Ditch Dixie

[chequita guevara]

One gets the impression of what it must have been like voting in the U.S.S.R.

Abolish districts! Proportional representation now!

[Ned]

And, BTW, the article linked in the first post states that Nixon made opposition to desegregation and busing a central theme of his campaign. I don't recall it that way. I know that Wallace made opposition to bussin' "his" major theme, though. And it was Wallace, not Nixon, who took the deep South states, with most of the rest going to Humphrey.

Nixon's position on civil rights was clear. He opposed welfare as a "solution" and advocated instead affirmative action in order to integrate minorities into mainstream life in America. Here is the critical portion of his acceptance speech:

"But for those who are able to help themselves -- what we need are not more millions on welfare rolls -- but more millions on payrolls in the United States of America.

Instead of government jobs, and government housing, and government welfare, let government use its tax and credit policies to enlist in this battle the greatest engine of progress ever developed in the history of man -- American private enterprise.

Let us enlist in this great cause the millions of Americans in volunteer organizations who will bring a dedication to this task that no amount of money could ever buy.

And let us build bridges, my friends, build bridges to human dignity across that gulf that separates black America from white America.

Black Americans, no more than white Americans, they do not want more government programs which perpetuate dependency.

They don't want to be a colony in a nation.

They want the pride, and the self-respect, and the dignity that can only come if they have an equal chance to own their own homes, to own their own businesses, to be managers and executives as well as workers, to have apiece of the action in the exciting ventures of private enterprise.

I pledge to you tonight that we shall have new programs which will provide that equal chance."

Nixon's solution to black segregation was to oppose the Democrat solution of creating new "reservations" for the blacks. He wanted to actively integrate blacks into society through affirmative action.

And he did.

IMO, affirmative action remains the centerpiece of the war on racisim in America. This is Nixon's idea. And he should be given credit for it by liberals who embrace affirmative action, but who would otherwise like to discredit Nixon.

Also, the linked article cleverly skips over the '76 campaign of Carter. Carter swept the South because he made tons of rascist and segregationist remarks during the campaign. And, of course, Carter is exactly one of those Democrats the NE liberals do not want in their country, let alone in their party. Carter was a Southern governor.

And so was Clinton.