Thoughts about Southern Democrats who became Republicans

[edhopper]

Last edited Mon Jun 15, 2020, 11:14 AM - Edit history (2)

For generations many people in the South voted for Democrats mainly, and perhaps only, because Republican President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. Then Lyndon Johnson and the Democrats passed historic Civil Rights legislation and these same people moved to the Republicans. It didn't matter that the Democrats gave them Social Security and Medicare. That FDR saved many from the worst of the Great Depression. That the Democrats helped their farms and brought power to their communities. It only took the Democrats bringing Civil Right protections to "Colored People" for them to jump ship.

At their very core, Racism rules their thoughts and actions.

Today, these former Dixiecrats are all Trumpers.

[bobbieinok]

1. And GOPers tell young people a dem was governor when Ike called out troops to Little Rock

They claim a history they want no part of today

[edhopper]

2. But they support segregation

Jim Crow and the Confederacy. They can't support Eisenhower while opposing what he was trying to do.

[redstatebluegirl]

3. I am as hard on the south as anyone, but racism is not limited to the south by any means.

Lots of full blown racists in the north, in my home state of Illinois they are EVERYTWHERE downstate and in the Chicago suburbs. I live in Oklahoma, it is bad here, no doubt, what is really bad is the denial that it exists and the amount of police who are Klan members or members of other right wing groups.

Remember, Mr. Floyd was murdered by a cop in Minnesota, there have been incidents in Chicago, New Jersey, New York and other northern states and cities.

Racists are all over this country, they may be in the majority in southern states, but they are everywhere.

[edhopper]

5. Very True

I don't see where I said racism is only in th3e South. I am talking about a particular group of people who were only Democrats because of racism and switched Parties because of racism. Without this switch, the GOP would never control Congress or the Senate.

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. This x 1000

[zipplewrath]

4. very broad brush

If you go back a few decades, this would be a fairly apt description of "Dixiecrats". But most of them moved over to the GOP a couple of decades ago. Today, democrats in the south are largely concentrated in the urban areas. Get very far outside of the urban areas and they are heavily populated by republicans. And those republicans have weaponized Gerrymandering. Look at Alabama where something like 7 out of 8 of their congress critters are GOP, but the voting split in the state is usually somewhere in the 55/45 range. Quite honestly, I've seen more open hostile racism in Michigan as I have in Florida.

[edhopper]

7. That is exactly who I am talking about

The Dixiecrats who voted Democrat because of racism and now vote GOP because of racism.

I specifically said it was the 60s and 70s because of Johnson.

You are actually agreeing with me. And my point is the one factor that gave the South to the GOP was racism.

[moose65]

6. It really started in 1948

After Truman (a Democrat, by the way) desegregated the armed forces, many of those racist Southern Dems (like Strom Thurmond) bolted and became Dixiecrats. Thurmond actually ran for President that year and carried several Southern states.

Then, of course, after the Civil Rights Act was signed, many Southern Democrats left the party and went into the waiting arms of the Republicans. The irony of that, of course, is that most Republicans who were in Congress at the time voted FOR the Civil Rights Act.

The Civil Rights Act should be celebrated more than it is, though. It was one of those rare times in our history when both parties actually came together to do the right thing. And remember, at that time it took 67 votes in the Senate to stop a filibuster, instead of the 60 votes required now.

[Ferrets are Cool]

8. Please be careful with how you phrase that "ALL" word.

There are MANY wonderful Democrats here in Alabama who HATE repugs and what they stand for.

(and yes, I do understand what you are saying and who you are pointing out as being trumpers. I just hate seeing the ALL word when someone speaks of Southern Democrats.)

[edhopper]

10. I thought it was clear

I was specifically talking about the "Dixiecrats" who become Republicans after the 60s.

[quickesst]

17. bullshit....

...."Today, they are all Trumpers." The last time I looked, "ALL" is not the same as SOME.

[edhopper]

18. Today

those Dixiecrats who switched to the GOP because of the Civil Rights laws are all Trumpers.

You disagree with that?

[quickesst]

20. Haha.....

Just checked your OP again, and it looks like I completely misread........

Good move. Not very subtle, but still.....

[edhopper]

21. You aren't the only one

I thought I was being clear, but have had to edit twice because people didn't read it the way I meant.

[quickesst]

24. I said that was a good edit, but.....

" I forgot how sensitive and knee jerk people in the South are."

I have to disagree and say that only SOME of us are sensitive and knee jerk people.

[edhopper]

26. In my defense you did call my OP

a piece of shit. But i will remove that barb.

[quickesst]

27. I have decided to reciprocate

.... and I have deleted the post. Thanks for removing the barb.

[Wounded Bear]

11. Might want to change that to "former Southern Democrats"...

there are plenty of current Southern Democrats fighting the good fight with us.

Just sayin'

[edhopper]

13. Yeah

fixed. Thanks

[Wounded Bear]

15. I appreciate and agree with the sentiment...

I was barely voting in the Nixon era, but I remember the "Southern Strategy" well.

It's about time we overcome it once and for all time.

[edhopper]

14. If you read my OP

you will see I am talking about the Southern Democrats who switched to the GOP after Johnson.

Guess I needed to be clearer.

[Amishman]

16. I'd say its a matter of them staying where they are and ending up aligned with the republicans

on social issues. Mainstream society has shifted left in many ways and those who did not move with it ended up aligned with the republicans.

Happened in the south, also happened where I am in central PA. The voters who used to vote in blue dogs are now voting in republicans.

[edhopper]

19. True for a lot of people

But by 1980, the South had become a pretty solid Red.

[Hortensis]

22. After 1964 most of the last of the southern CONSERVATIVES finally

overcame their traditional enmity against Yankees to flee to the conservative party from the Democratic Party that had become dominated by liberals in the 1900s.

19th century southern conservative Democrats were Democrats BEFORE creation of the new Republican Party, not because of it. Earlier in the century, when the Whig party broke up, the original ' liberal Democratic-Republican party was overrun and taken over by mostly conservative western and southern settlers.

Around the time the Republican Party was formed, the conservative-dominated Democratic Party had split into the proslavery Southern Democratic Party and the Northern Democratic Party.

Plus, many of the most rabidly proslavery southern conservatives belonged to yet another, even more strongly proslavery party. The Civil War's outcome of course settled the hash of many of these parties. The defeated pro-slavers mostly consolidated in the broken remnant of what was called again the Democratic Party, but they and it were nearly moribund for the rest of the 1800s, without any real national influence.

In the new century, when liberals took the Democratic label back over, its southern conservatives became a perennially unhappy and enraged minority faction who remained only because, being what they were, they still rejected the Yankee party. Which brings us back to the top.

[edhopper]

23. And at the heart of all this

was their racism.

Good post!

[Hortensis]

25. Yup. Huge factor.

Even Christianity's quite different here than out west where I grew up. Or especially?

30% AA in a state versus 3% makes the difference between and .