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To belabor the obvious, the Republican Party has always been our more conservative political party, and the South has always been our most conservative region. But Southern conservatives were alienated from the GOP because of slavery and the Civil War. However much affinity they might have for Republicans on issues such as national defense or taxes, they were never going to formally join the party of Abraham Lincoln.
And so America had a historical anomaly, in which conservative Southerners found themselves permanent members of our more liberal political party, the Democrats. It took a great deal of compromise and political skill to keep Northern liberals and Southern conservatives sufficiently allied to win the White House and control of Congress.
The first cracks in this unholy alliance appeared as early as 1938. Franklin Roosevelt, irritated by the lack of support many Southern Democrats were giving to various New Deal programs, tried to purge some of them in the Democratic primaries. This effort failed miserably and Republicans made big gains thanks to Democratic disunity. The result further alienated Southern conservatives from Roosevelt.
The strengthened Republicans greeted the alienated Southerners with open arms. While there was no possibility of them actually becoming Republicans, they were perfectly willing to form a conservative coalitionin Congress to block progressive legislation.
The Western Origins of the “Southern Strategy”
The untold story of the ideological realignment that upended the nationnewrepublic.com
This article provides a good summation of when the GOP shifted further toward the right.
GOP is the party of white nationalism. It is the party of conspiracy theories. It is the party of the uneducated. It is the party of those who do not have the skills for jobs of the 21st century.The GOP has become the party of the common man, what the Democrats once were before they became socialists.What has happened to the Republican Party?
The GOP was founded in 1854 by opponents of the Kansas–Nebraska Act,[11] which allowed for the potential expansion of chattel slavery into the western territories. The party supported economic reform and classical liberalism while opposing the expansion of slavery.
They are now the party that includes White Nationalism. The America First Caucus (AFC) exists to promote Congressional policies that are to the long-term benefit of the American nation,”
A party started on high moral standards to a party of immorality.
Right-wing caucus planned to carry on ‘Anglo-Saxon political traditions’ — which US House GOP leader calls ‘nativist dog whistle’
Right-wing House Republicans on Friday were discussing forming an America First Caucus, which one document described as championing “Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and warning that m…www.chicagotribune.com