Junto Boys

The Myth of the Racist Republicans

If you're in the mood for a somewhat long, but interesting article charting the Republican gains in the south -- here it is. Gerard Alexander points out that the Republicans first started making a splash in the south in the 1952 election, a full 12 years before the divisive Civil Rights Act of 1964. Further, Alexander points out that Republican gains in the south were made first in the peripheral south, not the deep south. States like North Carolina, Texas and Florida and Arkansas became Republican before Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. The growth over the years was helped by northerners moving south and younger southern voters who were much more likely to vote for the party of Lincoln. It wasn't until the 1990s that Republicans controlled the majority of southern House seats and gained control of Congress. Is the south more racist now than it was during Jim Crow?

Also, Republicans are called racist for being against affirmative action, busing, welfare. But these positions can be an argument for a colorblind society. Southern Democrats like George Wallace were openly for segregation. Alexander contends that former southerner Democrats started voting for Republicans not because Republicans shared their racism, but that their neutral racial policies were much less radical than the liberal Democratic "stick it to the man" positions were becoming. The Republicans didn't pander to those southerners, but offered a less radical path to equality.

FDR spent his presidency placating openly racist southern Congressman, but history has treated him kindly. The last openly racist Senator is Democrat, Robert Byrd. He continues to get a free pass in the media. Let a Republican speak against affirmative action and he's accused of pandering to racists. What liberal media?