Our nation is too often held hostage by Confederate residue and Dixietrash.

[Progressive Jones]

Sorry, normal Southerners. I feel very bad for you.

Edit for spelling error.

[yardwork]

1. It's not just in the south. Our entire country is held hostage to racial biases.

Slavery is not just a legacy. It's an original sin that warps everything, along with our history of genocide. We may not survive our past.

[brer cat]

3. +++

[Progressive Jones]

2. Oh, I know it's not just the South, but that happens to be high concentration

of political undesirables.

[SCantiGOP]

5. Thanks for the bigotry

No fucking text

[Progressive Jones]

39. Thanks for Lindsey Graham. nt

[hlthe2b]

18. You need to review the Southern Poverty Law Center's mapping of extremist/hate groups

They are genuinely EVERYWHERE across the US. Everywhere.

Held in check a bit more in the Blue States, certainly, but they are everywhere.

[DemocraticPatriot]

27. Certainly, racism may be more clearly divided nowadays between urban and rural,

rather than north and south...

Plenty of extremism in the north, outside of the cities... that is why so many of the rust belt states are so closely divided in elections.

[Progressive Jones]

38. I'm not just talking about extremist/racist organizations. I'm talking about maga grunts,

and shitty politicians.

[multigraincracker]

4. I think it is changing from

North vs South into rural vs urban.

[cilla4progress]

9. Which is too bad.

I love(d) rural folks....

[Haggard Celine]

6. Ignorance kills.

If the ignorant were the only ones who were killed, it wouldn't be such a bad thing. But the ignorance reaches out and pulls the innocent into its orbit.

[JI7]

7. There are also selfish people like the ones in Maine and Virginia

In Virginia angry at teachers and didn't want school lockdowns becsuse they want a place to watch their kids. Concerned over things like critical race theory. They see school more as a place to babysit than about learning which is why they don't care when Republicans refuse to fund programs for schools.


And then the ones in Maine that reelected Susan Collins becsuse her voting against ACB made up for her support of Kavanaugh. This was worse than Virginia becsuse voting republican for Senate means voting for people like mcconnel. At least the one for governor will be limited to their state.

So why do we expect West Virginia which is VERY conservative and openly racist to be better when people in states that do vote democratic still decide to vote republican over selfish reasons.

And the people that hold Democrats to higher standards.So vote Trump but can't vote for the democratic Senate candidate anymore becsuse of consensual affair.

[BlueTsunami2018]

8. The confederate flag flies in rural areas all over the country.

Whenever I venture outside of the city, you see that bullshit everywhere. They sell Klan and Nazi memorabilia on the countertops of 7-11s in Bumblefuck, PA.

PA was a Union state.

[DemocraticPatriot]

29. the racists have devolved to their lowest common denominator--

whichever side they wished had won the civil war....


the Republicans seemed to have dived deeper into racism beginning at the point they had clearly lost the overwhelming majority of the black vote, which did not happen fully until the 1960s...

[moose65]

37. So was West Virginia

That’s another in a long line of ironies. The western counties of Virginia didn’t want to secede from the Union, so they bolted and were eventually granted statehood.

[Irish_Dem]

10. Feels like the Civil War never ended. Or that the South won.

[GoodRaisin]

11. Well, at least if the South had won

all the magats would be there now.

[Hortensis]

20. How do you figure? It's incredibly easy for magats from

all around the nation to move to the south any time they want, one nation after all. Hypocrisy being what it is, I'm pretty sure those who do just take their geographic superiority with them.

[GoodRaisin]

26. Well, if the South had won,

everything magats love would be there already… their constitution, their judges, their white privilege, their guns, their theocracy, their misogyny, their walls, you name it. What reason would any of them ever had to migrate to the Union states when everything they worshipped was already there? Why migrate to where they hate the laws if they had won the right to stay home and make their own laws?

[Hortensis]

28. You don't get it. They were already in the

union states. A desire to imagine ourselves superior is universal, and even healthy if not over done. Almost as common is assisting that by imagining others must be inferior to ourselves, usually dishonestly as needed, grabbing onto stupid reasons, like living on the superior side of the river.

The plus part of all this is that, not nice and harmful as it may be, most of it is without any real malice, and people who become aware of it in themselves often are appalled and want to be better. Regardless of which side of the river they’re from.

[GoodRaisin]

45. No, I do. Honestly I was just joking when I said all the magats would be living in the South

if the South had won the civil war. That’s the danger of hypotheticals, I was idealistically speaking, I did not literally mean that I think they would all live in the south (but how much nicer it might be if everyone had their side of the river to themselves). But I do understand the feeling of superiority (synonomous with ego) and that it moves around, geographically, for sure.

[Hortensis]

46. Oh, sorry, GoodRaisin. Missing a joke is rotten, especially

one so hard to understand any other way.

This has actually been an unexpectedly nice thread in some respects. Since we live in GA, followed our kids out from California, who are raising their children in GA and AR, I really appreciated all those who disagreed with the harshness.

[Stuart G]

12. THE SENATE IS THE SENATE!!!...THE CONSITUTION WAS WRITTEN BY VERY SMART PEOPLE.

i don't think that too many of the writers could have possibly imagined what the country would be 220 years later.

Even "Smart People" could not imagine 13 states becoming what it became.

[DemocraticPatriot]

30. but of course, the "filibuster" is NOWHERE in the constitution...

only an arcane 'senate rule'....

[mcar]

13. Oh good, another South trashing OP

Those of us who are Democrats in red states thank you for your support. Now, I'll go back to working to GOTV. Try it sometime.

[BlackSkimmer]

15. I'm sure the OP is from some perfect state that has no racist incidents, rednecks, tfg supporters...

Except there is no such state.

[Progressive Jones]

41. I never said that. Here's what I'll tell you, though.

I'm from Illinois.
Illinois has gifted this nation with Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth. Both Dems.

Add to them Democratic Party Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Bobby Rush, Lauren Underwood, Danny Davis, Sean Casten, Raja Krishnamoorthi (my Rep.), Sheri Bustos (retiring I hear, unfortunately), Robin Kelly, Marie Newman, Chuy Garcia, Mike Quigley and, last but not least, Republican Adam Kinzinger.

We also have a Democratic Party controlled State legislature.

Pardon my rant, but holy crap...

[DemocraticPatriot]

33. Of course, we know, we know-- many loyal Democrats in the south...

but such posts are obviously caused by frustration with the racist, republican southern majority, and aimed at them, and not our loyal Democratic allies in the south--- who have done a marvelous job at changing the equation, particularly in virginia and georgia...

Generalizations are usually a bad thing, as always. Try not to take it personally. Personally, I admire your bravery and dedication, and thank you for it! Change may come slowly, but it is coming, thanks to people like yourself.

[Hortensis]

16. That's okay. Bigotry is everywhere and amazingly often unsuspected,

like viral particles people don't realize they're shedding. I feel sorry for the world.

[SMC22307]

17. There's plenty of Dixietrash in Pennsylvania.

My mother's in Franklin County and there's no shortage of vile anti-Biden and Harris signs. It's a red county full of anti-mask gun humpers waving Confederate flags. I'm really worried about the 2022 Senate race: Fetterman, Kenyatta, or Lamb versus ... Dr. Fucking Oz?

[BlackSkimmer]

19. Ohio seems to have quite a few too, from what I read daily.

Many many states that are NOT in the south have tfg supporters.

But haters gonna hate.

[SMC22307]

21. Yep. I spent time around Dayton and Sidney (truly awful) back during Dubya's first term...

and saw Confederate flags then. I can only imagine what it's like now that they're part of the MAGA cult.

[DemocraticPatriot]

35. On the bright side, we have now elected presidents

WITHOUT winning Ohio...

[LowerManhattanite]

32. Pennsyltucky is a REAL-ASS THING.

N/t

[SMC22307]

34. Yep. Turnout in Philly and Pittsburgh has got to be fierce next November.

My preference is Fetterman but EVERYONE needs to put aside differences and vote for whichever Dem wins the nomination!

[Texasgal]

22. To be honest

There are much more "normal" Southerners than not. We tend to pay more attention to the freaks and weirdos more for some reason.

[iemanja]

23. There are regressive people in every state

Outside of the Twin Cities, most of Minnesota is Trump country. That's likely true in most states. It's a rural vs urban issue.

Calling Southerners dixietrash isn't nice.

[SYFROYH]

24. You know who wasnt confederate? West Virginians.

There were unionist.

You didn't say otherwise, but i thought Id put it out there.

[DemocraticPatriot]

36. that is one reason I find it rather strange, that West VA has become so freakin' red....

Most of the existing union states at the time of the civil war, now are being carried by the Democratic presidential candidate (another than for a few anomilies in 2016)...

The one issue that seems to has caused the diversion is their reliance on a coal economy... anything else I am missing here?


Yes, West Virginia "seceded" from the Confederacy, and bravo to them! their topography made slaves much more rare, and less useful to agricultural pursuits...

Now I hope someday to see them secede from the GQP...

[Progressive Jones]

42. I'm aware of that. Thank You. nt

[Greybnk48]

25. Areas of Wisconsin are just as bad, not just the South.

We have gun nuts, racists, anti-vaxers, skinheads, and Q-berts, and a ton of drunks. Michigan, South Dakota, North Dakota, parts of Illinois, and on and on. Same as the South.

[brooklynite]

31. I'm sure the Republican replacements have been an improvement.....

[pecosbob]

40. Racism isn't America's biggest problem...America's rich and powerful are.

[Progressive Jones]

43. I noticed that a lot of people who responded to my OP assumed I was only speaking of racists. nt

[pecosbob]

44. Was trying to tease that thread out of the fabric

Racism is systemic in America. It is woven throughout every problem we face as a nation. At the moment among other things, racism is being used by many to attract political adherents and to distract from that political party's failings. It's always been about the money. Racism is simply the tool, the excuse, the reason and rationalization...

I'm a dumb-ass country boy, but even I can tell the difference between rain and piss.