Source:The New Democrat
What John Fund doesn't seem to understand or perhaps is ignoring, which is possible because he is a bright guy is that the Southern Democrats who blocked the civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s are Republicans today and would be Republicans today. They would probably be part of the Tea Party coalition or the Christian Right or both factions since they overlap. You can't be a Democrat today outside of maybe Mississippi and be against civil rights. You would simply not get elected even if you won the Democratic primary.
Of course Congressional Republicans in the 1960s voted in favor of civil rights more than Congressional Democrats. And if it wasn't for Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen who was the Republican Leader those laws never overcome the Southern Democratic led filibuster let alone become law. Democrats aren't denying the party's history against civil rights. What I'm saying is that is history and the party today is completely different from what it was during the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Back in the 1960s the Republican Party was still a conservative limited government low-tax party that believed in decentralizing government. But they also believed in civil rights which means equal rights for all Americans. And that part of the party is gone for the most part with a few exceptions in the Northeast and perhaps the Midwest. They inherited the Southern Democrats who are today called the Christian Right and the Traditional Values Coalition. Who believe Americans especially Caucasians have a right to deny access to people of different races when it comes to their own property.
