How the South was Lost

I just watched LBJ (Brian Cranston) last night on HBO and was amazed (not really) how much the appearance (white/male) and rhetoric (state's rights, unconstitutional, etc.) of those opposed to civil and voting rights legislation in the 1960s is the same as today's GOP. Not much has changed. The reactionaries have objectively not evolved in half a century, other than to tone down their speech ... i.e. until Palin and Trump arrived. It does get a bit confusing though, since the South was predominantly Democratic then and that is where much of the opposition came from. LBJ accurately predicted that the Democratic dominance in the South would be lost for at least a generation as a consequence of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Political party allegiances began to invert nearly immediately and has continued apace ever since, with many Democrats (starting with Strom Thurmond) bolting to the Republican Party, that was more (conservative) hospitable to remaining opposed to change (esp. regarding minorities) they felt was "too quick" and upsetting (to their racist constituents).

Republicans quickly seized on the opportunity with their Southern Strategy, that worked extremely well for them. For the country, not so much. Fifty years later, and the "Party of NO!" still thinks any change is "too quick."