Question for residents of the Deep South. (1 Viewer)

[jamespol]

Hello everyone.

How come the Legislatures of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana are controlled by the Democrats? Are these Democrats, really Democrats? Or did they just get elected decades ago and are glued to their seats, incumbency has its advantages.

I can see Arkansas with a Democratic controlled legislature. Louisiana.. errr maybe 1 house, but not both. Alabama and Mississippi??? I have no idea.

James

 

[Simon W. Moon]

Reconstruction

 

[jamespol]

Reconstruction

Still, how long are they going to continue to have a majority Democratic legislature?? There has got to be more reason then reconstruction.

Or Perhaps its the fact that 90% of blacks vote democrat, so that brings in a lot of black DEM legislators.

AND

Racists in rural alabama still see Democrats as the party of perserving racial segregation.

James

 

[danarhea]

Still, how long are they going to continue to have a majority Democratic legislature?? There has got to be more reason then reconstruction.

Or Perhaps its the fact that 90% of blacks vote democrat, so that brings in a lot of black DEM legislators.

AND

Racists in rural alabama still see Democrats as the party of perserving racial segregation.

James

You have a point there. Nationally, the Dixiecrats became Republicans after their failure to stop desegregation. However, there are a number of Democrats locally who still embrace the old segregationist values, but like their former compatriots who became Republican many years ago, their way of life is dying, thank God.

 

[jamespol]

You have a point there. Nationally, the Dixiecrats became Republicans after their failure to stop desegregation. However, there are a number of Democrats locally who still embrace the old segregationist values, but like their former compatriots who became Republican many years ago, their way of life is dying, thank God.

Lol, there are many people still alive today that witnessed the early 1960s. \

I am gay!

I am sure if some of the Democratic White Incumbents retired, a lot of them would be replaced by Democrats. So the Alabama Legislature has 150 year old democratic law makers glued to their seats to keep the party in control. Well maybe not 150 years old.

You know, I see a connection here. Southern Democrats stayed Democrats for so long because of resentment of Republicans during reconstruction, and to a lesser extent, absolutely unlimited social programs.

Blacks have stayed Democrats for so long because of Resentment of the en masse party switch of white southerns to the Republicans, and the democrats absolutely unlimited social programs.

James
James

 

[danarhea]

Lol, there are many people still alive today that witnessed the early 1960s. \

I am gay!

I am sure if some of the Democratic White Incumbents retired, a lot of them would be replaced by Democrats. So the Alabama Legislature has 150 year old democratic law makers glued to their seats to keep the party in control. Well maybe not 150 years old.

You know, I see a connection here. Southern Democrats stayed Democrats for so long because of resentment of Republicans during reconstruction, and to a lesser extent, absolutely unlimited social programs.

Blacks have stayed Democrats for so long because of Resentment of the en masse party switch of white southerns to the Republicans, and the democrats absolutely unlimited social programs.

James
James

That is not quite true. Republicans ran reconstruction, and it was the Democrats who were against it. Many Democrats aligned with the KKK during that period. JFK changed all that, and many Democrats did not like it, so became Republicans, while blacks began embracing the Democratic party. And why not? It got them the right to vote.

The question which now comes up is whether JFK's push for the black vote was out of true compassion or, instead, a successful effort to obtain more Democratic voters.

 

[Stinger]

Hello everyone.

How come the Legislatures of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana are controlled by the Democrats? Are these Democrats, really Democrats? Or did they just get elected decades ago and are glued to their seats, incumbency has its advantages.

I can see Arkansas with a Democratic controlled legislature. Louisiana.. errr maybe 1 house, but not both. Alabama and Mississippi??? I have no idea.

James

In Alabama one reason is that the teachers and state employee unions are so strong and the courts mandate districts be created to give blacks (who vote overwhelming Democrat) voting advantages over whites.

One reason it's time to end some of the restrictive clauses of the Voting Rights Act.

 

[Stinger]

That is not quite true. Republicans ran reconstruction, and it was the Democrats who were against it. Many Democrats aligned with the KKK during that period. JFK changed all that, and many Democrats did not like it, so became Republicans, while blacks began embracing the Democratic party. And why not? It got them the right to vote.

The question which now comes up is whether JFK's push for the black vote was out of true compassion or, instead, a successful effort to obtain more Democratic voters.

Actaully that is not quite true. The Democrats fought tooth and nail against voting rights and it was only because of the strong support from Republicans that the Civil Rights Act was passed. And no those Democrats remained Democrats they did not switch to the party that supported the Civil Rights Act. Blacks began to embrace the Democrat party when it saw the opportunity to buy thier votes through welfare schemes and fell for the phoney rhetoric the Dems engaged in to gain thier votes.

 

[Stinger]

You have a point there. Nationally, the Dixiecrats became Republicans after their failure to stop desegregation. However, there are a number of Democrats locally who still embrace the old segregationist values, but like their former compatriots who became Republican many years ago, their way of life is dying, thank God.

That's a lie, they did nothing of the sort. The Dixiecrats lost the election and they ALL went back to being Democrats and were re-elected as Democrats. It was a Republican President who ordered federal troops to inforce civil rights laws, it was a Republican Judge who ruled it. It was Democrat governors and Democrat legislatures who fought it.

 

[reaganburch]

As an Arkansan, I can only really speak to what happens here. But, for Arkansas, I think it's a complancency thing. In the past, we've been used to voting for the same person for so long, it's habit... it doesn't even matter that our education system sucks, our roads suck, our tax system sucks, our economy sucks, our politicians are corrupt... if they have a (D) next to their name, they're going to get votes....

We do have a Republican governor, but people bitch & moan & complain about him all the time being a Republican ex-Baptist Preacher... yet, he's been duly elected more than once, of course the Democratic party put some serious losers against him. It just happened that his predecessor, Jim Guy Tucker resigned, leaving him, who was Lt. Governor at the time, Governor. Again, complancency... It does appear that a Democrat, Mike Beebe, will be elected Governor in November due to term limits. He was a good Attorney General for the state, I'll give him that...

And that's another thing, here we set term limits for our legislature. However, when their term limits run out for the house/senate they run for office in the other house and win.... And when those term limits run out, a family member runs for their seat... and they win....

People complain about taxes and our government here all the time, yet they keep electing the same people over & over & over again... People in Arkansas just don't do their homework. Even if they wanted to, our education system here is so bad, that most of the people couldn't understand the issues, even if they wanted to.

As long as they could root for the Razorbacks, which have mediocre NCAA football & basketball teams at best now(which is appropriate for a mediocre state), nothing else matters...

I know I'm generalizing some... but living here all my 38 years... it seems that all of this is the rule, not the exception...

 

[LaMidRighter]

Hello everyone.

Howdy!

How come the Legislatures of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana are controlled by the Democrats? Are these Democrats, really Democrats? Or did they just get elected decades ago and are glued to their seats, incumbency has its advantages.

I don't know about Bama, Ole Miss, or Razorback land, but in Louisiana we have a combination of one Democrat voting Area that overwhelms the rest of the populace, that used to be New Orleans but until all of the residents return post Katrina that will be Baton Rouge because the bulk of the first wave of evacuees ended up there. The only other parish(county anywhere else) that swings Democrat is Vermillion(vur-million). As far as incumbancy goes, we as a state passed term limit legislation and the "good ol' boys" as we call em found a loophole, they just ran for a higher office or the other house.

I can see Arkansas with a Democratic controlled legislature. Louisiana.. errr maybe 1 house, but not both. Alabama and Mississippi??? I have no idea.

The beauty of an imbalanced populace distribution.