Quote:
Originally Posted by detbuch
That is total BS. The racist Democrat politicians did not switch parties. With the exception of a very few, they all remained in the Democrat party. The racist culture of the South changed and voters began voting Republican. Since the South became Republican, it has become far less racist than it was when the South was solid racist Democrat.
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Democrats and Republicans flipping parties (exactly as zimmy asserted) had less to do with racism and more to do with the expansion of Federal power. Republicans in the northern states wanted to invest and expand into the west. Democrats in the southern states opposed it just as they feared the erosion of states rights over slavery.
The flip happened a few decades later as some Democrats started pushing for Government expansion to attract voters as the western states became more populated. Naturally this created opposition up until the New Deal when the reverse in polarity was complete.