GOP vs Dems: Not so simple
This letter is in response to another letter, “Check Your History; Republicans Unifiers.” While it is tempting to assume Democrats are “bad” because their party supported slavery, Jim Crow laws, etc., and Republicans are “good” because their party supported abolition, Civil Rights, etc., an honest study of history would show the past to be not as simple.
Early Republicans did many things that would seem liberal by today’s standards. They expanded the power of the federal government, enacted programs like free education, pushed for redistribution of wealth to former slaves, and much more. In contrast, Democrats expressed rather conservative views, like limited government and states rights.
Political parties in America have always been a shifting event. A person’s politics tend to be determined more by region, background, religion and class, rather than party. It explains how Democrats in the South (or Dixiecrats) opposed Civil Rights in the 60s and 70s while at the same Democratic presidents like JFK and Johnson supported it.
I’d encourage people to study up on things like the Radical Republicans and Richard Nixon’s “Southern Strategy.” To me, the Southern Republicans of today seem barely different from the Southern Democrats of yesterday.