Till the 1960s, race was not a factor at all in American politics. A) The country was 90% white and B) the non-whites were mainly blacks – who were not allowed to vote. But then two developments happened in quick succession that caused a tectonic shift in American society – and brought race to the centre of American politics. First, America passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 – allowing blacks to vote. Second, immigration from Mexico exploded from 1970 onwards – leading to a huge influx of Latinos/Hispanics. As a result, today whites are only 60% of the country – and non-whites are 40%. Inevitably, race became the central factor of American politics.
Specifically, these two developments led to a crystallisation of the two political parties. The liberal Democratic Party made racial equality/justice its #1 agenda/ideology – and got a solid vote-bank of 30% (13% blacks + 17% Latinos/Hispanics). Now conservatives and liberals are evenly matched in America. But this support of the racial minorities gave the Democratic Party a huge advantage. How could the conservative Republican Party even compete against a vote-bank like this? Republican leaders like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan came up with the answer: ally with white racists and Christian fundamentalists. The strategy was successful – from 1968 to 2016, the Republican Party won 8 out of 13 Presidential elections.
So far, so good. But there is a fundamental contradiction between conservatism/nationalism and white racism / Christian fundamentalism. Thus there was a fundamental contradiction in the alliance of the Republican Party. So how did this contradictory alliance not merely survive but also succeed for almost half a century? Winning elections in an industrialised democracy requires mainly 3 things: organisation machinery, money and media. The conservative leaders and strategists of the Republican Party (like their counterparts in the Democratic Party) controlled all these 3 things. Whereas the white racists / Christian fundamentalists are mostly middle-class and lower-class people – who only have numbers, but not control over these 3 things.
Enter the 21st century – with its cocktail of Internet, 24-hour news/media and reality TV. This cocktail revolutionised the world by democratising it. But for the Republican Party, it threatened its contradictory alliance. Because now a white racist / Christian fundamentalist leader could use this cocktail to by-pass conservative leaders/strategists, directly reach out to the large number of white racist / Christian fundamentalist voters – and use their numbers to take over the Republican Party. And that is exactly what happened in 2016. Donald Trump (a real-estate tycoon and reality TV star) threw conservatism into the dustbin, openly embraced white racism / Christian fundamentalism, reached out openly to white racist / Christian fundamentalist voters and became the Republican Party's Presidential candidate – and then America's President.
This is the tragedy of American conservatism and the Republican Party – getting undone by the country's racial demography.
