History 0

I’m a Southern Boy. I grew up under Jim Crow and went to segregated schools, as I have mentioned from time to time in these electrons. I had ancestors who owned slaves. My degree is in history with a concentration in U. S. Southern.

As I’ve added experience to my studies, I have more and more concluded that race and racism are constant undercurrents (and sometimes overcurrents) in American politics, however energetically white Americans try to pretend otherwise.

A half century ago, Richard Nixon’s odious Southern strategy caused the Republican Party to morph into the party of racism and bigotry.

Nixon thought that he could use Southern bigots and racists to cement his power (that worked out very nicely, did it not?); now, half a century later, his strategy had come full circle and the powers that he invited into his party have consumed it. Bigotry and racism are fundamental elements underlying Republican polices and positions, central elements to their campaign strategies.

This week, the results of Nixon’s decision to open Republican doors wide to racists played out quite publicly in Republicans’ failed attempt to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, the health care law that Republicans chose to refer to as “Obamacare,” for reasons that Atrios summed up brilliantly yesterday so I don’t have to.