And that’s exactly what happened. Undisputed racist and Democratic governor of Alabama George Wallace, after a failed attempt to run for president in 1964, ran in 1968 as the American Independent Party nominee on a purely segregationist platform. His campaign split the Democratic Party votes in southern states allowing Nixon to win the race despite that Texas broke Democratic. Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia voted for American Independence Party candidate George Wallace because Democrats liked his racist message. The Democratic control of the south was split by heavy support for Wallace by Democrats in states like Tennessee, Missouri, and both Carolinas allowing Nixon to win in states that were historically Democratic. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ElectoralCollege1968.svg)
So was the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Nixon’s supposed “southern strategy” the end of Democrats in the south? Not even close. The next elected president after Nixon was southern Democrat Jimmy Carter who won the entire south in the general election. Followed by Reagan and Bush, who nobody would claim benefited from race issues, but benefited from President Carter’s failed economic and foreign affairs policies. By the 1994 Republican takeover of congress (under another southern Democratic president Bill Clinton), a generation had passed since the 1964 Civil Rights Act and George Wallace’s campaign. President Clinton attributed much of the credit of the 1994 takeover to the “NRA having a great night” and the Republican’s Contract with America; not resentment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The 1994 Republican victory in the House was the first time Republicans had controlled the House of Representatives since 1954, due to the popularity of southern Democrats for decades. In 1980 Republicans took control of the Senate, beating out Senate Democrats led by KKK member Sen. Robert Byrd, a southern Democrat. Sen. Byrd was the Senate Majority leader throughout the 1970s and again when Democrats took back the Senate in 1987.
“He once had a fleeting association with the Ku Klux Klan, what does that mean? I’ll tell you what it means. He was a country boy from the hills and hollows from West Virginia. He was trying to get elected,” former President Bill Clinton said of Sen. Robert Byrd at the senator’s memorial service. Sen. Byrd was strongly opposed to the 1964 Civil Rights Act and refused to vote to confirm Supreme Court nominees Thurgood Marshall and Clearance Thomas. Sen. Byrd was the man Democrats chose to lead Senate Democrats for decades. Considering his record and the fact that Sen. Byrd made it to Klan leadership holding titles of “Kleagle” and “Exalted Cyclops”, it seems unlikely Sen. Byrd simply “was trying to get elected” as Clinton stated. Maybe it depends on what the definition of “was” was?
To be clear, what I am not saying is that all Democrats are racist. What I am saying is that their history, near and far, is racist and it is due to their tendencies towards a collectivist, political philosophy that sees people as groups to be controlled as opposed to seeing individuals with unalienable rights.
Sen. Guillory’s message is important. Don’t use his message to argue with Democrats who won’t change their mind anyway. Sen. Guillory’s message isn’t going to turn more Democrats. Most are too entrenched. Use the information regarding political philosophy, what it led to historically, and how it manifests itself today to reach out to new voters. It can convince fence-sitters that the Republican Party is best for their future. This is an opportunity to tell the poor, tired, huddled masses that judging by history, if they continue to vote Democratic, poor, tired, and huddled is all they will ever be.
Image: File: George_C_Wallace.jpg licensed with PD-USNWR (US News & World Report); Will Pittenger; author: User:Tilden76; derivative work: Gobonobo; public domain
