Well, we once were a deep blue state. We've been a deep red state

Tiggity® · 2023-11-22T14:04:13.477Z

Who knew. https://www.live5news.com/2023/11/22/unofficial-election-results-cogswell-lead-next-mayor-charleston/

Charleston has not had a Republican mayor since 1877.

Re: Charleston has not had a Republican mayor since 1877.

Tiggity®

Ultimate Clemson Legend [108243]

TigerPulse: 100%

Posts: 70278

Joined: 2002

Nov 22, 2023, 10:27 AM

a deep blue state, and a few times we were purple or magenta, and aquamarine at one time as well. Which is the real irony that Charleston has been "blue" as you call it, for 150 years.

All I know is my wife's grandfather is the perfect example of why parties don't matter. He grew up in the depression. Mr. Roosevelt was gonna save us all. Dyed in the wool, southern democrat. Even through the 60's, he remained a democrat, until his death. His last vote was for JOHN EDWARDS. Now he believed in smaller, limited government, was as racist as anyone in his generation, was from the rural south, evangelical Christian, etc. Meet him and you just knew he was a republican. NOPE.

Take my dad's family. Again, dyed in the wool southern democrats. Former plantation owners, slave owners, always had a dozen sharecroppers on the land. Grew cotton. Herded cattle. Rural as they get. Evangelical Christians. Went to church every Sunday. Many died in the Wawah of Nawthun Aggression in the 1860's. Well, in the 1960's the entire family became republicans. Deep red, reagan Republicans eventually. They transformed with the rest of the state as the parties shifted to leave (or meet) their beliefs.

And in the end, it all boils down to education. If you're educated, you know parties are fluid, dynamic, and simply shift and ebb and flow with the general will of the people, which also ebbs and flows. Strom Thurmond went from Democrat, to Dixiecrat, to Republican. He followed the will of the people in SC. He wasn't dumb or locked into a party or belief. We are in a similar situation today as in the early 1920's, and the 1960's. Every 5-6 generations politics in the US resets, as the system becomes dysfunctional. The party who fixes the dysfunction (Or takes credit for it) then goes on to power for decades. We are in one of those paradigm shifts today. Probably more closely related to the 1920's than the 1960's. The dysfunction of the 1920's led to the Great Depression, and the rise of democrats, especially in the South. The 1960's led to the problems of the 1970's, which resulted in republicans taking control, especially in the South, as they hatched a heretofore unknown solution to economic woes, and from that blueprint, started when Nixon left the Gold Standard, and Regan introduced trickle down economics, since then republicans have had more success.

The dysfunction is now again appearing, much more akin to the 1920's though. There will be a period of pain, adjustment, and politics will shift again in the next 10 years. Whichever party correctly sees and diagnoses the problem and provides a solution, THAT PARTY will gain power for decades, until they, once again, s### the bed.

And all of this is a best-case scenario. It demands that people act and react more like my grandfather, and less like my wife's grandfather. The two men were literally cut from the same mold, in the same time period, and ended up political opposites. If everyone remains like my wife's grandfather, well, that's a bad sign for the future. And the last thing America needs, is a populist to run the show. Those are the vultures that always hang around and swoop in when problems arise. They are the revolutionaries, those who will (usually) drive the state into default and collapse.

Charleston elected a republican because the place has become unaffordable with immigrants from wealthier states moving in and resetting the value of things that were once affordable in the area. The people of Charleston have changed. But Charleston has also changed, greatly. So the politics change. Political change comes along as the result of a prior party's success. When the city/state/nation becomes a victim of it's success, change happens.

The "republican "L" was once the demcorat "L" on the US map. AND, when you can clearly see that "L", those are the times just before change. When the change comes, the map goes solid. Then after years of elections, the L reappears, rinse and repeat.