Reply #38: Thanks for the compliment! [View All]

[QC]

I think there are several reasons for the popularity of this topic.

One is the perception that "the South" is a monolith that is absolutely 100% Republican. It follows from that perception that the only way for us to win is to look elsewhere.

Unfortunately, another reason this topic comes up sometimes is plain animus against the South and Southerners. You can always tell when that is the case because the discussion includes complaints about letting "trailer trash" dominate the country and such as that. There's no point in trying to reason with people like that.

And sometimes there's a form of scapegoating involved. For many people, the South is where conservatism lives, and without it America would be a liberal paradise, with free Birkenstocks and tofu for everyone. Of course, this ignores the fact that if only the South voted Republican, then Democrats would control every branch of the federal government and the majority of state governments as well, which is clearly not the case. The truth, of course, is that the Republicans have support in most parts of the country. Let's not forget where Nixon, Reagan, Dannemeyer, and Dornan came from.