Reaping and Sowing

It's high time for some reaping!

Reaping and Sowing:

The political ideology (or 'movement,' as they laughingly call it) that has been labeled 'conservative' for the last 30 years or so was built largely on lies and deceit, and that is why it's going down, and going down hard.

That sounds like a strong statement, but it's not. And if you doubt the assertion, think hard. The last truly honest conservative was Barry Goldwater, and he was soundly trounced by Lyndon Johnson, a true conservative who saw the writing on the wall and adopted the inevitability of civil rights for blacks, and the need for the government to do something about the rampant poverty that continued to thrive in pockets all over the country, and was thereby labeled 'liberal.'

The Goldwater defeat motivated the far right to attempt a different strategy; one in which they held the same beliefs as before, but couched them in more 'acceptable' language, so as to hide their true intent. In addition, they also adopted very subtle, but very strong racist overtones that definitely had to be hidden behind 'code words.' Richard Nixon's 'Southern Strategy' was a blatant attempt to exploit the racist feelings of those who objected to the federal government's actions on behalf of blacks, in order to ensure their civil rights, and to prevent discrimination. The 'Southern Strategy' (a phrase coined by Nixon strategist Kevin Phillips) used the code word 'states' rights' to secure the Southern states as a stronghold for the Republican Party. The entire 'Southern Strategy' was basically dishonest, because it was a wink and a smile to Southern racist elements, in language that couched its true intent, as such intent would never have been found acceptable to most reasonable people.