A lot of Southern whites vote Republican and it's common knowledge that a lot of those folks have racial anxieties, to say the least. So my question is: What do Southern whites think they're actually getting by voting GOP? It's not as if Republicans in Washington have made the world safe for segregation again. Somewhere deep down in their shriveled little hearts they must know that Reagan was just talking in Philadelphia, Miss. and that a roll-back of civil rights isn't going to happen. On the economic front the GOP doesn't deliver and it's more like vote Southern pride and get SS privatization. So again, what's your reason for voting GOP?

What you say is true, unfortunately. Many whites, not just in the South but all over America, are still fighting the culture wars of the 1960's. The Republican party has been using wedge issues like race and gay rights to trick their "base" into voting against their own best interests for decades.

The truth, however, as you point out, is that once they've got the votes, they promptly forget their promises and spend all their time serving their true constituency, the wealthiest 1% of Americans. The odd thing is that some voters seem never to realize that they've been had. I can only suppose that this is due to an overexposure to the spewings of Neo-Con mouthpieces like Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.

That's not common knowledge, it's false. I have yet to meet a SINGLE racist in 10 YEARS of living in the South. No one has racial anxieties except a few crazy people who don't matter to anyone, and there are more of those in other places than here.

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"It is extremely difficult for our contemporaries to conceive of the conditions of free banking because they take government interference with banking for granted and as necessary"

-- Ludwig von Mises

Alright, then why vote GOP? What are you getting or hoping to get?

Most Southerners are concerned with national security and Iraq. That's their main issue.

Mine is economics. When compared to the Democratic party, the Republican party is superior in this area in almost every way. However, they aren't perfect, and that's why I don't really support the Republican party.

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"It is extremely difficult for our contemporaries to conceive of the conditions of free banking because they take government interference with banking for granted and as necessary"

-- Ludwig von Mises

Someone doubts me with a negative reputation comment.

My guess is that they know the South only in their imaginations.

A question to the person who gave it: do you live in the South? (I won't neg you for owning up)

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"It is extremely difficult for our contemporaries to conceive of the conditions of free banking because they take government interference with banking for granted and as necessary"

-- Ludwig von Mises

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"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others." - Groucho Marx

How many racists do you know, Spotscat?

Would you consider them to be a majority, and the reason why most people in the South vote Republican?

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"It is extremely difficult for our contemporaries to conceive of the conditions of free banking because they take government interference with banking for granted and as necessary"

-- Ludwig von Mises

Define "racists".

Are we talking about men who wear white hoods and robes while they burn crosses?

Are we talking about people who "tsk-tsk" about a family whose teenage daughter got pregnant, and the baby was born "high yellow"?

Are we talking about people who aren't virulently racist, but use the "N-word" on occasion to describe someone of color?

A lot of degrees of racism... some worse than others, but they're all bad.

There's something here. It's not like back 50-60 years ago when a white jury wouldn't convict a white man for murdering a Negro. Not like the days when an all-white mob would lynch a Negro for having sex with a white woman. The days of Emmett Till are long, long gone.

But there's something here - it's like smoke in the wind... it's very faint, almost impossible to discern, but it's there. Not everywhere, but here and there.

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"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others." - Groucho Marx

Exactly. It's not the reason why Southerners vote Republican.

I'm also at a loss on what racist policies the Republican party promotes. Maybe someone could fill me in?

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"It is extremely difficult for our contemporaries to conceive of the conditions of free banking because they take government interference with banking for granted and as necessary"

-- Ludwig von Mises