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You know that the Democratic party lost the south because of race? I mean, Strom Thurmond, of all people, used to be a Democrat. And Obama didn't lock up the
by sachinag 18y ago
You know that the Democratic party lost the south because of race? I mean, Strom Thurmond, of all people, used to be a Democrat.
And Obama didn't lock up the black vote until white Iowans voted for him. Hillary was winning the national black vote 2-1 until after he won the caucuses. The evidence is pretty clear that black people don't just blindly vote for other black people - they vote in their self-interest, and until Obama seemed credible, their self-interest was to vote for Hillary.
- amichail 18y agoSo given two credible candidates, they would vote based on race. This makes sense as it is based on self-interest. But one can make a similar self-interest argument for white people voting based on race also. The question is when does self-interest turn into racism and whether the notion of racism even applies to voting.
- whughes 18y agoIsn't that a straightforward question? Self-interest turns into racism when the candidate voted for is not the best candidate. If you vote for an inferior candidate on the basis of race, then you are not acting on your own self-interest. I use the terms "best" and "inferior" to refer to the candidate's benefits to the specific voter.
- omnivore 18y agoThe parties flipped. Blacks were heavy Republican voters due to Lincoln until the 1950s when it started to shift. Edward Brooke, the first black US Senator since Reconstruction was a Massachusetts Republican. Things didn't really shift until the Civil Rights Acts in the 1960s were passed, coupled with Great Society programs of Johnson, that put blacks in the Democratic camp for good and sent Dixiecrats to the GOP.
- aswanson 18y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy