by Christopher Cook

Just yesterday, while searching the net for the news, I came across a definition of "carpetbagger." I can't re-locate the website, but the gist was basically this: carpetbaggers were Northerners who moved to the south and, with the help of the black vote, gained political power. And it set me to thinking.

We all know that the original carpetbaggers gained that political power as members of the Republican Party.

And we all know, or should know, that blacks at that time were 100% Republican.

We also know, or should know, that only 3% of Democrats voted FOR the 15th Amendment. (The 15th Amendment was designed to extend the the vote to all people regardless of race, which was necessary because Democrats were trying to prevent blacks from voting.)

And we all know, or should know, that the Democrats used poll taxes, literacy tests, and other means to skirt the intent of the 15th amendment. And this practice lasted for a century, all the way up to 1965, when the Voting Rights Act was passed (with a greater percentage of Republican support than Democrat, but that's another story).

So, here's the thing. Why didn't Democrats want blacks to vote?

Of course, a part of it had to be that it was galling for them to see their former "property" having the same rights to the franchise that white Democrats enjoyed.

But surely the primary reason had to be that they were voting Republican. Surely they would not have minded the black vote so much if they were all voting Democrat --- after all, politicians and political power brokers rarely turn away the support of voting blocs, no matter how they may feel about them personally.

Another suggestive fact: Democrats founded the KKK in 1866 with the express purpose of restoring Democrat control of the South (a plan carried out by means of terrible violence and a series of massacres at Republican Party meetings).

Add this all together and it seems like yet another piece of evidence supporting the notion that Democrats have been waging war against Republicans since the moment Lincoln was elected. Yes, they may have taken time out to fight the Hun, the Nazis, and poverty, but their war against Republicans has been unbroken since 1860. (Or so the thesis would go, if someone wished to make such a claim ;-)

Oh, and isn't it interesting that it wasn't until 1965---when Democrats could be assured of a much greater percentage of black votes than ever before---that they all of a sudden became more interested in voting rights. Coincidence?

Well, 100 years later in better than never, I suppose. Just sayin', is all.