Why did the South switch from being Democrat to Republican???

The south has become a little wiser over time

 

Amen.

 

That's a damn dissertation topic and since my handle ain't MacBeth, I won't even start.

 

Southern Democrats were always moderate to conservative. See Phil Graham.

 

Here's my understanding of one aspect of it:
The respective parties swing between left and right throughout history. Lincoln, a Republican, obviously had some very liberal ideas for the time. The South has always leaned more to the conservative side. Over time, the Republicans eventually came to represent conservatives and the Democrats gradually came to represent socially liberal.

That's how I figure it, anyway. Strom Thurmond used to be a Democrat, but he has always been conservative. As the Democratic party became more and more liberal, he stayed conservative and switched parties.

Politics is all f'ed up. Who knows.

 

Lynus you are one smart cookie, I bet you use a Mac...

 

I think, therefore, iMac....to bad I'm writing this on a PeeCee.

 

The Democratic Party was the party of segregation since the early 1900's and before that, they were staunchly anti Republican since Lincoln and afterwards Reconstruction, when they had they voting rights taken away and actually had black Republican Representatives that were pretty much appointed by Congress.

During the Civil Rights movement there was a strict segregationist segment called the Dixiecrats. Since Kennedy and later LBJ, both Democrats, and especially LBJ, pretty much signed Bills ending segregation, the south moved over to the more conservative Republican side. Actually, I think Texas was a Democrat state up until the eighties.

 

Read Chain Reaction by Thomas and Mary Edsall. I have some disagreements with their argument, especially over the specific timing of the shift and evidence counter to their thesis involving the ERA. However, it is a good book and it will basically answer your question

 

Really it wasn't until the '90s that Texas really shifted over to the Republican side overall, but the start did begin in the late '80s (or, if you count Bill Clements getting elected Governor, it would start in the late '70s, I guess, but since Clements was often the lone Republican in real power and was replaced by Democrats both times as Governor, it's hard to say whether his election was really the start of the Republican takeover of Texas). There would be the occassional Republican elected statewide (John Tower to the Senate in the '60s, for example), but Democrats had a stranglehold on almost all of the power positions until relatively recently.

And really, it wasn't until this past election that the Republican takeover of Texas was completed (for now, of course. Things change).

 

I don't know why the South switched, but I changed from being extremely liberal (I've been told a number of times by my aunt that if you're black, you distrust the Republicans) when I lived in DC, to being conservative when I moved to Houston. The reason I switched political beliefs was that I met an awesome, awesome man, Oklahoma congressman JC Watts, who explained to me all I needed to know about Republican values versus Democratic values. There's still a couple strong Democratic beliefs that I hold (affirmative action, etc.), but ever since I moved to Texas, I've been a strong conservative.

 

I've had almost the opposite experience, finalsbound. When I was younger, I was far more conservative than I am now. I recall in High School being Anti-George Bush (in 1988) because I didn't believe he was anywhere near Republican enough (and I was right. He was never a true believer in the things that Reagan had espoused and didn't follow many of his policies. Whether that's good or bad is for you to decide on your own).

There are still conservative principles I believe in, but I'm much closer to the center than I used to be.

 

Exactly...

 

Why do I need to read the book when I can watch the movie? What does Cold Fusion have to do with politics?

 

Well since they have trouble accepting Lincoln and the abolition of slavery as being on the side of righteousness, it does explain a lot...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0404/p03s01-ussc.html

 

Mrpaige, GHB was the last Repulican presidental candidate I voted for. I followed a somewhat similar pattern as you, except that I went from not just from far right to moderate, but right to left of center. Barry Goldwater would have been my ideal candidate as a youth--not sure who my ideal candidate right now would be--maybe Tony Blair if he were an American.

 

Damn mr.paige! And all this time I was sure you were wayyyy older than me!!

 

I'm just crotchety like an old man, even at the relatively young age of 31 (I will turn 32 in July).