General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A History of Liberal White Racism [View all]RainDog
(28,784 posts)Because of the power of the right wing voter - it's been a problem since this nation began. (I use right wing in the current sense - but that regressive political stance.)
Both whites and blacks did this in the early part of the 20th century because this nation was (and still is) mostly run by a bunch of backslapping good ole boys.
There's a theory in political science - when people discuss various forms of governance. One is called "Elite Theory" that aligns with the way politics has gone in the U.S. more often than not.
Yale was the recruitment ground for the CIA from its beginning as the OSS. No one wanted to rock the boat b/c their daddies owned multinationals, etc.
Anyway, the idea behind "elite theory" is that a very few make the important policy decisions but different groups are allowed "escape valves" to give the impression that the dog and pony show is more than that. So a women gets elected. An African American. A gay male.
What's supposed to happen is this small contingency is supposed to reflect the values of the elite. But what happens, eventually, is that these new groups become powerful in and of themselves. Some of them retain elitist views, some are more populist.
But that's why change is soooo slow in the U.S., imo. The Senate is like the "House of Lords" and the House is like "the House of reactionary Americans."