Is the South Rising Again Through the Tea Party?

I have been wondering about this myself now for some time. It just seems that old battles are being waged in new ways for modern days.

This is a subject I have given some thought to here and there, but never studied on any serious academic level. Mostly, just hunches, and below, I will briefly sketch what seems to me to be the case for the evolution, if that is even the right word for it, of popular political thought in the South.

Historically, the South always seemed to have an axe to grind, or a chip on their shoulder, ever since the days when slavery as an institution was being threatened. Then, they lost the war, and their resentment grew even more.

From that point onward, it almost seemed like they were intent on exacting a measure of revenge on the rest of the nation by getting their way. It did not take long.

Before long, they had established a system of legalized racism and segregation, known generally as Jim Crow, that made blacks second class citizens, and it was the closest thing to slavery that they could muster following the Emancipation Proclamation and the defeat in the Civil War.

Then, of course, the Civil Rights movement put this system under threat and, eventually, the legal edifice of Jim Crow segregation was ended.

From that point on, the "Solid South" that had always voted systematically, in block, for the Democrats (particularly the Dixiecrats) started voting instead for Republicans. They seemed to feel betrayed by Johnson, and the Democrats supporting efforts to end legalized segregation. So, they took action.

The resentment has never apparently subsisted, either. Every election, the South is dominated by the Republican Party, even though the Republican Party's platform, generally, speaking, is not really in their best interest.

When even the Republican Party began to seem too closely aligned with Democrats, they needed to turn to something else.

Enter the Tea Party.

The South has now more or less dictated the political tempo in the United States for arguably decades, if not generations. The Tea Party is just the most recent manifestation of this angry desire for revenge that many in the South still seem to feel. That old chip on their shoulder has not gone away, or even shrunk. In fact, given the extremely divided nature of the nation presently, it may be fair to suggest that it has grown.

In any case, here is an article that suggests that the Tea Party is, in fact, just the most recent episode of this desire to see the South rise again.



"The South Has Indeed Risen Again and It’s Called the Tea Party" by Jack Schwartz of The Daily Beast, December 8th 2013:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/08/the-south-has-indeed-risen-again-and-it-s-called-the-tea-party.html