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Conservatives, Bigots, those in power who are loath to cede any of that power . . . they always fight tooth and nail against Reform. And -- eventually -- they always lose. Then you know what happens? After a few years that thing that they predicted would bring about the "End of America as We Know It" winds up becoming, well, normal. Few Conservatives would today advocate abolishing the Nineteenth Amendment (giving women the vote), but 90 years ago it was a Thing of Horror to America's Right Wing.
Same with the President Truman's Integration of the Military in 1948 (over Southern Politicians' vociferous objections), Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Social Security (Medicare) Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
I offer this fascinating summation of the travails of the Nineteenth Amendment, and how it came to be by the skin of its teeth in 1920:
-- see below the fold --
From the Wiki:
"On January 9, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson announced his support of the amendment. The next day, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the amendment, but the Senate refused to debate it until October. When the Senate voted on the amendment in October, it failed by three votes.
"In response, the National Woman's Party urged citizens to vote against anti-suffrage Senators up for reelection in the 1918 midterm elections. Following those elections, most members of Congress were pro-suffrage. On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment by a vote of 304 to 89 and the Senate followed suit on June 4, by a vote of 56 to 25.
"On August 18, 1920, the Tennessee General Assembly, by a one-vote margin became the thirty-sixth state legislature to ratify the proposed amendment, making it the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. On August 26, 1920, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the amendment's adoption...."
(Emphasis added)
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As Wellington said after Waterloo:
"It was a close thing. I was never so near being beat in my life."
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Truman Integrates the Military, 1948.
"The sweeping change virtually guaranteed that Truman would not win the so-called 'Solid South' in the elections. The Southern states were reliable wins for Democratic politicians at the time. Truman’s stand on race relations caused many politicians to bolt the Democratic Party and run as 'Dixiecrats.'
"Strom Thurmond -- who later would represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate for almost a half century -- opposed Truman in the election, garnering 39 electoral votes as the candidate for the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party.
"New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican nominee, was considered a shoo-in for election. Thurmond took four states that normally would have voted Democratic in the November election, but Truman still won...."
Source
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So you see? This crap isn't new. It's the way Conservatives are wired. The answer? Keep fighting. Keep fighting. Keep fighting.
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