What the GOP Lost When It Won the South

[homersapien 11,357]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/23/what-the-gop-lost-when-it-won-the-south.html

.......The injection of Southerners into the Republican coalition—a coalition they ultimately came to dominate—couldn’t help but change the image of the GOP. There were racial, cultural, political, and even religious implications.Republicans captured the South, yes, but the South also captured the GOP. There were no doubt many salutary benefits to this arrangement—most obviously, an electoral boon that lasted for decades. But it also guaranteed we would eventually see a day of reckoning.......

........This brings us to today. As we all know, the demographics of the country are changing rapidly. The electorate is rapidly becoming less white, less rural, and better educated. Yet the GOP is still culturally synonymous with, well, white, rural, less-educated Southern whites, who remain a major pillar of the party’s support. And so you get to the point where guys like Scott Walker and Rand Paul spend a week ducking questions about whether the Confederate flag should be flown on government property…in 2015.......

[DKW 86 7,419]

I agree with much in the article.

The only caveat is whether I would concede that others in Merica are really any better educated.

You can go online and find any number of fools willing to be interviewed that lack even basic educations, that are said to be college attendees.

The petition to ban di-hydrous monoxide comes to mind.

[autigeremt 6,593]

I agree with much in the article.

The only caveat is whether I would concede that others in Merica are really any better educated.

You can go online and find any number of fools willing to be interviewed that lack even basic educations, that are said to be college attendees.

The petition to ban di-hydrous monoxide comes to mind.

Careful! You are either for them or against them.

[AUtiger98 24]

This article takes a very narrow look at US politics, by only examining the presidential results. Let's face it, since Republicans have only won 1 of the last 6 popular votes there is a party problem when it comes to presidential politics. The republican losers were: George Bush Sr., Bob Dole, George W. Bush (won electoral vote), John McCain, and Mit Romney. Right now the Bush’s' are so toxic with the base, Jeb will never win the presidency, and the others three are not quite conservative favorites either.

In my opinion, these guys didn't do enough to separate themselves from the Democratic challenger. Example, look at how Trump's numbers soared when he differentiated himself from the other candidates. I also think Obama did a good job of this when he ran against Hillary. Reagan did a good job of this too.

Now if we take a broader look at the political landscape, we’ll find states like Alabama and Arkansas were Democratic controlled in the state legislature (both houses) from the Civil War to 2010. We could make some assumption about why this change happened. I would say it was due to the far left policies passed in the first two years of the Obama, Reed, and Pelosi regime, but I’m sure those on the left would blame it on race. The reason I would say the change was based on policy is that we’ve seen similar changes in state and local government since 2010. In 2008, there were 28 Democratic Governors and 22 Republican Governors. In 2015, there are 31 Republican governors and 18 Dems (1 independent). Republicans now control 69 out of 98 partisan legislatures on the state level (house and senate). That’s 70 % control. The Republicans hold the governor’s mansion and both chambers of the legislature in 24 states. That’s 48% of the states with total control. Having total control of state government in 48% of the states shows the GOP is making gains in more places than just the South. Also, think of how many state reps. are building support systems to make that next step toward running for Congress.

(This doesn’t include Congress. The house flipped to Red in 2010 and now holds its biggest majority since 1930. In the 2008 Senate, Dems had a 60 member super majority and now they're down to 44 members.)

So while the rest of the country is being painted red, it’s no wonder the author of this story is trying to paint with a broad brush when it comes to presidential politics. It’s the only bright spot for the Dems in American politics.

[WarTim 3,456]

We'll said 98. Thanks for posting...