Republican Party = Best Choice for Racists and Nativists
Our modern Republican Party has quite obviously and transparently become a party that seeks out racist votes and appeals to prejudiced whites.
This may seem like old news to many of us as the Republican go-to method of national campaigning has been the infamous “Southern Strategy” since the American era of civil rights in the 1960s. The southern strategy of course has been the Republican method of appealing to anti-black sentiment, white racism, fear, and nativism in the southern states. By sweeping the electoral-college votes in the south due to this method they are able to perform well overall in presidential elections, as in the rest of the country they only need to receive a relative tie with their opponents.
The constant block of southern states that are highly susceptible to messages of racism, prejudice and nativism have allowed Republican candidates to win the white house since the late 1960s with few exceptions. Presidents Clinton and Carter were both southerners, which allowed them to cut into this solid block of republican support. President Barack Obama had to rewrite the book on securing Electoral College victories and proved effective in 2008. He is the only democrat who has been able to win the presidential election who had not come from the south, since the development of the “Southern Strategy of the late 1960s.
This tells us a lot about the current Republican view of how to win the upcoming election. They are convinced that the Southern Strategy is their bread and butter and they must redouble their efforts therein as it has proved the most effective in the recent past. They have a unique opportunity to run against a black person in this election and appeal to racist and nativist sentiments all the more effectively because of it. In times of economic stress populations generally become more racially tense as people become defensive and angry, eager to blame the “other” for their situation.
Republicans have worked hard these last few years to not only deny President Obama legislative victories, but also to prolong the depressed economic situation that we found ourselves in at the end of the Bush term in 2008; All in order to defeat him in this coming election and return to the policies that they have become known for.
The republican campaign to suppress the votes of those who are likely to vote for democrats is easily explained in this context. So are all of the racially charged attacks coming from the Republican Party in this election season.
Our mainstream media will not simply explain that republicans are, and have been, reliant on this method of appealing to racist and nativist voters for numerous reasons. In large part the media is an accomplice in these tactics due to their reluctance to honestly relay this information to the masses. The next weeks before our national election in November will be further proof of the Republican Party’s continued reliance on their “southern strategy” , through continued appeal to these lowest common denominator of American voters… Racists, nativists, and prejudiced and fearful whites.
If you want to do something beyond voting in this election, in order to realize a more equal society then a small option available to you is joining colorofchange.org to help stop the voter suppression campaign.
