[Sender]

I think that the reason so many poor/rural/laboring people got addicted to the Democratic party was that in the past, the Democrats fought for causes they could relate to, like decent working conditions and mine safety and fair representation against what they perceived were the arrogant, industrial barons who would cheat them and humiliate them. We're talking the old Democratic party now. Even rural folks here in Georgia used to be Democrats. Now my county is about the highest-percentage Republican county in the US. Why? Because the Democratic party left them and moved to San Francisco.

It isn't because of the brilliance or the generosity of the Republican party that so many have switched; it's because the Democratic party has gone balls-out freaking liberal.

Unions still cling to the Democrats, but the unions have pretty much priced themselves out of existance. Not even Hillary can bring back legions of high-paying, guaranteed jobs and benefits for life with increases every contract. Now the unions are competing against workers in China who don't know what vacations or benefits are, and who are grateful for a few dollars a day. Good luck with that, Democrats, as you helped outsource all the jobs over there. Don't tell me you are going to bring them all back, you aren't.

The real question is why black people are addicted to the Democratic party. Don't they know that the Democrats fought tooth and nail against civil rights? Don't they know that the Southern Democrats were the slave owners, and the Northern Republicans were the abolitionists? I guess they don't. They aren't as smart as West Virginians.

[Salamander]

Great post to which I add one anecdotal post-script:

During the 2000 election insanity, a local TV station asked a [black] Baltimore woman why she voted for Algore.
She replied that had done so because “Algore was a Democrat, just like Mr Lincoln.”

I kid you not.

Was she brain-washed, un[or erroneously]educated or simply oblivious?

You decide.

[Alia]

Thank you for your input on this matter. I think you are quite right.

The real question is why black people are addicted to the Democratic party. Don't they know that the Democrats fought tooth and nail against civil rights? Don't they know that the Southern Democrats were the slave owners, and the Northern Republicans were the abolitionists? I guess they don't.

It's quite possibly they might know this information, but since Democrats give blacks all kinds of freebies, I guess Blacks (as a group) consider this "reparations". I also presume many of these don't give three honks that they are taking food out of the mouths of other identity groups. Maybe some consider it is far safer to stay on the "plantation" than to venture forth into a real, free world with self-accountability and rugged individualism.

A town in GA is named after an ancestor of mine. She was an abolitionist. She paid dearly for her actions and activities.