Nixon still runs the GOP: How the white South dominates the party

[marmar]

from Salon:


Nixon still runs the GOP: How the white South dominates the party
Many believe that Reagan or Goldwater founded modern conservatism. But it's Nixon whose legacy truly lives on

Robert A. Slayton


[font size="1"]Richard M. Nixon arrives at the airport in Atlanta, Ga. with his wife, Patricia, May 31, 1968. (Credit: AP)[/font]


The issue of who founded modern conservatism is important not just to the historical community, which lives to debate the origins of anything and everything. It has deep significance for any politician who seeks to invest himself with such august symbolism, as with anyone who tries to fathom American politics today.

Barry Goldwater is a logical candidate. Despite his failure in the presidential lists, he advocated conservative principles long before any other national political figure, making him a prophet before his time. Pat Buchanan dubbed him no less than “the father of us all.” Daniel McCarthy, in The American Conservative, believed that “his place in conservative history, and conservatives’ hearts, is settled … each branch of the conservative movement can plausibly trace itself back to some tendency… in the Goldwater effort.” And Phyllis Schafly called the Arizona senator “the undisputed original leader of the modern conservative movement … It is hard to overestimate the importance of Barry Goldwater.”

Ronald Reagan is the current favorite. Fox Nation quoted Nile Gardiner of Britain’s conservative paper the Telegraph that the former actor created “the greatest U. S. presidency of the 20th century.” The Heritage Foundation pronounced Reagan “the second most popular and consequential Republican president after Abraham Lincoln … he is credited with reviving the national economy, recovering the nation’s optimism about the future, and taking the pivotal steps to end the Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union.” The social conservative champion Family Research Council noted that, “Every Republican presidential candidate claims the mantle of Ronald Reagan … As they jockey for the … presidential nomination, they invoke Ronald Reagan: ‘I believe as Ronald Reagan believed …’”

.....(snip).....

In the late 1960s, Nixon enacted the Southern Strategy, a plan to shift states below the Mason-Dixon Line from Democratic to Republican. The standard analysis is that this plan was based on racist claims, that he labeled the Dems the party of civil rights, and appealed to Southern voters who fought these advances. Top strategist Lee Atwater denied this, claiming victories because Republicans appealed, not only to regional issues like states’ rights and forced busing, but to economic issues like taxes and the size of the federal government. Regardless of this argument, the results are clear: The South is now a blaze of red states. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.salon.com/2014/02/18/gops_southern_domination_why_nixon_is_modern_conservatisms_true_creator/

[Romulox]

1. Nixon would be to the left of Hillary and Obama on many issues.

An unlikely candidate, however, would be Richard Nixon. Despised by liberals for his early red-baiting, his presidential record remains shocking by modern conservative standards. He proposed, for example, wage and price controls, a massive federal takeover of the national economy that would be branded Sovietism by today’s right. Under Nixon’s watch, the federal government created the Environmental Protection Agency, and introduced affirmative action. One blogger wrote that no Democrat today could get away with what Nixon tried to do, let alone a Republican.

[Autumn]

2. At this time we would be damn lucky to have Nixon run the GOP.

Unfortunately we have bat shit fucking crazy loons running it.

[MisterP]

3. it was Reagan who encouraged the rightward canter

that makes Nixon to the left of Obama on a *lot* of stuff: and Sneaky Rick was no lefty! but people were more lefty by 1984 than 1979--they didn't like the Randroid-warmonger-televangelist-polluter axis at all; remember that Reagan left office very unpopular, and derided even by the GOP; the GOP's moved far to the right overall since 1994 (when they overthrew the smoke-filled-room guys who didn't want David Duke and Ollie North to win their primaries)

in fact 70% of Americans frankly share most of their positions with DU's lefty core and are sick of the people burbling about the demons who give you teh ghey--the Dems just decided to stop following up by 1994

and also remember that Haig thought Nixon was to soft on Communism (he and Heritage thought that about Reagan too, in fact)

history's fun! it shows you that the fundies' movement , and that fundie "theology" supports a flat Earth more than it does creationism (it also shows that Giordano Bruno was totally guilty and that the iodine-blodded technocrats are still a danger, but that's a different story)

[Xolodno]

4. I would say it was Bush Sr. that pushed the GOP into La-La Land.

Imagine a Republican today presiding over a tax hike like the one Reagan put in....or forcing emergency rooms to take patients regardless of ability to pay. Oh and pulling the Marines out of Beirut after the suicide car bombing...today, they would be demanding to nuke the city.

When Bush Sr. put in a small tax increase...he was massively chastised. And many hawks were mad that he didn't finish the job in Iraq and then moved on into Iran.

Why the sudden change? Reagan needed Bush Sr. for all his contacts, infrastructure, etc. for his administration as he was just a governor (and *old fashioned*) who was a former outspoken actor with no Washington experience or significant ties to those who did have the clout....of which Bush Sr. gladly supplied. While they were in the Reagan government, they created and implemented the architecture and propaganda that would firmly push the GOP right and never allow a Nixon or Regan to regain the GOP nomination, much less the presidency. However, they did what Regan wanted...not out of loyalty or belief in his ideals. But because they didn't care if he succeeded or failed, Reagan naively gave the ropes and future of the GOP to Bush and his people which was a much bigger prize and with that, knew they would be in power again and would set the wheels backwards to undo everything since FDR and the New Deal. And when Reagan wasn't looking or didn't care, they pushed in their policies (because, if there was a backlash, the President would take the heat and not them).

Regan's "success" was actually a hindrance later to their surprise. So they embraced his popularity and created a myth that scrubbed everything they didn't like from the record and even manufactured stuff that didn't happen. Reagan, obviously with Alzheimers taking a bigger role in him, was incapable of setting the record straight.