I ran across the article above on Facebook and had a severe case of de ja vu.
Every now and then when I feel adventurous, I watch a few minutes of Fox News (I can't stomach much more than a few minutes at a time) and I hear some version of this revisionist history repeated as though it's the Fox News talking head mantra. The argument goes something like this: "We're the party of Lincoln. We helped free you people. Why are you blindly supporting the party who opposed your emancipation?"
These sentiments are always directed at African American Democratic voters. The modern Republican mind cannot fathom the overwhelming support that Democrats receive from the African American community. After all, why would we vote for a party that opposed our emancipation? Why vote for a party that stood in the way of comprehensive Civil Rights reform?
While those are good questions, they miss the mark because they presuppose that both parties are the same now as they were then. The fact of the matter is that during the Civil Right's Movement (and even prior to that with Truman's efforts to desegregate the military in the late 40's) both parties underwent a bit of a makeover. The Democratic Party under the leadership of President Kennedy and culminating with President Johnson, began pushing for legal measures to address issues of racial inequality. In 1964 President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law and a year later the Voting Rights Act. Upon signing the CRA, Johnson declared: "We've lost the South for a generation." He was right, except that's it's been two generations and counting.
The push for equal rights caused an exodus of Southern Dixie-crats to the Republican Party which meant that those who were vehemently opposed to racial equality were no longer residing in the Democratic Party. They found a new home and relocated to fairer GOP lands, set up camp, and never left.
Now by no means am I suggesting that all Republicans are racist. However, the problem the party has now is the same problem it had during the Civil Rights Movement. They have allowed radical groups of ideologues to hijack the party. During the 60's it was the converted Dixiecrats. In the 2000's it was the TEA party. Moderate Republicans do not reflect the radical views of the TEA Party now, nor did they reflect the views of the racist party hoppers of the 60's but in both instances, the more moderate among them have been unable to control the messaging or the policies of the more radical factions. And as a result, the party of Lincoln bears absolutely no resemblance to today's brand of Republican politics, nor does the modern incarnation of the Democratic Party resemble its anti-abolition, anti-equality forbears.
To be fair however, there are issues of race within both parties and the racist legacy of the Democratic Party is real. But an attempt to lay all the baggage of America's racist history at the feet of the Democratic Party while ignoring the glaring racism of the GOP; particularly in the Post Civil Rights Era, is disingenuous, manipulative and revisionist. It's not Democrats who launched the birther movement. It's not Democrats who are uncharacteristically opposing and obstructing the only Black President in our nation's history. It's not Democrats who are openly hoping that the President, and by default, the country will fail. The credit for these lovely sentiments belongs solely to the GOP. Funny, but I just don't see Lincoln endorsing any of this type of nonsense.
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