Red State Revolution: How The South Really Turned Republican

Yesterday I wrote a quick article about Friedrich Nietzsche and his essay "On the Use and Abuse of History for Life," where he posited that history should serve life, not shackle it. I pointed to how as Burkeans and our respect for tradition and history Nietzsche’s early writings on History and how it could be used were important for us to understand. Nietzsche argued that history, when used appropriately, can inspire, inform, and guide individuals and societies. However, when misused, history can distort reality, manipulate narratives, and serve political agendas that obscure the truth. Nietzsche warned against the dangers of allowing history to become a tool for political expediency rather than a means of understanding and growth.

This concept of the use and abuse of history is particularly relevant when examining the narratives surrounding political discourse today and how History can often be used as a cudgel to attack political groups as an as hominem and even to create a nonexistent past to go back to in reactionary zeal. As Republicans we’ve often heard the use of the “Southern Strategy“ as an attack on our party’s past and an attempt to alienate the party from black voters. The Southern Strategy and the political realignment in the Southern United States are often conflated and have been weaponized to malign the Republican Party, painting a caricature of its history to obscure the Democratic Party’s own dark past, which is conveniently underdeveloped in popular culture. This is a prime example of historical distortion used to serve contemporary political goals And with that I’ll deconstruct it quickly (as quickly as I can anyway) using some data and my usual snark.

Southern Strategy vs. Party Realignment