Race. Democrats have used race to win elections and demonize the Republicans. After Reconstruction, Democrats kept power in the South by playing the race card in elections and denying African Americans the right to vote. They would bring up Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and William Sherman in stump speeches threatening their return from the grave if Republicans won. They played to the racial fears and prejudices of white voters. If Republicans took over, white Southern voters would be disenfranchised and unemployed, they claimed. It gave Democrats total control of the South. Even Democrats from the North echoed these sentiments. This appeal to race led Southern segregationist Democrats to dominate the Senate into the mid 1970s.
Joe Biden speaks fondly on how when he was a Senator, he got along with these arch-segregationists like John Stennis, James Eastland, Herman Talmadge and Robert C. Byrd (a proud member of the Ku Klux Klan). He and today's Democrats learned well from them.
Starting with Barry Goldwater in 1964, the Democratic stranglehold on the South was broken. It accelerated with Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Conservative domestic policies appealed to Southern whites. So, Democrats reversed course. No longer were their racial appeals to whites. It was to African Americans.
Remember they charged, Barry Goldwater voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (never mind that Goldwater had supported previous civil rights bills and his opposition was based on provisions that the Warren Court found unconstitutional). Civil rights, voting rights and even the right to work would be done away with.
Lately with Joe Biden and fellow Democrats, the racial appeals have become even more strident. Like the segregationist Democrats of old with white voters, Biden and fellow Democrats know if Republicans can make inroads with African American voters, that along with Hispanics and Asian Americans voting Republican will consign the Democratic Party to minority status for at least a generation. Voting patterns show why Democrats are so terrified. Republicans are making gains with African American voters, particularly African American males. Those not ready to switch affiliation are staying at home.
The result of this Democratic panic has been the old rhetoric on steroids. Republicans are Jim Crow 2.0 because they want voter integrity. They are the second coming of Bull Connor and George Wallace (another segregationist pal of Biden's). African Americans will be turned away at the polls.
And then there's the even more hateful and dangerous rhetoric of defund the police and abolish the police. Democrats truly believe that African Americans are anti-law enforcement and do not view crime as a problem. Since Richard Nixon in 1968, Democrats have charged that “law and order” and “tough on crime” are code words for segregation and abolishing civil rights. All police are evil and the enemy, many leading Democrats allege. In Maryland, extreme progressive legislators are proposing changing murder from a felony to a misdemeanor claiming that keeping it a felony penalizes African Americans. Progressive district attorneys are refusing to prosecute criminals saying that existing laws are directed at keeping African Americans incarcerated as part of the Republican agenda to do away with civil rights.
Reality tells a different story. The African American community opposes the defund and abolish the police movement. They want more not less police on the streets. Large numbers are opposed to the soft on crime approach of Democrats. All of this is leading to confusion among Democrats. Both Lori Lightfoot and Stacey Abrams claimed racism played a role in their defeats despite polling showing that they lost support among African American males due to soft on crime policies.
For nearly 170 years, Democrats have been campaigning from the bottom of the deck by playing racial politics. Their tactics haven't changed, just the audience. And just as it did with white voters, it is about to blow up in their faces once again, and Joe Biden, the old friend of segregationists before he battled Corn Pop, is about to reap the whirlwind.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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The Democreeps have worn out this tired old hackneyed ‘race’ straw man. If they want to return to relevance, they had best invent a new shibboleth of exclusion and slander. How ’bout it, Brandon? Come on, man!