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Originally Posted by Wes Mantooth
But how did civil rights changes ultimately come Pan? It certainly wasn't the people that overturned Jim Crow laws. Most of the Jim Crow laws were overturned in front of the supreme court (brown vs board of edu for example) and not by voters who had been enlightened on the issue. JFK when spearheading the Civil Rights act had to appeal to mostly northern congressmen to pass it and met heavy opposition in the process especially from the south. Johnson himself feared the act would be so unpopular that he would lose the southern democrats all together and it probably played a large part in his not seeking a second term. I believe he's quoted after signing the civil rights act as saying "We have lost the south for a generation.". Civil rights weren't brought about just by education and elbow grease alone, it certainly brought the issue to the forefront but ultimately an act of congress was needed as the idea was still very unpopular.
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The South wasn't that lost for long and while courts may have had to overturn old laws, the new ones got written because of people like MLK doing the work, being heard and showing the way to make lasting changes.
There were some who knew that had they not voted for the changes they would lose their seats. Old leaders like LBJ made way for new dems that were more prone not to look at Civil Rights as a losing proposition but as a building block to a better society and they were elected. A battle may have been lost here and there but because of MLK's and others who went out and demonstrated and fought not with fists or names but through intelligence, teaching and respect, the war was won.
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agree with you in theory Pan but I don't think your stance really reflects our political atmosphere. Lets no forget that history is also filled with examples of people being prone to mass hysteria, public/moral panics, emotions, peer pressure, and bad decision making and this is further exacerbated by a political climate designed to evoke that kind of behavior in the voters. Thats not denigrating voters, calling them ignorant or crying foul its accepting reality. With such a history its perfectly reasonable to question weather or not leaving major issues up to the masses is in the best interest of our country.
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Prohibition is a great example of what you are talking about. There was a group that used mass hysteria, religion, everything they could and won a battle... but in the end they lost the war because scaring the people, tricking the people and so on only works until the people have a voice that speaks out and rallies for them. And throughout our history we have had voices come out and speak.... those who fought Standard Oil and the Monopolies of the late 1800's and early 1900's.... those who fought for unions, for an FDA to make sure the food we ate was inspected, and so on. All those battles started with much greater powers against them but in the end they won the wars. Not by treating voters as less than... but by educating, standing up and yelling and finding followers that believed in the right thing.