The Death of the Southern White Democrat Hurts African-Americans the Most

The New Republic ^ | November 8, 2014 | By Jason Zengerle

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Not long after the polls closed on Tuesday night, Georgia Congressman John Barrow earned his place in history when he lost his reelection campaign to Republican Rick Allen by almost 10 points—a peculiar place he undoubtedly didn’t want. Barrow, a five-term Democratic incumbent with a conservative voting record that earned him endorsements from both the National Rifle Association and the Chamber of Commerce, was the last white Democrat in Congress from the Deep South.

Much as this is a problem for white southern Democrats, it's a crisis for black ones. That’s because blacks in the South—who, notwithstanding the very compelling counter-example of Tim Scott, are almost invariably Democrats—have for decades relied on coalitions with white Democrats to increase their political power. Lacking white politicians with whom they can build coalitions, black politicians are increasingly rendered powerless. The situation for southern black Democrats has only grown more dire after Tuesday’s midterms. To truly grasp the severity of the crisis, it’s instructive to look not at Congress and Barrow, but at state legislatures and a Democratic state senator from Alabama named Roger Bedford.

[driftless2]

I've reading and seeing stories about how important it is for more than fifty years about how important it is for blacks to get more political control. A number of American cities are almost completely controlled by black politicians.

How is that working out for the black residents of those cities? How does having a politician with your skin color help you go through school, get a job, or keep your legs closed so you're not popping out kids before you're eighteen?

[AceMineral]

What about Republicans in New England or the Pacific Coast?

[goldstategop]

The other thing that struck when I read the article is the racist condescension displayed by this liberal journalist.

He says blacks need whites to get ahead but only whites of a certain party label can help them.

Blacks have made it quite clear they have no interest in voting GOP, working with conservatives or even in learning to lobby for their own interests in the new political climate.

They don’t need Democrats to do what they’re perfectly capable of doing for themselves. Blacks need to change the mindset that the Democratic Party is the default solution to all their problems. Until they do, they’re always going to remain a minority in this country in more ways than one.

And political parties reward their friends and punish their enemies. The black community is not a friend of the GOP. I’m not losing much sleep over their plight. If this isn’t a wake up call for them - nothing will be.

[Slyfox]

I have a friend who is opposite my politics, but we connect so that’s all right. He’s white and is very active in democrat politics. Or used to be. He served on the resolutions committee at the Texas state convention. He was the only white guy. And although he has a good reputation among his kind he was nonetheless ceremoniously dissed for the fact that he was white, a guy, and not a homosexual. Needless to say, in this last election, he voted Republican.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

Thank goodness there is white guys like this to tell those of us who aren't white what's best for us (eyeroll)

[Captain Peter Blood]

Another idiot who writes about which he knows nothing.
this guy should take a political primer on Southern Politics, especially Democratic Southern Politics.
I live in the south and while the politics can be complex until the last 20 to 30 years Democratic Politics in the south was pretty conservative and a lot of those politicians were not the Liberals that today pass for Democrats.
This guy needs to do a lot more research.

[JSDude1]

Conservative black Democrats, mind you I said CONSERVATIVE, should switch over to Republican, post-haste!

[driftless2]

Well, it all goes back to the fact that a great percentage of Democrats (especially blacks) believe there is some outside malignant force i.e. evil, white conservatives controlling their lives preventing them from getting what they want. Just go to virtually any black website that's about political issues to see what I mean.

My feeling after fifty years of listening to this crap is that's it's useless to try and convince them different. White liberals are just as blockheaded.

[uglybiker]

I wonder how much of the black vote Tim Scott received in South Carolina on Tuesday.

He won with over 60% of the vote. That can't all be white folks.

[gusty]

I would tend to disagree with your assessment. My view of the old Southern Democrat is that they were not conservative at all, but liberal. In the realm of economics, the Southern Democrat was completely within the New Deal camp, they rejected the free market and were big proponents of ever bigger government. Economics was the by far greatest test of who was left or right. In regards to cultural issues, the consensus was consistent throughout the spectrum. For example, in regards to gay marriage and such, up to the advent of the New Left in the late 60’s everybody from a member of the CPUSA to a rock ribbed Republican were all on the same page. In regards to race, I would see the Southern Democrat as a radical extremist, just off the plot, in comparison with his Northern and Western GOP and Democrat colleagues. The rise of the GOP in the South had more to do with rise of the South economically from its backward status. It is the new southern managerial class that has brought the GOP dominance in the South, not race. The GOP’s dominance in the South I would argue has more to do with the invention of air conditioning than anything else.

[Captain Peter Blood]

We will agree to disagree to some extent. The old line Southern Democrats I remember are those like McClellan, Stennis, Eastland, Long and others that seemed pretty Conservative and would be outcasts in today’s Democratic party. Sure there were Liberals in the south but when I look back on it a great deal of Southern Democrats were more middle to conservative than liberal.

[ansel12]

The rise of the GOP in the South had more to do with rise of the South economically from its backward status.

As someone who lived through, it is what it still is today, social liberalism and being seen as weak on national defense and patriotism and God, drove Southerners from the democrats.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Good riddance to the “yellow dogs” and their multi-generational hatred for the Union Party. They will not be missed.

[Castlebar]

Barrow, a five-term Democratic incumbent with a conservative voting record that earned him endorsements from both the National Rifle Association and the Chamber of Commerce, was the last white Democrat in Congress from the Deep South

Does this mean that they have already written off Mary Landrieu's chances in the Louisiana runoff?