Reply #60: Grow up, people. [View All]

[recidivist]

The truth isn't always pretty.

The truth is, George Wallace was a Democrat, Lester Maddox was a Democrat, and Bull Conner was a Democrat. Heck, Bull Conner's DOGS were Democrats, and so was every Ku Kluxer who ever soiled a sheet. The opposition to the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts was almost exclusively Democratic, consisting of the southern Democrat block in the Senate.

Barry Goldwater, who was no racist, also opposed the Civil Rights Act for hard-core, western conservative, states rights reasons, as did a few others in the GOP, but the Republican caucus of the day supported both Acts more than did the Democratic caucus, percentage-wise. (Both the House and Senate were, at the time, more than two-thirds Democratic.)

That's the record. Is it an historic shame and embarrassment to the Democratic Party? Sure. I have never suffered from the delusion that the Democratic Party was perfect. It ain't. Historically, it was the Party of slavery, secession, and Jim Crow. I am not proud of that history, but we do a grave injustice to those who struggled to change the Party, and the nation, if we forget.

What is the proper response to this record today? To remember it with regret, to be grateful that the racism has been (largely) purged, and to deal constructively with the issues of the day.

Times have changed, issues have changed, and the Parties have changed.