The Democratic Party & The KKK: Two Peas In A Pod

I've read blogs on other websites where people have referred to Republicans as "RepubliKKKans," as though they were trying to convince others that Republicans & the KKK were one in the same.  I guess they do that because Republicans have traditionally tried to reign in government spending, thus cutting funding for programs that liberals believe benefit the poor & minorities.  Meanwhile, the Democrats always want to take more & more from the hard-working taxpayers of this country.  I guess pretending to be Robin Hood makes Democrats feel morally superior.  Anyway, I find it curious that people link the Republican Party to the Ku Klux Klan.  Here's why:

Even before the Civil War ended, Abraham Lincoln & other Republicans initiated a program called Reconstruction.  In a nutshell, this program was supposed to reform southern society, & give blacks more rights.  The 14th & 15th Amendments to the Constitution - which granted citizenship & voting rights to blacks - were passed after war ended.  Southern Democrats, who weren't the least bit interested in changing southern society, did everything in their power to block Reconstruction.  The Ku Klux Klan was formed by former Confederate army officers shortly after the war ended.  They terrorized blacks & worked to undermine Reconstruction.  There can be very little question that the KKK had the support of Southern Democrats.  If you haven't seen the History Channel's special on the KKK, you might be interested to know that one of the commentators referred to the KKK as the, "terrorist wing of the Democratic Party."  The first incarnation of the Klan dissolved in the late 1860's as increasing numbers of federal troops were sent to the south to stop opposition to Reconstruction.  Ultimately though, Southern Democrats succeeded in undermining Reconstruction, & it ended in failure in 1877.  The south would remain segregated for almost 100 years.    

The Ku Klux Klan reformed in 1915, & rose to prominence during the 1920's.  However, a scandal rocked the group in the late 1920's, & it's membership declined sharply as a result.  For the most part, the KKK became relegated to the south.  And the south was still sending racist Democrats to Congress.  When the full effects of the Great Depression were being felt across the country during the early 1930's, President Roosevelt (FDR) attempted to initate an economic recovery plan called the New Deal.  The New Deal was controversial in some quarters because it greatly increased the size & power of the federal government.  Some conservatives probably thought there were socialist elements to it.  Prior to the New Deal, there was no social security system.  In order to get his New Deal legislation pushed through Congress, FDR needed the support of Southern Democrats.  However, in order to secure their support, FDR had to abandon civil rights legislation for blacks.  For example, a bill that would have banned lynchings was opposed by Southern Democrats, & FDR had to let the legislation die.  One way of looking at the New Deal is that it brought America out of the Great Depression.  Another way of looking at it is that America, to a certain extent, owed its economic recovery to racist Democrats. During World War II, our military was segregated.  It's interesting that some historians refer to this period in time as America's finest hour.

If Reconstruction had succeeded, there wouldn't have been a need for a civil rights movement in the 1960's.  There probably would be no NAACP or United Negro College Fund, because they wouldn't be necessary.  There wouldn't be people dependent on a welfare system.  LBJ's so-called "Great Society," which has proven to be nothing more than a tremendous waste of taxpayer money, would never have existed.  There would have been no Affirmative Action.

After Hurricane Katrina, Kanye West stated that George Bush, "hated black people."  If that's true, why have both of his Secretaries of State been black?  If George Bush is a racist, why would he have picked Alberto Gonzalez to head the Department of Justice?  If you look at the cabinets of the Clinton & Bush administrations, you'll notice that minorities were appointed to much more important positions under Bush.  Clinton, a Southern Democrat, didn't appoint a minority to a position higher than Secretary of Commerce (Ronald H. Brown).  So who's the racist here, the Democrat or the Republican? 

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