The Democratic party did not abandon the south and rural. I am 83 and have lived through all of this. On the other hand you can say, with some justification, that the Democratic Party did abandon the south and rural when it, via LBJ, authored the Civil Rights Act, Medicaid and the Great Society Program.
In reality it was the south and r…
The Democratic party did not abandon the south and rural. I am 83 and have lived through all of this. On the other hand you can say, with some justification, that the Democratic Party did abandon the south and rural when it, via LBJ, authored the Civil Rights Act, Medicaid and the Great Society Program.
In reality it was the south and rural America than fled the Democratic party to the Republican party.
Rural America, and that includes virtually all of the south, is led by its nose by it's shepherds, the press and the pulpit. Both of which are intrinsically conservative, self serving , and rule by fear.
The press and the pulpit, especially in rural America and the south, are dependent for their power and wealth or income, on stoking fear, fear of hell, fear of the other. if it bleeds it leads, in the press and from the pulpit. Priests and pastors don't gather and keep a flock by constantly preaching Matthew, no it is hell fire, damnation, sin and they deign to speak for the god they create in their own image and then use as a ventriloquist dummy to espouse policies and actions that assuage their fears and fulfill their needs.
It is axiomatic that the most virulent anti immigration and racist sentiments are found in those areas where there is a dearth of immigrants and people of color It is the cosmopolitan areas where there is diversity of demographics that is the most liberal, and it is those areas which are the most homogeneous that are the most fearful and angered.
Familiarity doesn't breed contempt it breeds comfort.
As a child and a teen I lived in the south, as an in between I lived in the north. I've seen with my own eyes, heard with my own ears, how the southern mind is manipulated and guided by the pulpit and the press. Especially the pulpit, for there are only two acceptable resources for families to socialize. The grange and the church, mostly the church and it is there that the pulpit has sway over the people, telling them what to do, what to fear while they empty their pockets into the collection plate.
The Democratic party did not abandon the south and rural. I am 83 and have lived through all of this. On the other hand you can say, with some justification, that the Democratic Party did abandon the south and rural when it, via LBJ, authored the Civil Rights Act, Medicaid and the Great Society Program.
In reality it was the south and rural America than fled the Democratic party to the Republican party.
Rural America, and that includes virtually all of the south, is led by its nose by it's shepherds, the press and the pulpit. Both of which are intrinsically conservative, self serving , and rule by fear.
The press and the pulpit, especially in rural America and the south, are dependent for their power and wealth or income, on stoking fear, fear of hell, fear of the other. if it bleeds it leads, in the press and from the pulpit. Priests and pastors don't gather and keep a flock by constantly preaching Matthew, no it is hell fire, damnation, sin and they deign to speak for the god they create in their own image and then use as a ventriloquist dummy to espouse policies and actions that assuage their fears and fulfill their needs.
It is axiomatic that the most virulent anti immigration and racist sentiments are found in those areas where there is a dearth of immigrants and people of color It is the cosmopolitan areas where there is diversity of demographics that is the most liberal, and it is those areas which are the most homogeneous that are the most fearful and angered.
Familiarity doesn't breed contempt it breeds comfort.
As a child and a teen I lived in the south, as an in between I lived in the north. I've seen with my own eyes, heard with my own ears, how the southern mind is manipulated and guided by the pulpit and the press. Especially the pulpit, for there are only two acceptable resources for families to socialize. The grange and the church, mostly the church and it is there that the pulpit has sway over the people, telling them what to do, what to fear while they empty their pockets into the collection plate.