Re: Andy Griffith was a staunch Democrat

Obed®

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I think the issue with your question

Sep 23, 2019, 12:33 PM

(the one about hardline white supremacists voting Dem) is that it seems you're only looking at overt, over the top cases of fringe groups who openly shout "white power" and have marches.

Are those people voting Dem? Nah, and I get that. It seems that they're having to pick their poison these days though, as I can't imagine that Jim Bob Gomer likes hearing the GOP gush about Israel and courting the Jewish vote.

I think in modern times (well, up until the past decade or two anyway), the Pubs got painted with the wrong brush because their stance of rugged individualism and the obligation/right of the individual to succeed or fail on their own with the government getting out of the way had people mistaking callousness for bigotry. From what I've seen in my life though, there's no one happier to see a poverty to prosperity success story (white, black, brown, yellow, whatever) than a conservative/Republican (I no longer use those terms interchangeably). They want that path to exist with limited restrictions, and are happy when it is followed.

Where racism exists in the modern Democrat party, it's quite a bit softer...unconscious even, but far more detrimental to those impacted by it. On the outside looking in, it often feels like the left treats minorities and the poor as domesticated pets.....they're worthy of love, often pitied, but incapable of survival on their own without constant attention and resources being thrown at them. To someone with my viewpoint, this is the most insulting and racist (intentional or not) viewpoint of all, and I think the black community has been absolutely decimated by all the "help" the left has given them.

Nowadays, it's gotten where I can't really tell the difference at the govt level, at least as it concerns actual US citizens.....both parties are for expanding government and furthering handouts, they just differ in who they're pandering to in order to get votes.

Last thing...a story, and I'll start by acknowledging that anecdotal evidence doesn't prove a point, but it sure helps form opinions. Total D-bag I used to loosely associate with (by associate I mean I saw him at the country club a couple times a month) was a rabid Democrat lawyer. He wasn't Bill Gates but he did well, probably bringing home $350-400k, and at every opportunity he'd badmouth whatever Pub was being discussed, throwing out racism accusations and regaling us with stories of his donations to his party. Well, if you got him drunk enough, he'd finally admit that he had the political affiliations he did because he knew that his lot in life was "locked in", and that the policies he supported would ultimately ensure that he remained in his "place" and that those receiving govt assistance would remain in "their place". (As an aside, this toolbox was a large part of the reason I never agained joined a country club after leaving this one). Does this guy prove my point? Nah, and I understand that, but I would be astonished if a lot of well-off Dems don't feel the same way when not surrounded by polite company.

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I won't go line by line but say that I agree with most of what you've written here. I think that's why any cheerleading or demonizing of old versions of the parties is silly. Both are different animals now and both have a less than stellar record when it comes to treatment of minorities (even the Pubs used Emancipation as more of a strategy than a humanitarian effort during the Civil War).

I don't think there's anything wrong with your anecdote as a symptom of part of the problem. It's not a definitive piece of evidence but shows the hypocrisy in the system. To go with that, I have a friend who is a die-hard Trump guy and, especially on Facebook, will spout off just about any right-wing talking point he comes across (and shares any meme that does it as well). Get him out to happy hour and get a few vodka tonics in him, and he'll quietly admit he doesn't believe a lot of the #### he spouts publicly. But that's who he is surrounded by with friends and family and that's the image he projects. On Facebook, he'll support any Trump immigration policy. Drunk at the bar, he'll tell you he can't stand that kids are being held in detention camps.

I dunno, do we liken that to our football team love? Publicly we'll support all things Clemson, but privately, maybe we'll criticize some things? But politics shouldn't be that way.

I also concur on what you said about how today's Dems treat minorities. I think the party itself often only sees them as tools to elevate Democrat power and, as you said, "domesticated pets." I think that approach is less sinister than some of the stuff coming out of the GOP towards minorities, but not admirable nonetheless.

Andy Griffith was a staunch Democrat

you know he got to write the endings on the tv show