1/ I think the greatest success of the far-right hasn't been in marketing racism for its own sake, but rather deceptively positioning of it as an effective if perhaps distatestful answer to major policy problems.
Like it's a necessary evil you have to swallow if you want to address the big issues.
Like it's a necessary evil you have to swallow if you want to address the big issues.
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That's the thing about racism and immigration: they obliterate consideration of even worse problems.
If that weren't so, the GOP's populist racism wouldn't compel.
The 1876 compromise, The Lost Cause narrative, integration, Brown v. Board of Ed, the Voting Rights Act...they're all tied to each other. Worthwhile considering George Wallace's shocking Wisconsin
It's bacon and eggs, Bubble & Squeak, mashed potatoes & gravy. This dichotomy has never left American politics.
In the time period you describe they've done lots of other things!
They push the idea that no matter how you may personally feel about racism, the solution to these problems runs through more of it.
We can't yield to them a mantle of competence.
It's a human failing to associate unrelated issues and build a misguided narrative around them. Race is incorrectly associated with problems, even where the links are weak. We collect all things we imagine are related in a mental kebab and swallow it whole. We are suckers for oversimplification.