How the South was won

Boston Globe ^ | March 5, 2006 | Clay Risen

[ConservativeStatement]

THE EROSION of the Democratic Party's hold on the South is one of the most important changes in postwar American politics. In 1950, only a handful of congressional districts in the region even featured Republican candidates on the ballot. Today, the GOP holds the majority of House seats below the Mason-Dixon, and in 2004 President Bush swept the South's electoral-college votes. The historic switch from blue to red over the past half century not only robbed Democrats of their assured congressional majorities, it shifted the center of Republican political power from the Northeast to the Sunbelt.

[ConservativeStatement]

Whatever way the Dems want to spin it, they are dinosaurs in their thinking and out of touch with many Americans.

[Quanah Parker]

"Whatever way the Dems want to spin it, they are dinosaurs in their thinking and out of touch with many Americans"

True! But they are experts at manipulating the emotions of the 52% of Americans who let gossip do their thinking for them.

[LibLieSlayer]

This is simple. We Suthun' folks just hate dims!

LLS

[weegee]

The historic switch from blue to red over the past half century

Uh, the color went from being Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats only in recent years. I hate this "red state" BS.

I think that the left disliked the commie association and wanted to be thought of as "true blue" or "blue collar".

There is one election atlas site that decided NOT to redraw all of the maps when the mass media shifted the colors.

[bourbon]

read the whole article. interesting.

[GSlob]

"52% of Americans who let gossip do their thinking for them."
Thinking is hard, and it hurts. "Thou shalt not think", do not forget.

[RedMonqey]

The Authors of this book are partly correct.

The only thing that kept the Solid South in Democratic hands was keeping the black man down(uniting upper, middle and lower classes together)

However Johnson broke that compact Seeing no difference between the two parties on race,, CLASS, not race based politics dominated.

A growing middle class shifted naturally to the Republicans and their conservative governing style.

[BamaGirl]

"Conventional wisdom says the Republican Party won the South because the Democrats embraced civil rights. Now a pair of political scientists argues that the GOP takeover had more to do with economics than race."

---

Ohmigawd there are just figuring this out now? If I recall Sowell wrote about this in his book that came out this year.

But them them keep thinking we are a bunch of backwards racist dimwits.

[Siena Dreaming]

Conventional wisdom says the Republican Party won the South because the Democrats embraced civil rights.

Ha. "Civil Rights" sounds so nice, but it was a way to continue keeping the "blacks on the plantation" by letting the Democratic white elites take care of them through welfare.

The Repubs coming into the South is what created more freedom there, both for black and white.

[RedMonqey]

Uh, the color went from being Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats only in recent years. I hate this "red state" BS.

You noticed that too? I thought it strange that growing up I always associated "blue" with Yankees and Republicans.(a natural back then) and Democrats with "red" and commies.

Who decide they could switch? (rhetorical question)

[Paleo Conservative]

Uh, the color went from being Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats only in recent years. I hate this "red state" BS.

Normally the party in power is blue while the party out of power is red.

[Dick Vomer]

[SWAMPSNIPER]

"Whatever way the Dems want to spin it, they are dinosaurs in their thinking and out of touch with many Americans".

---

I grew up in St. Augustine, Florida. When, in 1963, I became 21, I registered as a Republican. The county registrar actually tried to talk me into changing my mind. If the party assigned numbers, I would probably be number 10 or 12, in St. Johns County. Republicans were almost as rare around here as dinosaurs. There were no Republican, local primaries, no Republican, local candidates
My father was always conservative, but it took me until 1995, a year before he died, to convince him to change his registration. He only did that, so he could sign a petition, to get a family friend on a local ballot.
Unfortunately, I now see the Republican Party slipping away from me, and, not even listening for my voice.
Is anyone really, vaguely, in touch with "many Americans"?

[varg]

www.constitutionparty.com

i'd vote for them, but ... that'd just be giving the dems my vote.

[x]

If you look at the areas where Republicans made inroads into the South in the 1950s and 1960s -- Texas, Tennesse, North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida -- they weren't the Deep South states with the strongest opposition to segregation. It was Northerners moved South and Chamber of Commerce businessmen who voted for Eisenhower, not die-hard segregationists. So of course it wasn't race that started the shift.

If you look at Southern voting now, it doesn't seem like race is a major factor either. That is to say, Blacks tend to vote one way and Whites the other, as in other states, but Republican voters in the South aren't voting for segregation or to keep Blacks down. Race may have played a role in shifting some states to the Republican column, but it was hardly the monolithic factor that some make it out to be.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Race never entered the equation for me. One of the most important factors, for me, was the democrat stance on gun control, it wasn't so harsh then, but I could see what was coming. RKBA may be an issue that many Republicans don't get worked up about, so be it, but RKBA is a litmus test for adherence to constitutional principles in general. Things all boil down to rule by men, or rule by law. Constitutions are barriers to democrats, fortresses to republicans. We need to remember this, above all else.

[MCH]

Republicans, the liberal party (big government, high taxes, outta-control spending, unfettered illegal immigration)

Constitutionists, the conservative party (individual liberty, limited government, free enterprise and traditional American values)

Sounds feasible. Only problem is getting the "Constitutionists" party off the ground in the current 2 party monopoly w/o letting the Dims take over. If it materializes and there's a huge near-instantaneous momentum change, sign me up, but for the life of me I can't see how.

[MassachusettsGOP]

The Democratic Party will never die in places like Massachusetts, Chicago, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey.

The dead will just keep on voting

[arthurus]

Historically and for a LOOONg time red was for the Left and Blue was for the Right. MSM did not like using that color scheme because Red always had thoseunwanted Leftise connotations so they changed that in 2000. But the problem with the connotations is that the Left is generally identified as irresponsible anarchists and socialists by the general population and the new names will have the same connotations. That is similar to the reason for having to change the offocial term for African derived populations. The terms are not inherently demeaning. The attitudes of the general population make the connotations and each bright new respectable term becomes pejorative over time.