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Old 11-10-2011, 02:07 PM
 
Location: Freedomtown, US
100 posts, read 100,795 times
Reputation: 136

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I was talking to a neighbor of mine (an older guy) who grew up in the South and he told me that his father and grandfather "would never have voted Republican if their lives depended on it." He said during his time, people in the South hated Republicans and almost all of them were Democrats.

I took a politics course in college and discovered that this was absolutely true. The Democratic Party controlled southern politics for more than a 100 years. Democrats' control of the region was referred to as the "Solid South" and they controlled the governments in those states at every level (i.e. state and local).

When you look at the voting patterns of the South now, the region votes heavily Republican. In fact, most (if not all) southern states are hard-red Republican states. What exactly caused this political change? How can a region support a party for over 100 years and just completely leave that party in such a short period of time?

 
Old 11-10-2011, 02:08 PM
 
3,457 posts, read 3,613,012 times
Reputation: 1544
Quote:
Originally Posted by RUDE DUDE View Post
What exactly caused this political change?
school desegregation.
 
Old 11-10-2011, 02:12 PM
 
Location: Littleton, CO
20,893 posts, read 16,030,245 times
Reputation: 3954
Quote:
Originally Posted by RUDE DUDE View Post
I was talking to a neighbor of mine (an older guy) who grew up in the South and he told me that his father and grandfather "would never have voted Republican if their lives depended on it." He said during his time, people in the South hated Republicans and almost all of them were Democrats.

I took a politics course in college and discovered that this was absolutely true. The Democratic Party controlled southern politics for more than a 100 years. Democrats' control of the region was referred to as the "Solid South" and they controlled the governments in those states at every level (i.e. state and local).

When you look at the voting patterns of the South now, the region votes heavily Republican. In fact, most (if not all) southern states are hard-red Republican states. What exactly caused this political change? How can a region support a party for over 100 years and just completely leave that party in such a short period of time?
The parties traded places in terms of political philosophy.

The Democrats used to be the reactionary, conservative party and the Republicans were the liberal progressives. This is now reversed.

As the South was and remains reactionary and conservative, the partisan realignment is obvious.
 
Old 11-10-2011, 02:14 PM
 
7,871 posts, read 10,102,480 times
Reputation: 3240
My family never switched over to the GOP. In their minds, Republicans = meddling Yankees and they'll have none of it. They'd rather go liberal.

 
Old 11-10-2011, 02:15 PM
 
42,732 posts, read 29,762,258 times
Reputation: 14345
The region votes Republican in national elections. But the Democrats, really until 2010, were more often the favored party in local elections.
 
Old 11-10-2011, 02:17 PM
 
400 posts, read 292,713 times
Reputation: 155
Southern strategy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quote:
You start out in 1954 by saying, "N---er, n---er, n---er." By 1968 you can't say "n---er"—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.

And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "N----er n---er".
--Lee Atwater, Republican strategist
 
Old 11-10-2011, 02:20 PM
 
Location: Home, Home on the Front Range
25,826 posts, read 20,622,459 times
Reputation: 14818
Good analysis here:



The “Southern Strategy,” fulfilled - Salon.com
 
Old 11-10-2011, 02:23 PM
 
Location: South Carolina
8,145 posts, read 6,511,664 times
Reputation: 1754
Quote:
Originally Posted by RUDE DUDE View Post
I was talking to a neighbor of mine (an older guy) who grew up in the South and he told me that his father and grandfather "would never have voted Republican if their lives depended on it." He said during his time, people in the South hated Republicans and almost all of them were Democrats.

I took a politics course in college and discovered that this was absolutely true. The Democratic Party controlled southern politics for more than a 100 years. Democrats' control of the region was referred to as the "Solid South" and they controlled the governments in those states at every level (i.e. state and local).

When you look at the voting patterns of the South now, the region votes heavily Republican. In fact, most (if not all) southern states are hard-red Republican states. What exactly caused this political change? How can a region support a party for over 100 years and just completely leave that party in such a short period of time?
Race. President Johnson(Democrat) backed the civil rights movement and then Nixon(republican) used the southern strategy to tell the southern white men we are for you and all your racist beliefs. Its clear as a bell. strom thermund the ultimate racist hypocrite is the best example. Just follow his bio and see it all layed out. It was racial hatred of blacks that caused it and its that same group that is the so called tea party now.
 
Old 11-10-2011, 02:24 PM
 
Location: New York City
4,035 posts, read 10,266,807 times
Reputation: 3753
Quote:
Originally Posted by RUDE DUDE View Post
I was talking to a neighbor of mine (an older guy) who grew up in the South and he told me that his father and grandfather "would never have voted Republican if their lives depended on it." He said during his time, people in the South hated Republicans and almost all of them were Democrats.

I took a politics course in college and discovered that this was absolutely true. The Democratic Party controlled southern politics for more than a 100 years. Democrats' control of the region was referred to as the "Solid South" and they controlled the governments in those states at every level (i.e. state and local).

When you look at the voting patterns of the South now, the region votes heavily Republican. In fact, most (if not all) southern states are hard-red Republican states. What exactly caused this political change? How can a region support a party for over 100 years and just completely leave that party in such a short period of time?
Democrats were popular in the South because Lincoln was a Republican. When LBJ, a Democrat, supported the Civil Rights movement they switched to the Republicans. It’s more complex now because of the rise social conservatives, who weren’t a large voting block before the 80s, but party affiliation was very racist.
 
Old 11-10-2011, 02:26 PM
 
Location: Freedomtown, US
100 posts, read 100,795 times
Reputation: 136
Quote:
Originally Posted by HistorianDude View Post
The parties traded places in terms of political philosophy.

The Democrats used to be the reactionary, conservative party and the Republicans were the liberal progressives. This is now reversed.

As the South was and remains reactionary and conservative, the partisan realignment is obvious.


But what about Democrats like Woodrow Wilson? He was a southerner, a Democrat, and very progressive on economic and international issues. In fact, he implemented the gradual federal income tax that we have today (which itself is called a progressive income tax). His racial views and attitudes were in line with most southerners at the time, however.

And what about Republicans like Calvin Coolidge? He was a northerner, a Republican, and very conservative on economics (he was a Laissez-faire, free-market President) and US international involvement (he wanted as a little involvement as possible). I admit he was very liberal on the race issue (he demanded equal rights for blacks and native Americans; also wanted the federal government to work to bring the races together).
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