Read on Twitter
Some things people don't realize:
In the wake of the Johnson presidency and in the teeth of Vietnam, the GOP was looking for some cornerstone policies that would bring in younger voters. They started making very deliberate choices.
In the wake of the Johnson presidency and in the teeth of Vietnam, the GOP was looking for some cornerstone policies that would bring in younger voters. They started making very deliberate choices.
(this is totally common for political parties - it's how we ended up with the realignment in FDR's big tent Dem party, after all)
In any case, they chose to focus first on normalizing trade with China - which seems like a no-brainer now, but at the time was pretty amazing, since we were deep in the Cold War. This was great for big business and really solidified the GOP-big business connection.
Then Nixon admin started really pushing the narrative of the evils of drug abuse and the horrors of various drugs. This was pretty clearly intended to target the progressive counterculture and inner city minorities - both strong Dem consituencies. (cont on this thought)
This Vox article does a good job of an overview of the Southern Strategy and the political motivations behind it. https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11325750/nixon-war-on-drugs
Anyway, heading into the Reagan administration, after the moderating influence of Carter, the GOP doubled down on both the pro-rich and War on Drugs, amplifying it with even more "tough on crime."
Added to that, the GOP saw a real opportunity to take Catholic votes from the Dems by pursuing a strong anti-abortion policy, and started making real efforts to court the evangelical and anti-abortion voters.
You can see how we're laying the planks for today's GOP.
You can see how we're laying the planks for today's GOP.
The Dems, at this point, essentially abandoned the South and local/state elections to focus on national level elections. This was a TERRIBLE mistake, as it's led to GOP being able to gerrymander and disenfranchise unhindered.
Onto this stage walks Gingrich with his no-negotiation/no compromise strategy for the GOP. Couple this with catering to the evangelical wing of the party, and we start the real radicalization of the GOP. It was drifting that direction, but this was a push.
You can see this in play in the Bush/Gore election and how the co-opting of state/local elections leads to the situation in FL and the Bush win. Also, see 2020 elections. But that's getting ahead a bit.
Post-9/11 the Bush admin takes the opportunity to up the police state, increase the military (which they have now moved strongly into the GOP camp on the law-and-order platform, plus the military was pretty anti-hippie counterculture given treatment of vets post-Vietnam)
so 9-11 adds a whole new anti-Muslim/terrorism spin to the "law-and-order" messaging - and at this point, we've pretty much abandoned the deficit hawk GOP plank because the constituencies aren't concerned about that.
At this point, the accelerating radicalization is pretty clear. The anti-minority, anti-Muslim elements that started as cynical efforts to disenfranchise progressive voters and demonize Dem opponents pull in white supremacists faster and faster, as they see they can affect policy
The gerrymandering and disenfranchisement continue, the policy planks more overtly cater to those elements of the party while still keeping the rich/big-business elements happy.
And that's how we end up here. With a GOP committed to disenfranchising voters because it's the only way to hold power, catering to white supremacists and radical religious right and the very wealthy and large corporations.
And the ONLY thing moderating tone and making them whine for "unity" is that corporations are seeing the relationship as problematic and they are no longer the party in power.
Giving in to the push for unity only encourages them to continue this radicalization and we will have even worse outcomes.
We've already left it too late. Dems MUST push to take local and state offices and MUST hold the GOP accountable for its actions. Elsewise, democracy dies.
We've already left it too late. Dems MUST push to take local and state offices and MUST hold the GOP accountable for its actions. Elsewise, democracy dies.
