Many Americans, due to poor education (either inadequate lessons or not paying attention) think the Civil War changed anything. It did not. Oh, slavery became technically illegal and Black people were theoretically granted the right to vote. But hearts and minds of those who considered them inferior did not change one iota. We had nearly a century of apartheid which started to crumble in the 40s/50s with moves like integrating the military and professional sports. That was NOT seen as "progress" by the white supremacists.
The "civil rights era" is just some unread half-page in a boring history book to millions of Americans. And those are the good ones. It is an abomination to the hard core white supremacists. The candidacy of George Corley Wallace Jr. for the Presidency is an even more obscure footnote. People today who can't understand how the current President gained and keeps a following should read this. Read it all.
It is the story of Wallace's campaign. He ran as a third party candidate and WON FIVE STATES with 46 electoral votes. Read the article. You could replace a few words here and there and it would describe trump's campaign. With a few tweaks here and there in the fabric of history, Wallace might have gained the Republican nomination. The VN war and civil unrest were major issues. Nixon's promise to end the war with his "secret plan" was a major factor in his win. He beat Humphrey by a narrow margin in the popular vote, but by 110 EC votes. Had it been Wallace I expect the EC would have been much closer - that 156 vote margin might have been only 10 or 20, but we'd have had President George Corley Wallace Jr. with a VP who advocated using nukes to end the VN war.
You think Nixon
was bad? Ha!
"segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever"
"segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever"
People who wring their hands, clutch their pearls, and claim "This is not America" need to wake the
f*ck up. It IS America. Trump's "base" is real, and they don't care WHAT he does as long as he beats the white supremacist drum. He knows it and more importantly people like Stephen Miller and Vladimir Putin know it. They both consider the post-WWII America to be an abomination.
Miller wants a world that is all Aryan (See: Mud People, Know Your Enemy), with non-whites sent back to their "shithole countries" (here's a clue - Trump did not come up with that term himself) and Putin wants a world where America is a backwater under Mogilevich's rule. They and the groups they represent have congruent goals. So to steal a phrase from Wallace - we need to "stop pussyfooting around." McConnell should not have a moment's rest. Those "dirty hippies" in 1968 are now too old to be getting arrested and deprived of our Rx's & canes and there is not a draft sending young men to be killed at over 100/day to motivate today's young folks, but they should damned well be terrified for their and their children's futures.
To steal a phrase from Mammy Yokum:
Ah has spoken!
Ah has spoken!
