Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/02/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Absolutely true, Marc- Not the idea that Strom was the first to hide the fight for segregation and subjection of blacks under the flag of states rights, but right that a number of prominent "liberal" Republicans did indeed fight for Civil Rights legislation, in a coalition with northern Democrats. The irony, of course, is that the old southern wing of the Democratic Party is now the dominant wing of the Republican party - with the passage of the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Acts of 64'-65, which were rammed through by Lyndon Johnson, southerners deserted the Democratic Party in droves - a fact Nixon capitalized on with his "Southern Strategy," which began to pull the south into the Republican column. There really is no difference today between the southern Republicans and the old Democratic party in the region. B. D. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Marc James Small Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 11:43 AM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: [Leica] States' Rights and Racism At 06:42 PM 2/9/03 -0800, Mark Rabiner wrote: > >The "states rights" thing did start out, Marc, I just read with Tricky >Dick when he was first running for President everyone wanted to know >which side he'd take on the Civil rights issue which was up there on >peoples minds and how he'd handle it. Mark You have your facts sadly in error here. Strom Thurmond ran for President in 1948 on the "States Rights Party" platform, and ran on only three issues: retention of segregation, reduction of the Federal government, and a strong, anti-Communist foreign policy. That is where the confusion between "states' rights" and "racism" arose. But, just because the term might have occasionally been used as a "code word" (which I seriously doubt, despite the claims of the Left) does not, of course, mean that there is no validity to the concept. Nixon actually supported the early Civil Rights bills as did the national Republican Party. While the Republican Party in the early 1960's was thundering for states' rights, it was the Republicans in Congress who got the Civil Rights legislation passed. A large percentage of the Democrats voted against these bills and not necessarily those just from Southern states. Marc msmall@infi.net FAX: +276/343-7315 Cha robh bąs fir gun ghrąs fir! - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html