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Years ago, Republicans in the south were considered an oddity by the mainstream GOP. But today, those same southern Republicans who long for the pre-civil war days have taken complete control over the Republican Party, and pushed moderates and independents out. The military industrial complex, their immersion of religion into politics, and even their love of corporate America can all be traced back to the roots of the Southern-brand of GOP. Very interesting and so true.
Years ago, Republicans in the south were considered an oddity by the mainstream GOP. But today, those same southern Republicans who long for the pre-civil war days have taken complete control over the Republican Party, and pushed moderates and independents out. The military industrial complex, their immersion of religion into politics, and even their love of corporate America can all be traced back to the roots of the Southern-brand of GOP. Very interesting and so true.
I'm guessing that what you know about the South would fit on the head of a pin. I read snippets of the book and it was a bunch of half-truths that omitted any details that contradicted his pre-conceived theme. And guys like you are gullible enough to swallow it.
A little history lesson for you. The Democrats pretty much controlled the South completely and utterly until the 90s. Only since 2010, for example, does Alabama have a Republican controlled legislature. Did the Democrat Party ever lift a finger to achieve racial equality or anything else during the intervening time? Nope.
Instead of being lazy and resorting to that tired explanation that the South turned Republican because we're a bunch of racists, why not try a completely different theory to explain why Southerners became solidly Republican? Because from the end of Reconstruction to the early 90s, the Democratic Party had uncontested control of the South. The resulting bad policies, mismanagement, cozy backroom deals and outright corruption held the region back for well over a century, and voters finally punished them for it.
You don't seem to realize that a lot of the Old School Democrats still lurk around. They haven't changed parties and the fossils keep running and trying to pull the levers of power. It also doesn't seem to occur to you that the South was at the bottom of every possible measurable statistic because the Democratic Party put them there. Suddenly, when Republicans managed to win governorships or at least keep the Democratic Party honest in the state legislatures, guess what happened? Southern states began to make across-the-board progress.
What's more, in Alabama, the only politician who lifted a finger to get rid of a regressive sales tax system and an antiquated state constitution that embraced wording from the Jim Crow era was Bob Riley, the Republican governor. The man was opposed by the Democrats, who represented old boy landowners. However, in the next election Bob Riley was so popular that he even had a 70% approval among black Democrats, and totally crushed his Democratic opponent. Today, while Alabama is still ranked around 46th in household income, the trend lines conclude that the state is about to surpass other states such as Ohio, Michigan, and Missouri sometime in the next decade or so. And, what's more, when you use the U.S. Census's adjusted income rankings, Alabama is actually ahead of both California and New York. All because the stranglehold of the Democratic Party was broken two decades ago.
I'm thinking that maybe you should spend less time reading agenda-driven hacks and spend more time reading balanced analyses of a region that continues to grow economically and politically.
Considering the mass migration of Yankees from the north to the south, its a wonder there is any 'Southroners' left. Once Texas and Florida filled up the other states in the 'Confederacy' started to get filled up with Yankees as well. Hell you walk around Columbia, S.C., you will hear English, Spanish, French and German spoken. Also see Indians(subcontinent kind) walking around as well.
As to this guy's book, you can cherry pick the areas you want to study because there are pockets of the 'old south' still existing, but they are shrinking or being assimilated into some kind of Yankee-Rebel fusion.
I can not - I just can't get over that "great trader of the left, John Kerry"..
CARRY ON
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