On average, these 20 seats didn't go Republican for another 25 years.
MYTH (3)... Since the implementation of the "Southern Strategy", the Republicans have dominated the South.
FACTS Richard Nixon, the man who is typically credited with creating "The Southern Strategy" lost the deep South in 1968. In contrast, Democrat Jimmy Carter nearly swept the region in 1976, nearly 12 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Then in 1992, over 28 years later, Democrat, Bill Clinton, won: Georgia; Louisiana; Arkansas; Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.
The truth is Republicans didn't hold a majority of Southern Congressional seats until 1994, 30 years after the Civil Rights Act.
In short, if the Southern "Red-Necks ditched the Democrats because of the Civil Rights Law passed in 1964, then it's kinda strange that they waited until the late 1980's and early 1990's to do so?
SO WHAT HAPPENED ?
WHY DOES THE SOUTH NOW VOTE OVERWHELMINGLY REPUBLICAN? The reason is because the South itself has changed. Its VALUES have changed.
The racism that once defined it does not define it any more. Today its values are CONSERVATIVE: pro-life; pro-guns and pro-small government. Southern Whites are more likely to vote for a Black Conservative like Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, than a White Liberal.
Like other regions of America, the South increasingly votes VALUES and not skin color.
The myth of a "Southern Strategy" cooked up by that Devil incarnate, Richard Milhous Nixon, is just an excuse the Democrats have made up for losing the South and a means to smear the Republican Party with baseless allegations of racism.
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Oderint dum metuant
Next time a leftist tries the "party switch/Southern strategy" lie; blast them
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