Vagabond Manifesto
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Posts: 10
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« on: November 11, 2004, 08:26:44 PM » |
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I think there are some books on this...one that deals with this somewhat is Thomas Frank's "What's the Matter With Kansas?", a liberal's take on why formerly progressive farmers in the Midwest overwelmingly vote Republican now.
Here are some thoughts from what I know of the re-alignment:
--the Republicans were the party of the wealthy in the 19th century, while the Democrats were the party of the agrarian South. With industrialization, Republicans further embraced big business
--many progressive Republicans left the party in the 1920s, and especially once the New Deal began
--the final straw was the 1960s. The moderate-to-liberal wing of the Republicans, led by Rockefeller, lost out to the right-wing Goldwater faction. Goldwater's Southern Strategy, which used social issues and civil rights to win votes in the South, was adopted as a blueprint for the Republicans
--civil rights was the biggest cause. The Democrats basically lost the entire South because of it. Note the "Dixiecrats" under Strom Thurmond, even before the national legislation of the 1960s.
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