The DLC's Failed Southern Strategy and Understanding Southern Society [View all]
I don't know how much effort was really put into 1trying to get a Democratic majority in Congress. Do you?
Didn't look all that energetic to me. I'm in a very safe blue state, so there wasn't much to do here.
But the thought has crossed my mind that having all those misguided conservatives in Congress, corporate tools every one, insures that the TPP among other things will be passed, and that we will get very little of that pesky, environmental legislation that we need.
Setting aside conspiracy theories about possible mixed motives in high places in the DNC for which there is no evidence other than our own open eyes, it is clear to me that the reason that we don't have a more progressive Congress, a Democratic majority in Congress is that we cannot make headway in the Red states in the South.
That defies logic, that the Democratic Party which is the party of equal opportunity for all regardless of race, gender, disability, etc. cannot get a majority of votes in the most economically backward part of the country. Just does not make sense.
My personal conclusion is that the strategy of the DNC and the Democratic Party and their view of the South are wrong.
I lived in a Southern city during my high school years. My family was not Southern. We were Yankees, and I was never allowed to forget that fact, and am proud of it today, but here is what I offer as my understanding of the Southern mentality and the strategy that I think should be applied there. I will admit from the outset that it could be outdated. I hope so in fact. So if you are a Southerner, please read on and tell me I am wrong if that is what you think.
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As an aside, any discussion of the South must take into account racism. I must say that I am white and of the opinion that the problem with racism and the solutions to it do not lie within the understanding of most Black people. Does the child whose drunken father beats him with a whip understand why the father is so cruel? I think not. That child takes the guilt and blame on himself while still a child. It takes a lot of maturity for the child to figure out that on the one hand, it is not the child's fault that the father beats him and on the other, that reasoning with the father will not stay the father's hand or still the father's rage. On the other hand, does the drunken father have enough consciousness to be able to stop himself without intervention of some kind? It's a conundrum, a self-perpetuating conundrum.
. . . .
My personal strategy in the South would be to appeal to red state voters and emphasize their economic issues. Here is why.
I have known social conservatives in my life, known some well. Social conservatism is partly maybe even mostly fueled by the desire to conform. There is a great comfort in feeling that one's ideas are "acceptable," that they are the OK ideas.
And in the South it is especially important to be "acceptable."
In the South, the remnants of what I would call the "debutante social pyramid" used to be very strong. I can't believe that they are as powerful today, but from the unbridled racist expression and hatred we see today, I strongly suspect that there is still something left of it there and even in certain sectors of society in the North.
The "debutante social pyramid" is a sort of mythological tale whispered in the South to children at a very early age. The idea is that society is organized into a fixed hierarchy with very special people, represented in this post by the young women (who have never done anything personally to deserve a special place in society other than being born) who used to "come out" as debutantes in the top tier just as they reached a marriageable age.
The debutantes are viewed as the beautiful, the rich, the admirable whether they are or not. They are viewed as carrying on the traditions and holding the right, acceptable ideas.
I don't know whether there really are debutantes and debutante balls anymore but as I recall they still existed when I was there. And the mothers of some of the teenagers I knew had been among them.
I do know when I look at the results of congressional elections, the racism, the resistance against unions, that the debutante social structure still governs the minds of many people in the South whether they realize it or not.
Rigid, hate-filled, irrational racism keeps the bottom rung of the debutante pyramid fixed in its place. It fixes the foundation of the pyramid. In the view of the racist, if your race is something other than white (and not all people of color are but I don't quite understand that part; great sports heroes or musicians, for example, may not be viewed as at the bottom of the pyramid but seem to be in a class of their own) you are automatically a little lower than even the lowest white person.
Now the puzzling thing there to an outsider was that individual Southerners would privately and secretly make exceptions to that rule. There might be some Black person that they particularly liked, and their explanation would be, "Well, he or she is different." But that is irrelevant to the maintenance of the generic Black person viewed as just as automatic a member of the low, bottom-feeder class as the debutantes (whether they have balls and are singled out as debutantes any more or not) are viewed as by birth and family status, members of the debutante class.
The racism and the exultation of a certain ideal person at the top of Southern society are two sides of the same coin, the social pyramid.
The pyramid is not so much about money although it is about that as it is about social views, about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in society. In other words, that pyramid requires those on it to agree to and conform to certain social values and behavior.
We Democrats, social progressives, are often amazed by what appears to us to be a conflict between the behavior of conservatives in general and their professed social or moral "standards."
Strom Thurmond was a racist in Congress but had a daughter who was half Black whom he cared about. Vitter was a family values man except . . . . Foley was anti-whatever-he-was-himself. To secure your place in the debutante pyramid, you have to conform at least in what you say publicly to the certain fixed social values that glue the pyramid together. And . . . you have to show loyalty to those in your own rung on that pyramid. That's where the problems with joining unions or voting for those outsider Democrats play a role. If you join a union or vote Democratic, are you admitting that maybe you don't really belong in your social caste or station? Maybe you aren't really as high on the social [div class="excerpt" pyramid as you want to believe?
It is when you get to the reality of economics, of poverty, of the difficulty of getting and holding a good job, of being respected for what you do, of the reality of where you can afford to live, go to school and eat
Many Southerners accept degradation with regard to their economic reality because sharing the social prejudices that hold the debutante pyramid together is just so gratifying. It just makes them feel so right, so warm and cozy and secure to know where they are on the debutante pyramid. That is why the right-wing talk radio hosts are so appealing to these conservatives. That racist, angry talk makes them feel they belong. They are part of a very special group who know what is wrong with their society. The focus is on social issues, not so much economic justice.
That is why I believe that trying to confront racism and trying to enlighten Southerners and conservatives in general directly about social issues is such a difficult approach.
In my opinion, the strategy needs to be, and I think that Bernie is close to using it, to point out the illusion that the debutante pyramid is, to point out the poverty and hopelessness of the lives of all those conservatives who vote Republican now because it appears to be the party protecting the social "values," the traditional "values" of the debutante pyramid.
Bernie is asking the right economic questions that may lead those who are dazzled by the seeming stability and "rightness" of the debutante pyramid for what it is, a system that is holding everyone down.
My view may be out of date. That social class system, the debutante system, used to be strong in the South. I don't know if it still is. If you read the book, The Help, you can kind fo get a feeling for how it used to work.
Class in the South is not necessarily economic. It is much deeper than that. But to break the chains by which the Republican southern voters are bound cannot be achieved in my opinion by trying to loosen the glue that holds that pyramid together, the social attitudes themselves, but rather by shining light on the pyramid itself, on the economic limitations that pyramid imposes on those on it, all of them.
That pyramid prevents employees, workers, from organizing to improve their workplaces. It prevents them from the real enjoyment of free speech and freedom of religion. Only certain ideas and certain faiths insure your place on that pyramid. It is an impediment to a lot of progress. It intimidates people. It insures that certain people (and color is one of the major factors in this equation) get extra points at the outset of their lives while others get points deducted as they exit the birth canal.
It isn't fair. And a lot of really great people are held back because climbing up that pyramid may be easier today than it was 50 years ago. But from what I see in Congress and on the Republican campaign trail, it is still really tough. Even though the Bush family is not really a Southern family, the idea of a dynasty of Bushes is really appealing to people who see themselves as fitting somewhere on that pyramid. The Bushes are in a sense the ultimate debutantes. It is no accident that George W. Bush worked on his father's campaign in Alabama at one time. Similarly, Trump's arrogant hate gives him a high position on the pyramid and not just in the South.
It's very hard for us as Democrats to understand the appeal of the kind of a social pyramid. But for Republicans, it gives a sense of belonging, knowing where they are.
And in this time of change, knowing where we are is important to us.
I think that Bernie's emphasis on the issues of economic opportunity and equality as opposed to social issues is the strongest way to confront the debutante pyramid.
Leading with social issues will not work. We progressives or liberals see the social issues as ours to decide. We seek social freedom. We are unafraid of it because our attitudes, our professed attitudes on social issues do not determine for us where we are on the ladder of our society.
In the South, for many people, it is their attitudes on social issues that insure their sense of solidarity, of belonging n their society. That is why the solid Southern block is so conservative and cannot move from that position thus far.
What we see as a block is really the social pyramid of the South. It is holding Southerners back.
Just look at their poverty rates. It is holding the whole country back because our preoccupation with social issues, and I am not denying their tremendous importance, leads us to talk only reluctantly about the economic issues.
Ironically, our constant focus on social issues inextricably ties so many Americans into the very social views that most of us Democrats want to change. Focusing on the economic repercussions of those backward social views is the approach to take to achieve progress on both social and economic issues.
Perhaps someone else has an idea about how to tear down the social pyramid in the South without destroying the entire society, but I can't think of one at this time.
I have not experienced anything quite as limiting as the Southern Debutante Pyramid in the North. I may just have missed it because I didn't appreciate what level on the pyramid I was. Maybe I was always a bit outside of the pyramid because I wasn't solidly a part of any community.
I'm sure there probably is some sort of modified pyramid in Los Angeles. There is so much wealth, but there isn't anywhere in the North that I know of this sort of concept of the debutantes, of the born into charmed lives class. Not even in Hollywood where you have a lot of stars. Most of those stars get up at 6 a.m. to be on the set on time and earn their stars. It isn't the same thing.
If we Democrats are to appeal in the South, if we are to end the racism and the violence associated with racism (in both North and South), we have to understand the roots of the racism and the traditional social structure of the South.
I'm sure the social structure of the South has changed some over the past 50 or so years, but the election results show me that the structure of Southern society comes from a very dark place, a pyramid of colors and classes that we Democrats have not yet figured out.
The Republicans seem to understand that very well and to play with it to keep either a considerable minority or a bare majority in Congress.
It is a traditional structure that thrives on a sense of brutal mastery of the class just under you, of feeling superior, of keeping order, of demanding performance from others, of not viewing others as your equal not only if they are of a different race, but even if they aren't from the right social group, of respecting people who you think are above you -- it's the absolute opposite of egalitarian, of what was done in the Occupy culture. Look at some of the videos of police arresting and brutalizing Black people and you see what I am talking about. (And I realize that some of them are in the North. Same sort of debutante pyramid social structure may exist in police departments. We should examine that possibility.)
That is why I think that if the South is to vote Democratic, we have to focus on economic issues. The race issues will change if the economic issues awaken people in the South (and North) to the fact that they are caught in a destructive and outdated social structure that is not working for them, that never worked for them.
To conclude,
the shadow of slavery is still alive and well in the Republican Party in the South. It uses social issues to scare people into thinking they will lose their place in the structure that slavery left behind if they vote their own economic interests. It prevents them from even seeing where their economic and social interests lie. And it keeps them scared of losing their place in the world if they dare to challenge the idea of the pyramid.
The DNC is nowhere near understanding or appealing to Southerners in my view.
Of course, maybe I am way behind the times and my analysis of the South is completely wrong.
I am not talking about Texas. I do not know Texas.
I am talking about the Old South of azaleas and great mansions and live oaks and swamps and all the "tradition" that it loves.
So if someone disagrees with me, I'd love to read your view on this. I'm quite willing to admit I am wrong if I am.
A note about racism.
Black people experience racism, but to change white people and drag them out of the dark ages on racism, I think it has to be approached through by challenging the idea of the debutante class and the pyramid beneath it with the reality of the economic cruelty to people of all races of that system.
I'm wondering whether the Debutante pyramid system plays out in the Black community. I have no idea. I would be interested in reading about that.
Thanks for your patience if you made it to the end of this long post.
I have no idea why so much of it is blue. Sorry. It's a very long rant I know. Too long. I know.
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