Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Southern Strategies
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
The Woman Who Could Have Prevented This Financial Mess Was Silenced by Greenspan, Rubin and Summers
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Democracy and Elections:
Memo to GOP: Minority Homeowners Did Not Cause Wall St. Meltdown
David Swanson
DrugReporter:
LSD Cured My Headache
Arran Frood
Election 2008:
Troopergate Investigator: Palin 'Unlawfully Abused Her Authority'
Environment:
The Meltdown We Really Can't Afford
Kerry Trueman
ForeignPolicy:
Obama Talks Tough About Afghanistan; Here's What He's Really in For
Anand Gopal
Health and Wellness:
Medical Research Recession: Funding Flatlined for Diabetes, Cancer, Alzheimer's
Rick Weiss
Hurricane Katrina:
From the Bayou to Baghdad: Mission Not Accomplished
Amy Goodman
Immigration:
What Part of It's An Utter Nightmare to Migrate Legally Don't You Understand?
Diego Graglia
Media and Technology:
Memo to Media: The Palin Rape-Kit Story Has Not Been 'Debunked'
Eric Boehlert
Movie Mix:
The "Battle in Seattle" and Beyond
Stuart Townsend
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Our Next President Will Transform the Supreme Court
Ellen Goodman
Rights and Liberties:
Voter Election Guide to Human Rights and Civil Liberties
Sex and Relationships:
Why Everyone Loves Hot, Smart Older Women
Vanessa Richmond
War on Iraq:
U.S. Needs to Take in More Iraqi Refugees
Zainab Mineeia
Water:
Can the People Who Live in Coastal Towns Ever Be Safe From Hurricanes?
Lizzy Ratner
Do progressives and Democrats have a future in the South? Ever since the great unpleasantness of last November, a chorus of left-leaning pundits have taken the region's defeats -- no electoral votes for John Kerry, zero-for-five in open races for U.S. Senate -- as a sure sign that the South is a lost cause. Fold up the tent, the doubters say. Focus our energy elsewhere. Or as one indelicate yet frequently forwarded e-mail after the elections put it, "F-ck the South."
Not so fast, say the South's defenders -- especially Southern progressives. Given that almost a third of the country lives in the South and it's growing fast, and that the South still sets the tone for national politics (look at the Tennesseans and Texans who lead the White House and Capitol Hill), ignoring the South is hardly an option.
Besides, there's a rich progressive legacy in the South, and Democrats are far from dead: There are four Southern Democratic governors, hundreds of Democratic state legislators, and in six of 13 Southern states, more registered voters identify as Democrats than Republicans.
Enter "New Strategies for Southern Progress," a gathering of some 200 Democratic Party leaders, academics, journalists and assorted progressives in Chapel Hill, N.C. Convened by Washington, D.C.'s Center for American Progress; the Center for a Better South; and the UNC Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life, the conference aimed to "identify pragmatic and innovative solutions to the region's toughest problems" and, more boldly, "chart a new progressive vision for the region."
For inspiration, conference organizers invoked the memory of the LQC Lamar Society, a handful of "New South" moderate-to-liberal Democrats formed in 1969 who championed integration, education and economic development. Lamar Society veterans Hodding Carter III and ex-Mississippi Gov. William Winter opened the conference, and for Southerners and South-watchers too young to remember a day before unending GOP victory speeches, hearing the legacy of Jimmy Carter, Reubin Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas and North Carolina's own Terry Sanford was a reminder that the "Mind of the South" is never fixed, and can always be changed again.
From grassroots activists to party insiders, everyone came with open eyes about the challenges -- and potential -- Southern progressives face. "Conservatives are in charge because they toiled for years and years to come up with the answers," observed Arkansas State Rep. Joyce Elliot, a three-term African-American legislator. "It's going to take time for us, too." But attendees left visibly conflicted on some fundamental questions: What kind of politics can -- and should -- win in the region? And what are our bedrock values and long-term vision for the future?
The differences came into focus on day two, during a panel charting the changing attitudes of the Southern electorate. The pollsters, consultants and academics honed in on a key reason for Democratic losses in the South: the defection of the white moderate. "We've lost the white working-class male," said David "Mudcat" Saunders, the much-quoted Virginia consultant and ambassador of the "NASCAR dads" strategy.
Chris Kromm works with Southern Exposure magazine and the Institute for Southern Studies in Durham, N.C.
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »
| More News and Analysis: | ||
|
Troopergate Investigator: Palin 'Unlawfully Abused Her Authority' Rights and Liberties: The news isn't good for the Republican vice presidential nominee -- and is an unpleasant reminder of the power abuses of the Bush years. AlterNet. October 11, 2008. |
Troopergate: Palin's Abuse of Power -- A Lawyer's View Rights and Liberties: Cut through the legal language, and the abuse of power is as bad as anything we've seen in the Bush era. By oregondem, Daily Kos. October 11, 2008. |
The Woman Who Could Have Prevented This Financial Mess Was Silenced by Greenspan, Rubin and Summers Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: A sad tale emerges of willfully arrogant behavior designed to undermine a wise woman's good judgment. By Katrina vanden Heuvel, TheNation.com. October 11, 2008. |