Southern politicians maintain power through Ku Klux Klan voting lists

David Duke, Former Grand Wizard of Ku Klux Klan and Former Congressman of Louisiana

Is the right wing of the Republican party bringing back the style of politics that existed during the decades following the Civil War in the South?  Has racism's wider acceptance, and public demonstrations, increased with the election of an African American President?  Does the David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, mentality still hold prominence with some voters in the South and how might that impact the rightward trend of America?

In the United States there has been a cultural uniqueness in the South that has set it apart since the days of the major settlements that spanned the region, bringing trade and slaves to develop its agricultural lands and wealth in cotton.


Slavery was serious business, and the fear was losing the underpinnings of what kept the South's image of itself as the antebellum best.  The visions of magnolia trees, great lawns and beautiful women in long dresses and carrying parasols to guard their lovely white faces from the sun was the picture that needed to stay forever in some immortal frame.  It had to be buttressed by the poor and the black to maintain the lifestyle of the land and slave-owning farmers and those who longed for the life.

For even the poor white farmers who worked alongside the African Americans in the fields did not cross the color line in material ways during the days preceding and right after the Civil War.  The culture thrived on keeping the South as it was, and although war devastated many of the great mansions and the fledgling developments of towns and cities that sprinkled the South there continued to be that vision of what life should be and who should have and who should have not.

And those visions became part of the literature and stories that not only captivated readers from the South but the romantics everywhere who saw the pure and virginal women, the beauty of the flowers and magnolia tree blossoms, and imagined the dark evil poised in the blackness that could mar the loveliness of it all.

Out of these fears arose the Klan.  At various times throughout history the Klan had great power to control large blocs of voters. And while politicians may not admit allegiance to the Klan now in any way, the fact is there are regions in the State where politicians know that to secure the vote, one must hate as strongly as needed to gain the confidence of the group known for its terrorist tactics.

It was the election of an African American President, Barack Obama, that made the fateful difference and was the proverbial last straw for the South.  In fact the straw man arguments were that Obama is the other, the different, the socialist, communist, African, Muslim, anti-Christ radical bastard whose mother brought him out of black Africa to prepare him for taking over America and eventually the world.  The reason was similar to the arguments against slavery, integration, and political opportunity for everyone, all prefaced with, "I'm not prejudiced but------------------."

For in many ways the racism has become more public and more acceptably expressed.  It began with monkeys on signs mocking Obama during his first run for the Presidency six years ago and has burgeoned to the bloated meanness that remains part of America's culture today.

And those remains have rotted so much they have created festering sores on America's body, even as the new right wing of the Republican party has made racism so popular that nearly anything bad is maintained to be Obama's fault.

At the same time, there has been a pedal backward with the boldness of new racist tones that allow the Jim Crow laws that are practiced informally, while against the law and yet with the same strength of conviction they once were, according to Michelle Alexander, a legal scholar on the topic of racial inequities in the United States.

To get to that awful point, power has essentially been transferred back to the hands of the few in the South with the money and strength that has kept the South for many years the angry child of America's family but one that refuses to grow up and support the rest of the country with equal justice too.  Politicians have used the voting ledgers of those who followed the wizards in white sheets, who years ago roamed the countrysides, proclaiming the need to keep white women safe and the poor ready to shovel whatever might need a shovel.  This might be corn or oil or some other commodity where labor in the sun breaks the body and mind sufficiently that folks won't argue about it anymore,

David Duke, who finds his home these days in whatever country has not yet prepared an exit, or already kicked him out, is on the run from legal problems in the United States.  This man whose embrace in Louisiana came close to becoming Governor of the State in the early 1990's.  And had it not been for a major turnout of the black vote the year of the election and folks outside the State that said they would renounce New Orleans tourism if Duke won, he just might have been Governor, as he took the white vote in most of the parishes of white majorities.  So although Duke did not win the election as Governor, the power and influence he once held is still sought for the winning hand in today's political games.

In fact the New York Times reports Duke's style and the voting response has gone mainstream in Louisiana.

Governor Bobby Jindal used David Duke's voting lists.  Recently Louisiana blogger Lamar White reported Congressman Steve Scalia's speech to a 2002 conference of white nationalist leaders, one of the groups that had been founded by David Duke.  Scalia observed that he had forgotten, then apologized for his lapse in judgment, yet maintains his support from Republican leaders in Congress.  Yet his record on civil rights reflects his beliefs are in coherence with the objectives espoused by David Duke & Co, i.e. the Klan with new pseudonyms.  In a run for Congress Scalise took a $1000 contribution from Kenny Knight, who has been one of Duke's advisers. And he, David Vitter and Bobby Jindal support Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson who says Jim Crow wasn't so bad for people of color.  But the problem goes deeper with an RNC member from Michigan who posted a white supremacist magazine's essay on his Facebook Page, with fellow Republicans referring to it as "enlightening."

From gerrymandering voting districts to political campaigns, the undertones of race remain an obstacle to progress in the South.  In many ways it is even more entrenched, as those storybook images of Southern beauty continue to shape much of the thinking of those who have never lived or traveled to the region.  Many of the arguments seem sensible at first listen, however those who know the history of the South over time know they are similar to the ones used before and since the Civil War, over civil rights, voting and integration.

And while the country suffers from the right wing's moving the country rightward, the nation faces its greatest problems from terrorism.  It is, however, the terror of racism from within that has had the long-term effect of allowing the disgruntled and angry to point to the negatives and join with the radicals who would do us all harm abroad.

While the extreme left makes heroes out of those who would not been heralded as such were it not for the police shootings of unarmed black men, yet the concern about unequal treatment remains prominent in the eyes of a large swath of Americans, who can point to injustices as reasons for rioting, looting and even murder, as in the case of the shooting of two policemen in New York City.

ISIS may be evil, but prejudice, political manipulation, and a flank of a political party that favors and caters to the worst behaviors meant to undermine the President and reduce the rights of minorities may be an even greater evil, because it fertilizes the ground from which extremism springs.