Excellent piece.
Its long past time to take history back from the habitual liars on the left.
Republican Conservatives were not for Segregation and Jim Crow: in fact, they believed that if these laws were not in place, the shift in public opinion even in the South would begin integration. However, they were against the proposed “Civil Rights” laws that injected the heavy hand of the Federal Government into every “public accomodation” business in America; they feared that these laws crossed the constitutional boundary into regulation within States, and would be the first step towards the destruction of the concept of “private property”. [If you don’t believe me, read Goldwater’s “The Conscience of a Conservative”.]
The Liberal Democrats denied that the Conservative’s concerns had any merit, and proclaimed that racism was the only reason Conservatives opposed the legislation. The accusations worked, because enough Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Laws to pass them.
The result: civil rights laws, and Republicans branded as racists for the next 100 years.
In retrospect, the Conservatives were absolutely right. The civil rights laws enlarged the scope of the Federal Government to the point that a host of federal agencies now claim jurisdiction overy every square inch of land in the US. The “public accomodation” meme is now being used to fine a bakery for refusing to bake cupcakes for a homosexual celebration, and to pass regulations fining a business for not providing free abortions for their employees.
Yep, that’s how it happened. We’ve forgotten the Tenth Amendment and libs got state’s rights branded. It’ll be a long, tough road back, but Obama’s the best help a constitutionalist could want.