The myths and realities of the Southern Strategy | GOPLifer

The myths and realities of the Southern Strategy | GOPLifer

by Chris Ladd

There’s hubris in characterizing Republicans as having “courted” Southern voters into a new alliance. In reality, late 20^th century Republicans hoping to shape an appeal in the South were foolishly trying to ride an avalanche. What’s left of the Republican Party as it once existed is buried somewhere beneath tons of noxious debris as the active racism of Jim Crow’s defenders has become the quiet racism of the culture wars.

Our myths of the Southern Strategy are dangerous for the way they obscure the Republican Party’s central problem – its new, unintended role as the vehicle of white supremacy in the 21^st century. History denied is history repeated. Republicans will not shake this burden without first confronting it.

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