When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act, he prophetically announced that Democrats would lose the South for a generation. Sadly, it has been longer than that. Nixon and his cronies drove the wedge deep between Southern and Northern Democrats.
Over time, the Southern Strategy has moved overtly away from race toward promulgating the idea of an oppressed class. To Southerners, who were subjugated by the Union at the end of our Civil War, this sense of oppression wasn't so difficult to nurture.
Reagan famously said that one of the scariest things he's ever heard has been, "I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help." This call has been endlessly repeated by Republican politicians to this day.
Fox News and Rush Limbaugh carry water for the anti-government Business Lobby that desires the maximum amount of laissez-faire. Rush and Fox spin this anti-government spiel into a folksy pablum that has plenty of people thinking that it's okay for our Government to just "shut down".
These Tea Party types mistakenly think it's okay for the Government to fail, because this government oppresses them with historically low tax rates. Go figure.
It appears to me though, that the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost.
The anti-government Tea Party has paralyzed Washington to the point where we are now on the brink of default and devastation of the world economy. In a time of 9+% unemployment, there have been no significant efforts to foster job growth.
Our Government is designed around the concept of compromise between the Powers which have checks and balances between them. One Party has decided that there will be no compromise, and the Government, with all its oppression, will fail.
What is at the root of this?
The Southern Strategy, which split Northern Democrats away from Southern Democrats, has been too effective. Southern Republicans are now so completely convinced that they are an oppressed class that they are accepting of the concept of Anarchy. Government so small that you can drown it in the bathtub.
The Southern Strategy, in overdrive, is now splitting Northern Republicans away from Southern Republicans, and turning those Northern Republicans into moderates, if not Democrats.
You can see it in Wisconsin, where classic overreach by the Republicans in that state woke a sleeping lion. Recalls are occurring fast and furious.
You can see it in Ohio, where John Kasich now owns the title of most hated Governor of any state in the nation.
You can see it in New York, where special elections are favoring Democrats due to a revulsion to Tea Party antics and idiocy.
These Northern States are moderating away from the Republican/Tea Party stance of "all government is bad". In the rust belt states especially, where jobs are at a premium, lots of regular Republicans are recognizing that they need help from the government, and that any current Republican legislator has no interest in helping them.
I'm looking ahead a bit. We are still on the edge of default, with no clear path through this thicket. But I think the complete inability of the current crop of House Republicans to consider our Government anything other than an enemy is leading them to inaction.
The President has properly highlighted their unwillingness to use their power to help regular Americans, and properly highlighted their unwillingness to govern.
Unless there is a serious "Come to Jesus" moment for these Tea Party types, there will be no jobs bill. There will be no additional stimulus. There may be no debt cieling raise. Unemployment numbers aside, 2012 is looking better all the time for the Democrats.