Chait writes: "The civil rights movement, once a controversial left-wing fringe, has grown deeply embedded into the fabric of our national story."
Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, and other civil-rights heroes. Not pictured: African-Americans. (photo: NY Magazine)
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Re white racist votes, didn't Goldwater candidly aver that he intended to go hunting where the ducks were?
And LBJ -- as politically astute as any President ever -- rightly prophesied that Dems would lose the South for generations by enacting the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.
And what happened to Northeastern Republicans, heirs to abolitionist forebears in the GOP? They're all gone, replaced by southerners and westerners.
The Republicans' expressed desire to drown the federal government in a bathtub is nothing more than Nullification revisited. Often known as States' Rights and now Tentherism, the idea is that federal authority is illegitimate when in conflict with the states, that regional concerns properly trump national ones. What regional concerns? Well it turns out that they have ALWAYS been racial -- slavery and Jim Crow. The whole history of the filibuster is writ there, too.
Republicans who tell a different story are fools, or worse.
Cast no stones unless your own slate is clean.
Classic argument of the guilty (if I can judge by my kids) "Hey, I ain't the only one!"
Doesn't make him more innocent.
We do have a civil rights problem, still, but it "ain't what it used to be". We are making progress, in spite and because of the politicians.
So, intellectuals, quit chasing your tails and quit trying to out obfuscate each other and get focused on solutions for which you might not get a by line or credit.
Oh, oh, oh-h-h!
Such wisdom takes my ever-left tilted breath away!
Show us where on the right or the owner-media, including PBS, where the real interllecterls hold fo'th in all their quiet, unostentatious modesty between the lengthy commercials (or "grants" in the case of the latter) that sustain them in their modest profundity and scripted "P.C.".
Slap the other wrist ol' dahlin', it's just DYIN' for a wee pat!
Lyndon Johnson did have a different attitude and, with the critical help in Congress from Republicans, passed the Civil Rights Act.
Segregationist Democrats did at that point leave the Democratic Party and quickly moved to the Republican camp but it was not because Republicans were racists, but rather because no national party espoused racism and Republicans more closely fit segregationist' s views on economic policy.
Chait is trying to re-write history to fit his preconceived notions of what should have happened. It is true that liberal Democrats also were helpful in the civil rights years but many of us who were unaligned and many Republicans were also needed to overcome the racist tendencies within the Democratic Party.
Lee Nason
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Hint: They are now republicans.
You can't be "marginally" involved in something as huge as the Civil Rights movement! Margins are safe zones!
"Dixiecrats" sound familiar?
How did things ever get to this point ? My prayer is that the Aliens will come save us from ourselves :)
As far as the topic of Sandra Fluke is concerned, you are woefully uninformed. This doesn't surprise me. Your belief on this is "...so she can have sex at will outside of wedlock..." is breathtaking. Let me know if the 18th century has returned your embrace.
The same was seen in several counties all across Florida in 2000 - where predominantly democrat counties were showing a majority of votes going to Bush. This was so obvious it was scary to think they might actually get away with it..... And they Did !!!
These were the easy ones to spot, if they do this more discreetly they could make small changes and have the same affect and without raising red flags. The overwhelming part of the 2004 election was the fact that the exit polls had Kerry winning but when the votes were counted, they went to Bush. NEVER have the Exit Polls been that out of whack. And - dont forget, Bush Sr job at the CIA was to fix elections in other countries so they could put in the puppet regime that they wanted.
Florida 2000 did have paper ballots....reme mber the hanging chads??. The problems was that they were not all COUNTED. Bush had the SCOTUS stop the counting.
What they are are right wing RADICAL [as in pulling things up by their ROOTS ] extremists ....
Seriously ... can you tell me the parameters of that Civil Rights Equality and what happens when it is finally met? Will I be FREE of all the B.S. that goes along with the march towards it.. someday saying ... look how ridiculous those people used to be when it was so simple ... we just have to do it and stop marching towards it?
Republicans in the House voted 138-34 for the bill. In the Senate, they voted 27-6 for it. The divisions, in both the House and Senate, were not by party, but by region -- the representatives and senators from the south voted Nay, pretty much unanimously.
Well, that was a different era. The Percys and Kuchels were run out of the Senate by the radical anti-civil-righ ts concervatives, led first by Goldwater but followed by Nixon's strategists in 1968. That contained its own paradox, because Nixon's campaign employed the "southern strategy" of appealing to white southern voters with thinly-disguise d racism, while his administration, once in office, actually acted in a progressive way on race. They kept up the rhetoric which was effectively anti-black, while inventing affirmative action and continuing to press desegregation lawsuits. As one of Nixon's minions remarked, "Watch what we do, not what we say."
By the time Reagan was nominated, the civil rights Republicans had been driven from the party or politically neutralized. It had become the party of white backlash and resentment; it hasn't changed since.
United states of America under the constitution of The united states which protects individual liberty and property and the right to seek ones own happiness, with only the responsibility that you not interfere with others because they (all of mankind)also have the same rights.
Patriot 13, It's a good thing this is typed, because unless you are a true sociopath, you could not possibly say that line with a straight (and no, I don't mean heterosexual) face! Really?! This country discriminates against wealthy white men? You may want to check your water supply, because there are some major psychotropic drugs being fed to you if you honestly believe that statement. Words can only fail to express the preposterous mendacious audacity of that statement. When a hedge fund manager (15% TAX ON CAPITAL GAINS!) is taxed at MORE THAN double my tax rate of 35% (as I am currently taxed at more than double his rate) for as many years as he has been receiving his tax holiday, then we can first talk about equality; but discrimination? ! Unless you run a hedge fund, look in a mirror, because YOU are part of the mindless, ignorant Republican flock of sheep that continually vote against your own self interest based upon the color of your skin. WAKE UP!!!
and exactly where was KKK recruiter Robert Byrd seated till his death in 2010?
Or is blind hypocrisy ok?
The late Sen' Byrd spoke openly -and quite touchingly- about his former KKK involvement -almost a default requirement in WV and other Dixie states in his time as a white male youth. He also openly regretted it, as did the former Gov' Wallace "Separatism for ever" before his death.
Thurmond NEVER changed his stance and therein lies the difference which illustrates you own selective declamation on history to make specious point (at best).
Are you saying that we are not supposed to change and should be stamped with out past mistakes, blunders and stupidity for the rest of our lives? Then fall all of us!
Methinks you casteth a stone which is bouncin' back at ya mate!
You never say much about y'r own stances on these things.
Progressives play their part by dismissing red states as inhabited by uneducated Neanderthals. The media is full of this bias and it only helps the GOP. In reality we have an urban/rural divide, not a blue/red state divide. This is revealed when looking at a detailed electoral map, it's even true in most of the South. It's also true in CA and NY, most rural areas are as 'red' as Indiana. Only states with huge urban populations are 'blue'; California, New York, Illinois, etc. It's a game of percentages and Republicans have mastered the game.
I don't know what the solution is but we need to move past the nonsense of the culture war which only benefits conservatives and consequently the wealthy and corporations. As long as Democrats also remain in the pockets of corporations, people will vote on social issues.
With the lack of actual incidents at any rallies I have personally attended, or have seen reported about larger national TEA Party events, how did you arrive at calling the TEA Party movement RACIST. While I know people that are personally prejudiced in some degree, as I am sure you do as well,I don't see any of them wishing harm or unequal justice to any person just based on their skin color or sexual orientation.My personal stance on race is that color of skin has no relevance,As per MLK-Character is how I judge a person as to weather I choose to have them in my circle of friends.I Imagine you do the same.I am a strong Tea party principle supporter and am opposed to edu.and job race quotas because they send the message that blacks-women-xy z group, can't make it on their own. Enforcement of racial or sex discrimination is illegal and needs to be prosecuted and punished. Blacks ARE capable and don't need quotas!
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-spending-binge-never-happened-2012-05-22?pagenumber=1
It is soo much easier to protect falsehoods and lie and talk about others then it is to have an honest discussion with others.
Apparently When I complained about Big Brother government under Bush - I was a mal content fighting for individual rights, BUT when I complain about Big brother government under Obama I am a racist... stupid hypocrisy - like parties are more important then policies and people.
Not every Republican or Tea Partier is a racist but practically every racist has joined the conservative cause and that is by design.
I'm less worried about your racism than by your remark about "[your] reality." Creating a separate version of reality was a hallmark of the Bush administration, and accounted for a lot of the mess Dubya left behind.
Oh (sighing) Dear.
subsidies to oil companies who rake in taxpayer dough to supplement their overpriced oil products.
How can that possibly be only republicans fault?
The republicans did not want to do ONE POSITIVE THING. They were dead set on defeating Obama. That was their ONLY goal.
The problem IS the divide of Red vs Blue. This is a military tactic called Divide & Conquer and it works like a charm especially when they can get Red vs Blue pointing their fingers and screaming at each other. Look how much $$ you can steal along with their rights when they are preoccupied with each other.
The problem is actually much larger and less controllable. The Banks own the Corps that own our Gov't that pass the laws and enforce control over We the People. The corporate media plays by a script to keep the divide and flame the fires while selling us a load of BS and the latest electronic gizmo (that will keep our little Brains busy for a while)... Occupy may be our last & best way to restore some sanity & wrest control back from becoming a complete totalitarian state. Watch the movie "Thrive" (Google it). Its a free online movie that explains who & how our Energy, Education, Food, Health, Rights & Financial system is being controlled by a very few men on a global scale.
http://www.thrivemovement.com/the_movie
Draw a line from the southern tip of Nevada all the way across the country to Norfolk, and then toss in West Virginia and Kentucky. In every state south of that line (with the exception of Florida) childhood poverty is over 20%, and in some counties in some states surpasses 65%.
Of the 47 Republicans in the Senate, 22 of them come from the fourteen states south of the line.
There is another statistic worth noting. Disproportionat ely, more “entitlement” money flows to those fourteen states as compared to the rest of the nation. Even with that, childhood poverty is rampant.
With all the ranting and raving they do about family values, you’d think the GOP would see to it that “their” children received better treatment.
Thus marks two of the many glaring contradictions between what the GOP practices versus what it preaches. The sad thing about all this is that the “good ol’ boys” buy the crap their selling. And those “boys” can evidently afford NASCAR races, but not food for tots.
In reality, those southern men are being treated as stooges by their white, racist overlords. Ditto for their wives, ya’ll.
resegregation of America is coming from the corporate side which will be an economic-racial beast rather than the old line Black White B.S.Our masters in Singapore and points East are pointing us that way.
- Fact it was only AFTER the democrats finally came to the table set by the Republicans for 100 years (Ya know Lincoln, MLK) and grudgingly modernize did civil rights pass.
"[denies] he was a Republican, as do respected academic experts and former King associates and friends. The record shows that as a civil rights leader, King avoided partisan identification.
We rate the statement False." http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/jan/17/raging-elephants/houston-group-says-martin-luther-king-jr-was-repub/ Martintfre, I know, being a Republican, you probably don't believe in evolution, but things do evolve nonetheless. Many Southern Democracts, along with Southern Republicans were racist. It split the Democratic party and there was a mass exodus of Dixiecrats who joined with the racist faction of the Republican party, where their beliefs were embraced. THAT is where the Republican party of today has evolved from.
Lincoln was a Republican, all right--and Republicans have been sobbing for forgiveness from the white South for generations.
And even Lincoln hoped to kick the freed blacks out of the country after emancipation and was dissuaded only when it became obvious that was impractical. Lincoln also favored restricting the vote only to so-called "very intelligent" blacks, while allowing any white moron to exercise the franchise as always.
Rights are not granted or revoked because of your race,gender,rel igion they are inherent, part of being human.
The whole division philosophy is collectivist - your rights, or lack of them is deemed by which gang your a member of. That thinking - core to racism and core to modern progressive thinking is anti-individual anti-freedom.
It is core to slavery where some have a special right to the life of others and that can be imposed by government force -- sadly that has been the nature of governments through out history till The Decoration of Independence, till the individuals rights to their life was enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Rather then looking at the incomplete execution of that ideal - and focusing on the historical hold overs such as slavery - the goal should always be the completion of freeing all individuals from any form of oppression by others be they individuals, gangs or government.
A just government respects the rights of all people equally and grants special favor to none.
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