The Courage to Quit a Political Base
Democrats once tested that courage when Lyndon Johnson pushed through the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Briefly, that act prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin and it was aimed at the heart of America’s former Confederate states. At its signing, Johnson said “there goes the South for Democrats forever.” He knew the cost and paid it because it was the moral thing to do.
But he did lose the South forever for Democrats
Indeed he did, but the Democrats survived and rid themselves of the Dixiecrats, their most divisive and morally bankrupt wing of the party. “Here, Republicans” they said, “See if you can do anything with it.”
Now it is the Republican hour of decision
The Republican Party can (in my view) survive its repudiation of that portion of its base devoted to right-wing evangelists, white survivalist militias, QAnon believers and all-around crackpots. The question is, will it? And the moral strength of the party is in question here, with Repu…