Reply #96: Do you honestly think [View All]

[BDW1964]

That all or even a large majority of Southerners are right wingnuts? The Democratic party is rather strong in all parts of the south. Democratic candidates are elected routinely at the local, county state and even national levels. What is different in the Red/Blue state dichotomy is that it is based upon the presidential breakdown. The presidential breakdown is by the Constitution, based upon the Electoral College, which many would say is an outdated method of electing the president. The Electoral College was established in the Constitution when the concept of the country was "the united States of America are" instead of how it has changed since the Civil War to "The United States of America is". People in antebellum American conceived the country as a plurality of independent, sovereign states, not as a sovereign state itself.

Take for instance my state, Texas. While the Republicans have a large inroad on the presidential and state executive offices, they by no means have a dominant majority in the counties or even the legislature. The true color of America is purple, not Blue versus Red. Nor by any means are the majority of southerners (be they Democrats, Republicans or Independents) racists, right wingnuts with a bent to reinstate slavery, segregation or to attack others. It is instructive to note that many of the right wing nuts that lead the hate chorus on television, radio and in print are from "Blue States", like Ann Counter from New York/Connecticut.

Calling for this kind of simplistic thing, is a willingness to surrender to the planned, orchestrated and manipulated political strategy of the Republicans. As a southerner, I will not leave, I will not go quietly into the night, I will not surrender to the voices of hate from the Republican party and some segments of the Democratic party. When we, as Democrats are willing to paint whole regions or states with an Us versus Them brush, we have adopted the same tactics our opponents have used. We become nothing more than they are, dedicated to power through fear and prejudice instead of through better ideas.