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| Yes | 38% | 98 votes | Total: 256 votes | |
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Add to FavoritesThe English Philosopher John Stuart Mills once observed that, "while it is not true that all conservatives are stupid, it is true that most stupid people tend to be conservative." The same could be said about bigots. While the Republican Party, per se, is not a racist organization, it is undeniable that the Party has become a haven for bigots of various descriptions. One only needs to review the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to see the transformation of the Party of Lincoln to its present day incarnation.
Even Lyndon Johnson was aware of the political ramifications of the passage of this legislation. He is reported to have commented that"we have just lost the south for a generation." He was right, of course, as one after another of the Democratic Party southern stalwarts rose to denounce the party and cross the aisle to the republican side. The fact that they were welcomed with open arms speaks volumes about the Republican philosophy. If you were a bigot that could no longer remain a Democrat because President Johnson fought for the passage of civil rights for African Americans, you had a home in the Republican Party.
Of course it didn't stop there. Richard Nixon then constructed his famous, or infamous, "Southern Strategy". A political tactic designed to play upon the fears of southern whites that is still being used today. As recently as the 2006 congressional elections saw examples of this race baiting. Harold Ford, an African American Congressman was running for a Senate Seat in Tennessee. His republican opponent ran a Television ad that portrayed a young, attractive, white young women looking into the camera and saying "Harold call me". The implication was clear.
There have been other examples, far too numerous to recount here. The Willie Horton Ad, Jesse Helms overtly racist ads and more.
All of which would be bad enough, if it stopped there, but it doesn't. Racial bigotry is simply the tip of the spear that republicans have used as their weapon of choice in the battle for power. In the past two election cycles we have witnessed a blatant, overt attempt to demonetize gays and lesbians, not on moral grounds but purely as a political tactic.
Finally, as they were able to consolidate their grip on power certain members of their leadership, such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Rick Scarborough and others have made public utterances that not only defied logic but civil discourse. Falwell blamed Gays for the 911 attacks. Scarborough and others blamed gays for the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Telling, not one of these outrageous statements has ever been disavowed by George Bush or any other Republican leader.
Is the republican Party racist? No. That is to simple an observation. it has however created a have for bigots and been quite willing to use racist tactics to obtain its goals. Which, in the final analysis is probably even worse.
Learn more about this author, Dale Hoskin.
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No
A deceptive, misleading, or false notion, belief, etc.
This is the definition of fallacy. Before I started writing what you see before you, I read the #1 "Yes" article to this debate, and I was astonished by the fallacies that were provided to the other writers at Helium and passed as truths, just to attack a party that one disagrees with. For the record here, I am not a republican. I am an Independent voter. I have voted Democrat, and I have voted Republican, but in order for education to truly exist and understanding to occur, we have to look at facts, not fallacies.
Martin Luther King Jr. once told that "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity", and he is very much so correct. When people spread hate by spreading fallacies and lies, it only destroys understanding as a society, and leads to more hate. So let's look at a few key points why hate-mongers think that the Republican party is racist, and I'll make a few of my own points.
The first point that people who write "Yes" on this article tell you is that Republicans we're against the Civil Rights Movement. This is inherently false. In the 26 major civil rights votes after 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed civil rights legislation in over 80 percent of the votes. By contrast, the Republican majority favored civil rights in over 96 percent of the votes. If you really wish to label a party as racist due to the civil rights movement, I would call the Democratic party racist as they voted against civil rights for minorities 21 of 26 times. Wow, that Republican party is really racist for wanting to give those minorities the rights that they deserve. Damn them! Those racist bigots. The ill-educated who make uninformed claims upset me so much when it is so easy to actually find the facts.
Let's take a look at the most well known piece of Civil Rights legislation, The Civil Rights Act of 1964. There was a big Democratic majority at the time. Of the Democratic party 152 Democrats supported it while 96 opposed it. In the Republican Party 138 Republicans supported it and only 34 opposed it. Mathematically speaking, only 61% of Democrats supported this legislation, while over 80% of Republicans supported this legislation. Once again, hate and fallacy has been proven false.
Now that I've cleared the fallacies up, let us take a gander at why Republicans are not a racist party (other than the two points that were just provided to you) Firstly, They were bigger proponents of the civil rights movement than Democrats (You've already discovered that though). Secondly, The party that Lincoln built was the one that freed the slaves. Afterwards, Jim Crow laws were created and upheld through a Democratic south and a Democratic court. This happened all the way up until 1956, when southern resistance to the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education resulted in a resolution called the Southern Manifesto. It was a document against the integration of public schools. It was read into the Congressional Record and supported by 96 southern congressmen and senators, all but two of them Southern Democrats.
Something that actually exists; reality; truth
This is the definition of fact, and that's what I have provided you with today. You are free to think whatever you want when it comes to your beliefs. I am no one to tell you what to believe in. I can however, ask you to use fact as the foundation of your beliefs rather than fallacy, as fallacies destroy understanding and spread hate.
Learn more about this author, Joshua Greene.
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