Just another political rant
I’ve been reading “The Oxford Handbook of Southern Politics.” It’s quite an eye opener. It might actually help to understand the South’s influence on the rest of the nation by thinking of the pre-WWII South as a developing nation. They had pro-business policies (low wages, low regulation) to attract businesses from the North. (The invention of air conditioning helped a lot, too) They also benefited from massive federal assistance during the Great Depression and defense contracts starting with World War II.
Then when the Democratic Party split over Civil Rights, the Republicans moved into the South. Thus what we now think of economic conservatism originated in South, as Walmart with its $18,000 a year jobs replaces “Fordism” with its $60,000 a year jobs, undermining the very middle class that held up the family values the religious conservatives wish to preserve.
The limitations of that system have become so apparent that Obama was able to win key southern states, something unimaginable only sixty years ago, when black participation in voting and elected offices in the South was 10% of what it is now. The key transition is that economic interest, due to the logical end result of Southern economics, is finally trumping the race card that Southern conservatives used to keep poor whites against blacks.
The ironies really abound. The Southern economic system destroys the middle class, so voters turn against them. During the Civil Rights movement, Southern politicians competing to be more anti-civil rights, but the more they fought the civil rights movement the more Northern voters favored it. Conservatives preach the traditional family, but promote an economic system that does not pay a man enough to support a family.
Then when the Democratic Party split over Civil Rights, the Republicans moved into the South. Thus what we now think of economic conservatism originated in South, as Walmart with its $18,000 a year jobs replaces “Fordism” with its $60,000 a year jobs, undermining the very middle class that held up the family values the religious conservatives wish to preserve.
The limitations of that system have become so apparent that Obama was able to win key southern states, something unimaginable only sixty years ago, when black participation in voting and elected offices in the South was 10% of what it is now. The key transition is that economic interest, due to the logical end result of Southern economics, is finally trumping the race card that Southern conservatives used to keep poor whites against blacks.
The ironies really abound. The Southern economic system destroys the middle class, so voters turn against them. During the Civil Rights movement, Southern politicians competing to be more anti-civil rights, but the more they fought the civil rights movement the more Northern voters favored it. Conservatives preach the traditional family, but promote an economic system that does not pay a man enough to support a family.