Quote:
Originally Posted by Robbie
Yeah, but at that time the "red" states and President was the North and Pres. Lincoln
The South was the "blue" states up until Pres. Reagan ran for office and effectively got voters in the South to vote Republican for the first time.
I was raised a Fla. cracker and have vivid memories of both my great-grandfathers and both my grandfathers discussing politics in the 1960's and 1970's. They were very racist people and like almost everyone in the South back then...hard core Democrats.
At that time the Republican party was still the elite party of the NorthEastern U.S. (hard to imagine that today). The "Rockefeller" Republicans.
And the South had always been Democrat (the Democrats were pro-slavery in the civil war).
Reagan's political strategy to regain the South was to embrace the religious right ("Moral Majority") and then point out how "liberal" and "soft" the Democrats were.
That swung the South over. And it's been that way now for 35 years.
EDIT: And interestingly enough...people always equate the South with white "rednecks"...but there are more black people in the South than there are in the North.
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your right the labels between the ideaologies have switched. but the underlying ideas are the same as since the country started. not just red state/blue state, but also urban vs rural. people from cities are much more reliant & faithful in government, while rural people dont want any government telling them how to live/do business etc. I myself think the confederate flag embodies the most libertarian leanings of the US. but its basically a swastika for black people so it loses that freedom panache.