I do not believe that I ever related this story on DU:

[PCIntern]

This is a true story and the dialogue is only slightly paraphrased. It was one of the most memorable moments in my career, listening to people vent, sometimes very significant people vent…

Some of you folks who have been around here a long time might recall that at one time I was treating the aristocracy of the Democratic fundraisers here in Philadelphia. Several of these people had literally been venerated as having gotten Jimmy Carter elected president in 1976, and were extremely influential and powerful in the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania political scene. For three of these people whom I treated, their reach extended into the White House when President Clinton was living there, and they had his personal cell number.

One day, one of the gentlemen was sitting in my chair and he told me that his buddy, a former Frank Rizzo senior advisor and aide, was going to run for mayor of Philadelphia. He told me that this was the last chance that white people would be able to run the city, since we were being “overrun“ by, and I use the polite phrase rather than that which he uttered , people of color. Fairly stunned, I sat there neither nodding nor shaking my head in some form of disbelief that he would actually verbalize this. He was adamant that this was the last chance that “we” would have to get what we could get before the “end times“ of politics here in Philadelphia.

The gentleman to whom he was referring happened to live not far from me in the suburbs, so I asked him how was he going to claim to be a resident of Philadelphia when everyone, and I mean everyone, knows full well that he lives outside the city? The fundraiser replied that that was all taken care of and his son’s condominium would suffice as legal residence for purposes of the election. Of course, it was virtually immediately disclosed that he did not live in the city and a suit or petition was filed with the courts to prevent him from being on the ballot. To make a long story short I suppose they got to the judge, and the judge ruled that he could be a candidate for mayor and that this other candidate who brought the suit was not able to convince the court that all this was true, factual , or relevant to the notion of residency. Don’t ask. It’s how things worked here for years, and may still…

The fundraiser came back to my office for some further work, and I mentioned to him that his court battle was won and things I suppose, could proceed. He told me that he hired a very prominent Philadelphia attorney to go after the candidate who had done this to his candidate, and that she was going to pay for this. I mentioned to him casually that the female candidate, although of Iowan WASP extraction, had an an Hispanic last name and most Philadelphians assumed that she was Hispanic although it was actually her husband who was. I further mentioned that I thought this would become a problem within the minority community and there might be some backlash. He waved me off and basically called me incompetent and alluded to the fact that possibly my dentistry was not up to par because my politics and political knowledge certainly weren’t.

Well, the instant it came out in the news that the candidate was suing the accusing candidate, his poll numbers plummeted and he disappeared off the scene. This guy I could tell 50 stories about, but won’t because it’s unseemly and this is neither the time nor the place.

The point I am making here Albeit circuitously, is it I think that the republican party is doing the same: that they feel that the minority population is increasing at such a rate that in a reasonable time, they will be the minority party by far and will have no shot of power outside of certain geographic regions within certain states. They are trying to grab all they can, and ruin the system so that this process occurs more slowly, but it will occur. The question I have is can we prevent the country from becoming totalitarian or are we going to enter some very strange existence, a 21st century South Africa perhaps? Time of course will tell, but I thought this analogous story might have some relevance to today’s situation. I thank you for your time and patience.

[PJMcK]

1. Good post, thanks

That's quite a story, PC.

I think you might be right concerning our nation's future. We're probably going to "go through some things" in the coming years. We may have a partitioning similar to what happened in Ireland but for different reasons.

When President Obama was elected, I thought our country was moving forward once again. Since the night Trump was elected, I've changed my mind. We're on a self-destructive path thanks to Republicans.

[wnylib]

45. Reagan was white backlash against

the civil rights progress of the 60s and 70s.

Trump was white backlash against the presidency of a Black American.

Both of those Republican political movements set the nation on a self destructive course.

I am White. I remember telling a Black friend back in the 90s that Black Americans were the future of democracy in the US and that they would be the ones to save it from self-destruction. At first she was offended and said that Blacks do not owe it to anyone to save a country that had once enslaved them. But she understood when I explained that, while Whites took democracy for granted as a privilege and lost sight of its values, I thought that those values were especially significant to Blacks because they had always been denied the full rights of democracy. So, as Blacks fight for their rights, they are also fighting for the values of democracy that Whites have lost sight of due to racism. Then she agreed with me.

[BSdetect]

2. Sadly the gop stole two SCOTUS members and we were unable to stop that

[live love laugh]

30. They stole a presidency‼️ After that everything else was easy.

[VGNonly]

47. Yes!

When you throw in the Citizens United decision and the ongoing Gerrymandering debacle.

[2naSalit]

3. A tale of...

How the sausage is made. It's surely a parable for our time of sorts and I agree, we could be headed toward a partition but I think, regardless of how close we may get, the effort will be thwarted.

The environmental decline will force changes and bring pressures most aren't ready for and will certainly have unforeseen affects on our lives in very fundamental ways. The factors involved in that respect will force us to make choices we can't even imagine now.

I suspect there will be only going forward, for good or ill, from now on. The yolk of the egg has been pieced, there's no going back.

[PCIntern]

4. The posters here on DU from the Delaware Valley

will know exactly of whom I am speaking.

[dsp3000]

27. Sam Katz? he's been running on the R ticket non-stop.

Hello from bucks county, BTW.

[madaboutharry]

5. From the very beginning, this country has been unable to see the dignity and humanity of all people.

We have never recovered from the moment the Founding Fathers determined African slaves to be 3/5 of a person. For centuries we actually lived in many ways as an apartheid country. It wasn't until 1967 that laws prohibiting inter-racial marriage, the same laws that existed in South Africa, was ruled unconstitutional. What does that say about us as a nation?

It is disheartening that half the population would choose to be a member of a political party that passes legislation to suppress the vote of minorities, scapegoats vulnerable children and teenagers, seeks to legislate women's reproductive rights, and fights nonsensical culture wars. It is all rooted in fear. Fear of minorities, fear of women's power, and fear of change.

Judge Jackson represents everything republicans fear; a powerful black woman. Her nomination caused nearly every republican in the Senate chamber to reveal the ugliness in their hearts.

[Farmer-Rick]

15. Our frequently venerated US Constitution has slavery written into it

Just think about that. Our founding fathers who wrote "all men are created equal" specifically had rules and regulations for how to conduct the abuse and sale of slave labor.

There is so much wrong with that. There is nothing in the constitution that promotes a god but it does support slavery. That is our founding document. I think these racists and wannabe slave owners, when they say they are constitutional originalist, are referring to slavery in the constitution.

"Slavery was implicitly recognized in the original Constitution in provisions such as Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, commonly known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, which provided that three-fifths of each state's enslaved population (“other persons”) was to be added to its free population for the purposes of apportioning seats in the United States House of Representatives, its number of Electoral votes, and direct taxes among the states. Article IV, Section 2, provided that slaves held under the laws of one state, who escaped to another state, did not become free, but remained slaves."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#:~:text=It%20was%20established%20by%20European,several%20provisions%20about%20unfree%20persons.

That is in the constitution itself not an amendment like the 13th that frees the slaves and makes it illegal.

Yeah, our country is steeped in racism from its origins; 238 years later (using the date of when congress declared sovereignty) we are still fighting it.

[spanone]

6. ...K&R...

[yardwork]

7. Shows how deeply racism is embedded in U.S. thought.

I will offer a story of my own. Many years ago we hired a house painter, who turned out to be a labor organizer. He had come to the south in the 1960s to help organize unions - a cause that failed. He supported himself by becoming an excellent house painter. He had spent decades in small southern towns getting to know people.

Anyway, he told me that racism in the south was deeply rooted in fear. White people were terrified that if Black people got equal rights, there wouldn't be enough resources to go around. In particular, lower income white people were convinced that equal rights meant their destruction.

[erronis]

8. Glad you were able to keep your hands and instruments under control.

I'm sure you've heard a lot from people in the chair, and probably lots that would make my blood pressure rise and hands unsteady.

I enjoy your recounting of your experiences.

[MOMFUDSKI]

9. They want their '50s white country back

so badly that they are prepared to do ANYTHING it might take. A friend I tossed had such a hatred for blacks, browns, anyone different than her it was stunning. And people like her are a big army out there. Oddly, she LOVED the Mexican waitress at the restaurant they frequented when at their lake cottage. So one-on-one they are OK with "others" but the big picture evades them.

[llmart]

11. "They want their '50s white country back"

That's it in a nutshell.

However, what "they" don't realize is it won't be long before the generation (mine) that grew up in the 50's will be gone or drooling in their oatmeal, and the subsequent generations won't even remember a time when only white men had power. I won't live to see it, but I'm optimistic that my granddaughter will live in a country where she does not feel like a second class citizen and where only men can make the "big" decisions.

[Joinfortmill]

34. Agree

[tclambert]

42. 1950s or 1850s?

At times they sound like they're still peeved that someone took away their right to own other people.

They don't even want basic American History taught in the classroom. If you did, little white children might learn how their ancestors treated African Americans and Native Americans and Mexicans. In 1846, President Polk picked a fight with Mexico and ended up stealing half their country. But who teaches that in American History class? Or the Trail of Tears? Or the Tulsa Race Massacre? Republicans want to outlaw teaching about any of those.

[lambchopp59]

48. Painful truth

In family visits to the midwest, shocked I tells ya, shocked, at the number of young folks completely hook, line and sinker bamboozled by all the Fox News rhetoric. Even in pockets of the left coast exist young cabals of 1950's white supremacy circles.
It's truly a WTF pondersome thing to me. I'd never have seen such coming 50 years ago. In the Carter era, most of us thought all that ugliness would be only a bad memory by now.
Then along came Fox News and Hate Radio to resuscitate what should have been long dead and buried.

[halfulglas]

12. What so many of them won't acknowledge is that the 50s they remember were an illusion.

A Hollywood story on TV of what they thought America was supposed to be after the war. They thought the mom in the family really loved her vacuum and her life the way it was portrayed (vacuuming on TV in dress, heels and pearls), but even the white woman of that time had to subvert their desires and their ambitions to what was expected of them, and that fake memory of tranquility and bliss never even considered that the people on the periphery of these depictions had it even worse. So those grasping to hold onto the power they think is theirs by right are destroying our country. What is supposed to make America great is SHARED power, not power grabbed. Let everybody have their say. It's not perfect, but it should be America.

Your ex-friend LOVED the Mexican waitress one-on-one, but what is implicit in that relationship is that the waitress is serving her, not the other way around.

[Ilsa]

25. The whiite woman had to buy-in, or request from her doctor Seconal

or another drug with which to escape. (Valium wasn't invented until the 60's.)

A sociologist from the NW wrote a book called The Way We Never Were. Explains it all about the 1950s and early 60s.

[Solomon]

10. Thanks for relating the story.

[The Jungle 1]

13. We will travel this road together.

All I can say is fascism never wins. I agree the republicans are moving in a dangerous direction. We will stop them!

[FalloutShelter]

14. I agree.

Just because they are loud, obnoxious, and dangerous, does not mean they are a majority.

I remain hopeful and vigilant that most Americans will not sacrifice the “Idea” of America for christofascism.

[sop]

17. For many their "idea" of America consists of white christian supremacy, and democracy is now

threatening their continued dominance.

[Cozmo]

23. This idea will be their downfall. White dominance is an ugly look.

PCIntern, I get ya

[KPN]

44. THIS a 1000 times.

[DownriverDem]

16. There's more of us

if we only vote. We have so much to lose. Will folks get it?

[Joinfortmill]

33. They better or we're in deep shit.

[jaxexpat]

18. Black slavery and peonism.......

are hard to back away from gracefully. Outgrowing them presents its own set of challenges.

[FakeNoose]

19. I don't know Philly politics but this story doesn't surprise me at all

It's no secret that "big city" political machines had plenty of racists back in the day. I want to believe that most of those evil people are gone. Either they've left the planet entirely, or they've quit the Democratic Party. What you describe may have been our past, but it's not our future.

Getting revenge, getting paybacks, angry backlashes - that's all in the Repuke bag o' tricks. It's their small minds doing small things because they're unable to think big. We should never turn our backs on them because they can't be trusted.

I think 50 years ago there was some kind of fear among the racists that whites would eventually be overtaken/ outnumbered by blacks. However now the fear isn't about the blacks, it's about ALL the minorities. It must be horrible being a racist today. They look everywhere and all they can see are the minorities surrounding them.
Talk about paranoia!

[FoxNewsSucks]

20. 21st century South Africa. . .

I've often thought that "apartheid" is another good word to describe republicon goals.

Fascism and authoritarianism are what they want, but as we saw in South Africa and other places, a tyrannical minority can rule a country.

A MAGAt apartheid America would be their ideal.

[lagomorph777]

22. Minority rule, maintained by force.

They'll probably be able to keep it going for about 50 years.

Then all hell will break loose.

[appalachiablue]

36. People forget the ugly example of SA Minority White Rule, Ethnostate.

+1

[mrsadm]

21. I lived in Philadelphia for 5 years

and can attest to what you say. I also saw some overt prejudice against Jewish people - in business dealings. If you aren't WASP and born several generations ago in Philadelphia, you aren't worth anything.

[dalton99a]

24. Kick

[bullwinkle428]

26. Thanks for sharing this. My biggest fear is that the right is picking off

just enough members from various minority communities to allow them to maintain a firm enough grasp on power for decades to come, making life enormously difficult for the rest of us.

I live in the Midwest, and see them actively doing this with Latino and AA candidates in certain places. Keeping fingers crossed the strategy won't pay huge dividends this fall in the Midterms.

[Caliman73]

28. Interesting. Not sure the dynamics are the same.

Some people call this Ascendency Theory or The Ascendency Fallacy. Some Democrats think that the changing demographics of the country are enough to provide us with assured victory.

I think that we actually need to go back to being the party of the working people. We certainly represent them better than Republicans ever will, but if we do not do it LOUD and BOLDLY, then those people of color, who are in the working class will sit elections out because they feel left behind. We should not be the only other place they can go, we should be the party that fights for them, to the wire.

[UTUSN]

29. Caveat: Minorities aren't monolithic. I was shocked to see Hispanics supporting Drumpf.

Those were of the I-got-mine-shut-the-newcomers-out variety, also owners of small businesses hostile to what they consider "welfare", and the Catholics of the rigid variety hostile to socially liberal issues, and also the ones who immigrated via the regulated process who are thoroughly indoctrinated in the "patriotic" curriculum and fleeing oppressive governments.

That's why certain Red states "turning Blue" based on population growth of minorities aren't getting there as soon as hoped for.

[appalachiablue]

37. Yep and very pro-family, anti abortion with RW Evangelicals

that are well financed pumping media propaganda from Latin America too.

[Ilsa]

31. Hey, PC, do any of your customers know you are

Jewish? Have any reacted badly upon learning it?

My son's cardiologist wears a kippah at work. I suspect if anyone says something negative, he just removes them from his patient load.

[PCIntern]

41. All of them do

If you knew me you would have zero doubt!

[Joinfortmill]

32. Wow. Amazing story, we're in dangerous waters for sure.

[Hekate]

35. Always interesting, PCI, always interesting

[Rebl2]

38. The first two

sentences of the last paragraph says it all I believe. I have thought this for the last few years.

[Emile]

39. The racial background in the United States

White 60.1% (non Hispanic) and is shrinking every year.

Your post is spot on, the Republicans are grabbing all they can and doing everything possible to slow it's progress.

[Xolodno]

40. Boiled Frog.

People don't know how fast shit can happen in government. Both my wife and I are exiles. My family was exiled by the Tsar (and no thanks to Putin, I have to keep my origin quiet) and my wife's family was exiled by the Shah of Persia. Add to that, the USA wasn't the first in my family we went into exile, it was Mexico, but the USA didn't like socialist leaders in Mexico and help promote the opposition in PRI. This all happened quickly and can quickly happen here (and yes, the irony is not lost on me we ended up in the nation whose imperialism brought a demise of the respective governments).

I'm always of the opinion, you have to be ready to leave a nation should things go really bad. It won't be terrible right away and you will lie to yourself and say "its not too bad". But then it gradually gets worse and you barely notice and become accustomed to it. But when it finally crosses the line, its already too late. My distant relatives in Russia are gone and my wife has no clue about hers in Iran.

Racism could very well be the tool that brings everything down. I was in a friendly poker tournament, long story short, got shit hands every single time and you can only bluff your way further for so long before someone gets wise, so I was out at the second table before the final third. So I just chatted with other people at this poker party I haven't met yet. In one conversation, I guy made a comment which included "dirty Mexicans". It floored me. As there were those of Hispanic origin and were at the final table. And yes, I'm white and fully Russian blooded (of course I've heard the "Russians aren't European and just a bunch of Mongloids"...which is an insult to both Mongols and Russians), but I very well could have been a Mexican citizen.

Racism isn't taught, it gets indoctrinated and takes generations to remove.

[Jarqui]

43. I agree with much of the top post

About a decade ago or more, you could project the demographics.
The projection was bad news for the racist Republicans.
Many, many of their activities in messing with voting rights, money in politics, gerrymandering, lying, stacking SCOTUS, etc, etc including their recent effort to take over the electoral college process in various states - all points to them trying to cling to power and create an us vs them partisan divide to try to help hold their grip on power.
The media companies and large companies who want to hang on to their tax breaks are funding this effort.

I do not think Biden has done that bad of a job but his approval ratings seem worse than Trump's or flirting with it. That's crazy. Democracy's great arbiter: the media, have big corporate $'s thumb on the scale.

[uberblonde]

46. Happy Fernandez.

She ran in 1999.

Was Marty Weinberg the guy who didn't live in the city?