In 1964 and 1965, it was a Democratic former school teacher from Texas who led the push that brought us the Civil Rights Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Soon thereafter, Southern Democrats scurried to become Republicans, following the race baiting of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Southern Democrats were left to be Democrats or fake Democrats, pushing further and further Right as the Republicans led them down the rabbit hole.
Now fifty years later, real Democrats don't bother to vote because there are no more Democrats to vote for, and the Republicans use fake Democrats as piñatas. Mark Pryor next door in Arkansas is a great example of a virtual Democrat who just got disappeared. The result is a redder and redder South in general and Tennessee in particular, with the majority of citizens in Memphis and Nashville no longer represented by state government.
The only future open to Southern Democrats is to once again become the kind of Democrats that Al Gore, Sr. and Lyndon Johnson would have applauded. In doing so, there are new alliances among women, minorities, working people, and white Democrats-of-conscience who will come out and vote for real Democrats, not phony neo-libs like the Clintons, the Hagans, or the Pryors. On the national level, that would be people like Elizabeth Warren. At the local level in Tennessee, there ain't any--yet.
Now fifty years later, real Democrats don't bother to vote because there are no more Democrats to vote for, and the Republicans use fake Democrats as piñatas. Mark Pryor next door in Arkansas is a great example of a virtual Democrat who just got disappeared. The result is a redder and redder South in general and Tennessee in particular, with the majority of citizens in Memphis and Nashville no longer represented by state government.
The only future open to Southern Democrats is to once again become the kind of Democrats that Al Gore, Sr. and Lyndon Johnson would have applauded. In doing so, there are new alliances among women, minorities, working people, and white Democrats-of-conscience who will come out and vote for real Democrats, not phony neo-libs like the Clintons, the Hagans, or the Pryors. On the national level, that would be people like Elizabeth Warren. At the local level in Tennessee, there ain't any--yet.
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