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The Republican Party fought hard in the '60s to get the civil rights bill passed, as well as the voting rights bill. Percentagewise, more Republicans than Democ

The Republican Party fought hard in the '60s to get the civil rights bill passed, as well as the voting rights bill. Percentagewise, more Republicans than Democrats supported it. > The degree of Republican support for the two bills actually exceeded the degree of Democratic support, and it's also fair to say that Republicans took leading roles in both measures https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2010/may/25/michael-steele/steele-says-gop-fought-hard-civil-rights-bills-196/ https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2010/may/25/michael-st... Not only is the party switch theory rather absurd (suggesting that Republicans were exploiting Johnson's support for a bill supported by over 80% of Republicans), it's also counterfactual. In fact, all but three prominent Southern Democrats remained Democrats. Al Gore's father was one of them, as was Robert Byrd, and the leader of them all, George Wallace, who won his last election in 1982, running as a Democrat for governor of Alabama.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> The Republican Party fought hard in the '60s to get the civil rights bill passed, as well as the voting rights bill. Percentagewise, more Republicans than Democrats supported it. Yes, that's why the major turning point is Johnson's support for the bill and the subsequent exploitation of disaffection within the party with that support by Republicans in the Southern Strategy. > Not only is the party switch theory rather absurd It's not a theory. The Southern Strategy starting at least with Nixon’s targeting Southern racists with the well-worn code words of the movement in the 1968 Presidential election is a well-documented fact. The body of anti-civil-rights, especially Southern, Democrats (both in the electorate and, even more clearly on an individual basis, in elected office) moving to the Republican Party over the period of 1964~1995 is a documented fact. That some of the leading wave of those (like Strom Thurmond) who left before 1968 were instrumental in the 1968 Southern Strategy is a documented fact. > In fact, all but three prominent Southern Democrats remained Democrats The list of noteworthy Southern Democrats figures, or even just incumbent officeholders, that switched party from 1964 to 1995 is much longer than 3. [0] I mean, when you see a taking head in the media today arguing that slavery was beneficial to blacks (as you do), they aren't Democrats. When you see someone arguing (or ruling from the bench) against the Voting Rights Act of 1965, they aren't Democrats. When you see former Democrat and former KKK leader and still proud racist David Duke endorsing a major party candidates for President (or running for office himself), it's not for or as a Democrat. The switch of the parties on this issue isn't a mere theory, it's one of the clearest and most readily directly observable facts in American politics. [0] It's not specific to Southern Democrats or Denocratic >> Republican switchers, but this page has a section for the latter and enough descriptive detail to use to identify the former in that list: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_party_switchers_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_party_switchers_in_t...
- leereeves 6y ago
  It's one of the big lies of American politics. Whatever David Duke may believe, he's wrong. He's ~~never won an election as a Republican~~ (see edit below), he's never been endorsed by the RNC, and he's been denounced by every prominent Republican. He is not welcome in the Republican party. And when you see someone in the media saying "You ain't black" or calling a black man "Uncle Tom", it's always a Democrat talking about a black Republican. Pretending that there are no racist Democrats is just ignoring the obvious. And that list you linked is long, but it's not a list of prominent Southern Democrats. Many of the people on that list never even held office as a Democrat. If you'd care to list the people who actually won office as a Democrat supporting segregation or opposing civil rights, then switched parties, I'd be grateful. I only know of three. Edit: In fact checking my own post, I discovered I was wrong. David Duke did win an election once, for a state House seat, running against a real Republican, despite the opposition of every major Republican leader, including President Bush and former President Reagan, and Chairman Lee Atwater, who said: > David Duke is not a Republican. We repudiate him in his views and we are taking immediate steps to see that he is disenfranchised from our party.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > And that list you linked is long, but it's not a list of prominent Southern Democrat There are more than the three “prominent Southern Democrats” you claimed on the list. Heck, there's more than that in each the early 1964-1970 phase of the Civil Rights driven realignment, and the final 1994-1995 wave, which was product of the culturally regressive wing of the party losing influence after the emerging center-right wing rose to dominance by supporting basically conservative economics while abandoning regressive culture war positions, especially on race, marginalizing both the left (who has no other major party to run to) and the solid right (whom the Republicans courted actively and welcomed with open arms).

dragonwriter 6y ago

> The Republican Party fought hard in the '60s to get the civil rights bill passed, as well as the voting rights bill. Percentagewise, more Republicans than Democrats supported it. Yes, that's why the major turning point is Johnson's support for the bill and the subsequent exploitation of disaffection within the party with that support by Republicans in the Southern Strategy. > Not only is the party switch theory rather absurd It's not a theory. The Southern Strategy starting at least with Nixon’s targeting Southern racists with the well-worn code words of the movement in the 1968 Presidential election is a well-documented fact. The body of anti-civil-rights, especially Southern, Democrats (both in the electorate and, even more clearly on an individual basis, in elected office) moving to the Republican Party over the period of 1964~1995 is a documented fact. That some of the leading wave of those (like Strom Thurmond) who left before 1968 were instrumental in the 1968 Southern Strategy is a documented fact. > In fact, all but three prominent Southern Democrats remained Democrats The list of noteworthy Southern Democrats figures, or even just incumbent officeholders, that switched party from 1964 to 1995 is much longer than 3. [0] I mean, when you see a taking head in the media today arguing that slavery was beneficial to blacks (as you do), they aren't Democrats. When you see someone arguing (or ruling from the bench) against the Voting Rights Act of 1965, they aren't Democrats. When you see former Democrat and former KKK leader and still proud racist David Duke endorsing a major party candidates for President (or running for office himself), it's not for or as a Democrat. The switch of the parties on this issue isn't a mere theory, it's one of the clearest and most readily directly observable facts in American politics. [0] It's not specific to Southern Democrats or Denocratic >> Republican switchers, but this page has a section for the latter and enough descriptive detail to use to identify the former in that list: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_party_switchers_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_party_switchers_in_t...

leereeves 6y ago
It's one of the big lies of American politics. Whatever David Duke may believe, he's wrong. He's ~~never won an election as a Republican~~ (see edit below), he's never been endorsed by the RNC, and he's been denounced by every prominent Republican. He is not welcome in the Republican party. And when you see someone in the media saying "You ain't black" or calling a black man "Uncle Tom", it's always a Democrat talking about a black Republican. Pretending that there are no racist Democrats is just ignoring the obvious. And that list you linked is long, but it's not a list of prominent Southern Democrats. Many of the people on that list never even held office as a Democrat. If you'd care to list the people who actually won office as a Democrat supporting segregation or opposing civil rights, then switched parties, I'd be grateful. I only know of three. Edit: In fact checking my own post, I discovered I was wrong. David Duke did win an election once, for a state House seat, running against a real Republican, despite the opposition of every major Republican leader, including President Bush and former President Reagan, and Chairman Lee Atwater, who said: > David Duke is not a Republican. We repudiate him in his views and we are taking immediate steps to see that he is disenfranchised from our party.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > And that list you linked is long, but it's not a list of prominent Southern Democrat There are more than the three “prominent Southern Democrats” you claimed on the list. Heck, there's more than that in each the early 1964-1970 phase of the Civil Rights driven realignment, and the final 1994-1995 wave, which was product of the culturally regressive wing of the party losing influence after the emerging center-right wing rose to dominance by supporting basically conservative economics while abandoning regressive culture war positions, especially on race, marginalizing both the left (who has no other major party to run to) and the solid right (whom the Republicans courted actively and welcomed with open arms).