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Those who are uneducated and ignorant are drawn to the republicans and hard right tea party. Not surprising the most wealthy, educated and prosperous areas are also the the most heavily democratic.
Basically what Conservatives do extremely well is appeal to peoples' ignorance and bigotry to get their support.
As a member of the Reagan administration in 1981, Atwater gave an anonymous interview to Political Scientist Alexander P. Lamis. Part of this interview was printed in Lamis' book The Two-Party South, then reprinted in Southern Politics in the 1990s with Atwater's name revealed. Bob Herbert reported on the interview in the 6 October 2005 edition of the New York Times. Atwater talked about the GOP's Southern Strategy and Ronald Reagan's version of it:
Atwater: As to the whole Southern strategy that Harry S. Dent, Sr. and others put together in 1968, opposition to the Voting Rights Act would have been a central part of keeping the South. Now [the new Southern Strategy of Ronald Reagan] doesn’t have to do that. All you have to do to keep the South is for Reagan to run in place on the issues he's campaigned on since 1964 and that's fiscal conservatism, balancing the budget, cut taxes, you know, the whole cluster.
Questioner: But the fact is, isn't it, that Reagan does get to the Wallace voter and to the racist side of the Wallace voter by doing away with legal services, by cutting down on food stamps?
Atwater: You start out in 1954 by saying, "N****r, n****r, n****r." By 1968 you can't say "n****r" — 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****r, n****r."[6][7]
Jazzy, that explains perfectly well why white conservatives in the south vote for smaller government, even when they are poor.
However, it does not explain why they are poor in the first place, which IMO is not due to the political/racial/economic strategy laid out by Atwater; pervasive southern poverty does, of course, predate Lee Atwater.
Jazzy, that explains perfectly well why white conservatives in the south vote for smaller government, even when they are poor.......
They vote for the promise of smaller government- but they never get it, not even, and sometimes ESPECIALLY, when Rs are in the majority. They never seem to notice this, however.
They vote for the promise of smaller government- but they never get it, not even, and sometimes ESPECIALLY, when Rs are in the majority. They never seem to notice this, however.
And blacks have been voting for Democrats for decades and not a single Democrat has ever done anything other than keep them quiet until it's time to vote.
Many people in those states join groups like the Tea Party and become conservative because they're overrun by poor, government addicted trash that lives on tax dollars and demands more daily.
You got that right. And it will never get any better. "Progressiveness" and "Enlightenment" (or lack thereof) have nothing to do with the Deep South's problems. Heritable IQ has EVERYTHING to do with it. The Deep South is simply swamped with people whose Heritable Intelligence is so low, they cannot be truly educated. Many are so stupid, they cannot even be sustainably trained.
Mississippi suffers from the residue of the Plantation System. Wave after wave of unintelligent people were imported, by a tiny elite in no way representative of the state's People, to work the fields. As with Detroit, many borderline whites, from the fringe areas of Europe were imported, when Slavery was outlawed. That backfired. They took over, and their rudeness and dishonest ways added another layer of misfortune to the state.
Most of the state was initially settled by Norse Protestant small farmers, who did their own labor, and who were kind, decent, industrious people: Mayberry types. But the Elites' never-ending quest for cheap labor polluted the state with abusive, uncouth types, whose behavior contributed to the climate which drove the nice people away (the Lynch Mobs were mostly of recent immigration). I know this better than most, since I'm descended, in part, from one of the nasty groups who helped ruin things.
Back before Air Conditioning, Mississippi's heat made life untenable for many people, five months of each year. It was quite rational to move to a better climate, and the more intelligent (and affluent) people did. I suspect the only thing that kept most of the better people in Mississippi was desperate poverty. For a solid century...roughly from the Eighteen Sixties to the Nineteen Sixties...most Mississippians were too poor to finance a move out of the hot, horrible South (I'm Native American, with Mediterranean admixture, and am very heat-resistant. Frankly, I miss the heat and humidity. But I've witnessed, all my life, the devastating effect of the heat on White People).
Too, the Robber Barons had free rein to rape Mississippi, for an awful long time. Mostly, they came in and took the Timber. But there were extensive financial manipulations, too.
Anyway, by the time Air Conditioning came along, it was too late. Too many Norse Protestants and Jews had fled, and too many low-IQ people were in the state. They formed the Labor Pool, and were part of the reason why nothing in that pitiful place ever went like it was supposed to. When your employees cannot follow the simplest instructions, your endeavors are doomed from the beginning. To succeed, most people had, first, to move away from those hopeless people. Mississippi's Brain Drain had become self-perpetuating.
My own family began leaving in 1959, and I was the last one out. The relatives who preceded me all describe the shock of how easy it was to make money, once they'd made it to better places. Initally, like most Mississippians, they only made it as far as a couple of tanks of Gas would get them. They wisely chose the new industrial zones in the Appalachians, where their Elvis-like Native American looks would not be a hindrance. It was a matter of being able to function without all the stupid people dragging everyone and everything down. "Girl, it was like wading through Molasses, living in Mississippi. Everything was so hard. Then we got here, and it was like there was no Gravity. We just took off. Like we could suddenly fly." They did very, very well.
Me, I had no problem, because I took care to find the largest concentration of smart people in the state. I learned to move only in that world, where interactions with people too stupid, and too uncooperative, would not wear me down. Basically, I learned to minimize friction which might lessen my momentum. But my Husband and Kids were miserable there. "Mom, we're not doing Residency there. And when that's over, we still not coming back. Move out here." and "Baby, let's get out of here while we're still young."
Finally, the white trash in our town forced the Mayor to force a developer to destroy the ornaments on a really beautiful building going up near our home. Last straw. So we left. I thought I was happy. Now I'm really happy. Thought I had great friends. Now, with brilliant friends and neighbors, I'm totally free of all the symbolism, fatalism, idealism, sentimentality, religious foolishness, that crept into interactions in the South. I no longer have to deal with the angst that bright Mississippians developed as a result of having had to surrender so much of their intelligence, in order to coexist with The Rest of Mississippi.
Why are Mississippians 'Conservative'? Well, the rich ones, among whom I came to live, in an now-evaporated dream world once known as Fashionable Northeast Jackson, are 'Conservative', because of frustrations with the Underclass. The Underclass is 'Conservative', because they adore Hate Legislation. It was the Underclass (you know: the people I described as being too stupid to even be adequately trained) in Mississippi who voted against Gay Marriage, by the widest margin of any state. Any Draconian, Holy-Bible-Approved measure is fine with them, as long as it punishes somebody...preferably painfully. They are really too stupid to realize that the Bible is only a collection of writings....and too stupid to comprehend the concept of 'Thousands of Years Ago'... much less the maze of translations and contradictions inherent in the book. But they're up in Church, clapping and screaming, and learning to hate the Gays (even if their preachers are hanging out in public restrooms, servicing Truckers). I'm not talking about Rednecks, here. Some are White Trash: mostly, they're 'Other'.
I realize the Original Post here was not really a question. It was a plant...basically a statement that CONSERVATIVE EQUALS IGNORANT....probably part of a concerted effort to teach the young to vote Democrat (Don't be like those ugly Old People...those ignorant, wrinkle-faced Republicans. Vote Democrat..The Young & Withit Thing!!!!). Personally, I have no use for either party. And I detest Conservatives and Liberals equally.
In any event,the poverty of the Deep South came long before the Tea Party (and I'm not sure how many Tea Partiers are really down there). But if there really are many Tea Partiers in that region, I'd imagine it's because they have never had the luxury of living in denial, as so many Americans seem to still do. They're sick and tired of Government interference in their lives, and of pointless Government extravagance. Not that the Tea Party is really going to do anything about anything.
In the city where you live what race was the mayor 50 years ago. What was the condition of that city then?
What race is the current mayor?
How long have the people of that race controlled your city?
As is indicated by the picture on my profile, I am black.
50 years ago, the mayor of Fort Worth was white. Fort Worth was doing quite well. The current mayor is also white. Fort Worth is still doing fairly well, but the suburbs have sucked a lot of life out of the city. To my knowledge, there has never been a black mayor of Fort Worth.
As for Dallas, since I have family in the inner part of said city as well, I'll even answer for it as a bonus. The current mayor of Dallas is black. 50 years ago, the mayor was white. This mayor is fairly new, and entered because the last one resigned. Dallas did fairly well back then, but is struggling now due to the suburbs sucking the life out of here as well.
Local black political people (especially city councilpeople) have played a big role in both FW and Dallas politics for a couple decades now.
I am really curious as to the point of these questions.
Those who are uneducated and ignorant are drawn to the republicans and hard right tea party. Not surprising the most wealthy, educated and prosperous areas are also the the most heavily democratic.
Like the fine residents of Washington DC.
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