Edited on Mon Oct-03-11 11:43 AM by Douglas Carpenter
The old traditional Republican Party included some very strong supporters of the Civil Rights movement. In fact the most of the old style segregationist including radical elements of the Ku Klux Klan were almost without exceptions Democrats.
Today it is admittedly getting harder and harder to fathom why any sane or rational person could still be a Republican. But sometimes people belong to a group because of their family background or certain perceptions that they picked up - usually not consciously. Some people are Republican because they think the Republican Party's more business friendly image is better for the economy and will ultimately be better for everyone. Some people are Republicans because they have a romanticized idea about the past - usually rooted in a memory of an America that never was. Some people see the world falling apart and the old certainties of life collapsing around them and Republican rhetoric appeals to their desire to return to a life of less upheaval and more certainty. Some people are Republicans because they think the Democrats are arrogant and elitist and want to micro-manage everyone's life. Some people are Republicans because they have been lead to believe that being a Republican is part and parcel of being a good Christian and/or a good patriotic American. Some people are Republicans because of a single issue like gun control or abortion.
So in short there are a number of reasons why a person might be a Republican. As crazy and extreme as the Republican Party is today, it is hard to respect any of the reasons that a person might give for belonging to the party of ignorance. In many cases some people are Republicans because they have simply been lied to, bamboozled and deceived. But the motivations are sometimes perfectly decent and respectable motivations. The motivations are not necessarily things like racism or sexism or homophobia. The motivations might even include humane and compassionate values being misdirected by demagogues manipulating kindly and decent but naive and gullible people.
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