• @UnderpantsWeevil
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    242 months ago

    The brightest red state in the Union is Wyoming, a state with virtually no history of slavery.

    The second reddest is West Virginia, a state that exists entirely because of its abolitionist popular revolt against the slave owning rich men from Richmond.

    • @SquirtleHermit
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      2 months ago

      You’re not wrong (cherry picking a little though), and I get that there is more nuance and some exceptions to the generalization. But there certainly is a lot of overlap between Slave Owning and Republican States. Enough that one would be justified in at least wondering if there was a correlation.

      • @UnderpantsWeevil
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        312 months ago

        But there certainly is a lot of overlap between Slave Owning and Republican States.

        Only in the last forty years. These used to be staunchly Dixiecrat territories prior to the Southern Strategy.

        But I might point you to a different map.

        A huge part of the D/R switch under Nixon/Reagan came through Gulf Coast O&G tycoons. That’s what gets us Wyoming and W. Virginia as bright red. It’s why Pennsylvania - home of the Gettysburg address along with some of the fiercest abolitionist activists and civil rights organizations - into the purple category.

        The degree to which the country has become a Petro-State has revolutionized politics domestically.

        So long as that industry endures, the GOP-aligned land barons are going to have all the money they need for revanchist political projects.