So the two main parties in America, the republicans and democrats. Is it true there was a time when both parties weren't so different?

@bijouxbroussard You just reminded me of something my father (steelworker) used to say. “What has a Republican ever done for me?”.

@SageWanderer My father once explained why, in the early days, southern blacks rarely voted Democrat, even though it was the party of "the working people":
“Alas, those Dixiecrats didn’t consider us people !"
Pop voted for Nixon in 1960 even though he liked what Kennedy had to say, because LBJ was his running mate. He reasoned that if anything happened to Kennedy, the country would have a former Texas "Dixiecrat" in charge. Pop figured a Quaker was a safer bet. He said it made sense at the time.

@bijouxbroussard His logic makes perfect sense to me.

@bijouxbroussard Interesting insight.

@Graylight And, as you know, what many feared, came to pass—but LBJ surprised them and passed sweeping Civil Rights legislation. Pop’s been a staunch Dem ever since. He knew several of those civil rights activists from his days at Morehouse College, including Dr. King, and one thing he reminds people to this day who try to claim that Dr. King supported the GOP is that with the exception of the late Ralph Abernathy, just about everyone associated with MLK were Democrats by the end of the 20th century. There’s no doubt in his mind (nor mine) that Martin Luther King, Jr. would not be involved with today’s GOP.

@bijouxbroussard I think sometimes we forget history is something that involves us. If only we'd listen more to the stories. And what stories your father must have.