Nixon's Republican Party: Modernizing Racism

As I've said before, I do quite enjoy politics.  I also enjoy political history and science.  They both show human development through the voices and actions of those who lead us.  President Nixon was one of those people - a man with a strong legacy, and notorious reputation.  For someone who shaped his political party's future for the next three generations and possibly more, he gets overshadowed so much by the image of figurehead Ronald Reagan.  Since Nixon abused his power so much, his infamy forced him out of the spotlight.  But his aides, interns, former employees and staff continued on.

I will say this many times: The President is an administration, not a single person.  The president is the group of people who run this country - all the secretaries, chiefs of staff, assistants and advisors are the people running the show.  We can attribute decisions, signings and vetoes to one man; all else is to the collective administration of the president.  

That being said - much of Nixon's legacy comes from his administration.  But there were some very key things that Nixon imprinted on his party, and they bely the racism of the segragationists from the deep south.  The first time we saw the arguments familiar with us today was in the election of 1968.  But some things I will speak on come from Nixon's first presidential camapaign.  

1960: Kennedy v Nixon, Kennedy wins.  It was a close election, and Nixon lost.  It was supposed to be the end of his political career.  There was a thought that Kennedy gerrymandered Illinois for the win.  But also, it showed a split in the democratic party and the south.  Nixon felt that if he had embraced the more conservative segregationist policies of the south, some of the democrats voting for a third candidate, Byrd, might have voted Republican, thus giving him the win.  

Of course, Kennedy got killed before he could sign into law the Civil Rights Act - and there are some that believe Nixon hired/assigned the guys to the job, utilizing old contacts in the Senate and CIA.  Those guys he hired would later become his "plumbers," or, the guys who fixed the "leaks."  

1968: Nixon v. Humphrey - This one was considered a realigning election, as the deep south had been brutally scarred by the riots and civil rights protests that had pockmarked its history throughout the 60's.  The segregationists had their own candidate in George Wallace, but Nixon wanted the Republican party to appeal and possibly steal the south away from the democrats.  Thus, he implemented what is known as the Southern Strategy - described as a way of securing the southern voters by focusing on racial issues.  It worked - not as well as it did later in 1972 - but it worked enough to show the south the Republicans had their back.  And they still use that strategy to this day.  

It has come a long way since then and has evolved into states rights, welfare reform, trickle down economics, and the drug wars.  

Nixon went very far to push to the Republican party to the right, and succeeded as we see today. The party now speaks about immigration reform (Romney's "self-deportation" blunder comes to mind) getting back to family values, medicaid reform, school voucher programs, union busting, voter ID laws, stop-and-frisks, checks for immigration papers... Its all rooted in Jim Crow, and the belief that white people are paying to give black people money to sit on their ass and do nothing.  It's a flawed mindset, and one to which many Republicans will cling - the people who believe the stereotypes presented to them.  Since we now have a news organization - FoxNews - that caters to this line of thinking, it makes it so much easier for everyone to segregate into their demographics and play it safe.  

I'm a white male.  I'm poor - making less than 20K per year.  I was on state benefits early in my life, but haven't been since because of the support system I have with my family and friends.  I understand that not everyone has this kind of support system - not everyone has parents who make more money than they spend in a year.  While I get by on my own somewhat (I have a roommate who is also my landlord), if there is an emergency in my life, I know I can turn to friends or family, and they will help me - mostly because they know I would do the same if I had the opportunity.  There are those out there - millions of them to be sure - who do not have well-off friends and parents they can ask for help.  The government is the only place they can turn.  

So what do the Republicans decide to do?  Focus on calling these people lazy, entitlement dependent, unemployed and unmotivated - or rather, lump them into a stereotype.  Then, they talk about how their policies, favoring the wealthy, will help create jobs.  I think it can officially be said now that "job creators" can fall under the abstractions that originate in the Southern Strategy.  The very wealthy are almost 100% white, and the only demographic that can truly force the population into economic slavery.  

Well done, Republicans.  I don't think it will work out for you - but well done.  You've abstracted the notions of racist policies to the point that people don't even know they're arguing for it.  Rather than wonder why 47% of the population isn't paying taxes and working to reduce that number by creating higher paying jobs - or by paying those people who really make you all that money more - you ignore and dismiss them as dependents on a democratic nanny state. 

Good game, willful ignorance.