as long as we aren’t discussing public schools

tlynch001 on April 5, 2008 at 8:33 AM

LOL Don’t get me started.

Though the weird thing is, 30 years ago I got a very good education in most respects in our public school system … but I wouldn’t vouch for any of them today.

VolMagic on April 5, 2008 at 8:20 PM

Fair enough, we are closer to understanding each other, this is good.

I thought you were endorsing all of the positions of freevillage

Which are… ? With quotes, if possible.

Here I would just disagree with you. But without a dissertation length post I’m afraid I won’t be able to convince you of that. Ah well.

Bringing racists into the party was a unforseen (or forseen I dont know) consequence of Reagans Souther Strategy.

VolMagic on April 5, 2008 at 8:11 PM

Sokay, there are still local politicians in our party who do continue to make our lives difficult.

20 years ago would have been 1988. Are you claiming that post Reagan GOP is racist ( or even contemporary Reagan GOP?)

I’m sorry then. I thought you were endorsing all of the positions of freevillage when you said you agreed with him. My apologies for hasty reading. I don’t disagree with your points about the past. I just transposed them on the current political climate and disagreed.

VolMagic on April 5, 2008 at 8:08 PM

Exactly my point, we are still dealing with the racist assbags we recruited 20 years ago.

Again, you are reaching into the history of the Party. Freevillage made the claim that the GOP still is a “refuge” for southern racists. He even has anecdotal evidence (which I don’t buy for a second cause any person running for elected office that uttered the phrase “n—– lover” in public hearing would have made national headlines for a week).

I don’t deny that racism was a part of all political parties at some time in the past. I just refuse to believe that in the present the GOP is the party of racists. Which is a posistion you endorsered when you agreed with freevillage.

VolMagic on April 5, 2008 at 8:04 PM

Negative, I stated quite specifically on what points I agreed with FV on, that was not one of them.

a very selective view of history and poltiical theory.

VolMagic on April 5, 2008 at 7:56 PM

I submit that your belief that we did not recruit Jim Crow Democrats in the 70’s and 80’s if a “selective view of history and political theory” or “wishful thinking”

I saw that you agreed with freevillage, who claimed that “every piece of racist filth in the south is welcome in the Republican Party”

I just thought that if you agreed with him then that is what you thought.

Seriously dude, there is this thing called federalism. In our constitution, it is written that the National Government shall only have the powers that are ennumerated therein. All other rights and powers are reserved for the states and citizens.

Thanks for the civics lesson, dude. I am well aware of the Constitution and its entire intellectual family tree.

I made the argument that States Rights has come to mean one thing and one thing only to a fairly large group of people.

You can claim that states rights just means keeping those “uppity black folks under the thumb of Jim Crow” but this is, at best, a very selective view of history and poltiical theory.

I challenge you to show me where I said anything of the sort. I said that that is what it means to some! Some who were actively sought after by our party!

VolMagic on April 5, 2008 at 7:52 PM

No, you are trying to imply a generalization that does not exist because you do not want to face an ugly possibility.

No I am not saying that. However, we made an active attempt to recruit the people who opposed civil rights when the black vote abandoned us completely. Remember, the Southern Strategy the desire to take that demographic away from the dems once and for all instead of them running off into the wilderness with the likes of George Wallace.

I am a Southerner, every guy I have ever seen who fears black people is a Republican, and local republican leaders (at least here) tell them everything they want to hear.

I would take a guess that you are from TN. Please dont think I am trying to smear the entirety of the white, southern voting block.

If you dont think that states righte means “the rights of the states to keep those lousy n-words where they belong” to some people within the party, you are living in a bubble.

Seriously dude, there is this thing called federalism. In our constitution, it is written that the National Government shall only have the powers that are ennumerated therein. All other rights and powers are reserved for the states and citizens.

I am a big believer in states rights because I don’t believe that the people of California should be forced to live according to the mores of the people of South Dakota, or vice versa.

I am a big believer in states rights because I don’t think the select few in Washington D.C. should be able to dictate to everyone in the country how to live.

I am a big believer in states rights because I believe that the best way for people to lve is according to their own self-governance.

You can claim that states rights just means keeping those “uppity black folks under the thumb of Jim Crow” but this is, at best, a very selective view of history and poltiical theory.

So, basically, all the racists in the south are republicans? Am i reading you right?

So the only reason people are concerned about the federal government trampling the power of the states is because they’re worried some black guy somewhere might be treated fairly for a change?

If you dont think that states righte means “the rights of the states to keep those lousy n-words where they belong” to some people within the party, you are living in a bubble.

I support states rights whole heartedly, so long as they do not trample on the rights a dignity of American Citizens.

States rights mean different things to different people, like the Confederate Flag (which I see not as a symbol of racism but a symbol of willful rebellion).

Without citing Robert Byrd, please cite any hard-core old school racist who stayed in the Democratic Party? We will be saddled with the effect of the Southern Strategy for the next few generations until the racists finally die off.

VolMagic on April 5, 2008 at 5:36 PM

Indeed, since I am a Republican, I clearly do not think that all Republicans are racist, however if you think that the old racists of the south are still living in the Democratic party, I submit that you are misguided at best, willfully ignorant at worst.

I hate to say this, but Free Village is right. The Republican party set itself up as the haven for the “disenfranchised” white rascists who were not happy with Dem support of the Civil Rights act, etc.

Remember the “Southern Strategy” it wasnt about getting nice, egalitarian southerners into the Party.

Squid Shark on April 5, 2008 at 2:09 P

Wow! Your post above is wrong on so many levels, it is hard to know where to begin, but I will say that it represents excellent “liberal Democratic” political analysis.

The fact of the matter is that — due to asinine policies (read: affirmative action) that truly ALIENATED many NON-RACIST hard-working, conservative whites (in BOTH the NORTH and the SOUTH) who had formerly voted Democratic — there was an entire block of voters ready to be appealed to by the Republicans, who wisely did so. I suppose you wish that the Dems had won the White House instead of Reagan? That is the logical implication of what you are saying.

Moreover, I personally can remember no “racist” policies proposed by the Republicans when they appealed to Conservative Southerners.

Oh, and those whites were not “disenfranchised,” just neglected by the Democratic Party and not very happy about it. I guess, according to your logic, the Republicans should have shunned these voters and remained a minority party in perpetuity in order to retain some sort of “moral purity.”

Finally, you clearly seem to imply that the bulk of the Southerners won over by the Republican Party were unsavory racists. That is such a despicable slander. If you can’t back it up with some documented statistics, you ought to apologize.

Calling you out for posting unadulterated BS.

VolMagic on April 5, 2008 at 3:09 PM

However the Republican party still used alot of code words which reassure the low-grade racists whilst not actually giving them anything. Granted this is not the same as the organized systematic racism of the Democratic party of the 60’s but in this day and age, it is still pretty damn bad.

Squid Shark on April 5, 2008 at 4:08 PM

Ah, the “secret code words” argument. Because it’s just not possible those “code words” could have any other meaning besides racism, is it?

So the only reason people are concerned about the federal government trampling the power of the states is because they’re worried some black guy somewhere might be treated fairly for a change?

You’ve basically adopted liberal logic here, which is a bigger oxymoron than “military intelligence.”

Hey! Maybe I should just say you’ve adopted liberal “code words” for denigrating those who don’t agree with you as racists. I think I’d be closer to the truth than you are.