The conversation that energized this endeavor went something along these lines, although, I can't say for sure that this is a totally faithful reproduction of the conversation.
Jimmy and his guest were talking about how in a country with only 2 significant political parties, it was to be expected that each party would contain a great deal of diversity and would have to represent dramatically different points of view. Dore's guest acknowledged the truth of this observation, but then added that when he is standing in line to vote for Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, he was very confident that the person standing behind him in line didn't want to lynch Black people, splash their bodies with gas and set them on fire. Such could not be said for the person standing behind you in line to vote Republican.
It was, in my opinion, a brilliant observation. The simple truth of which made me realize that it is time to stop giving safe harbor to those who claim that they are a different breed of Republican. Saying that you favor state's rights or small government is no longer a reasonable excuse for identifying with America's hate party. The Republican party today has been 40 years in the making. It has been fashioned by the worst America had to offer humanity. The coded racist language of the past has now given way to open racism and bigotry. Today's Republican party is like a smoky old bar. You may not smoke a single cigarette, but you're going to coming stinking as if you had. The naive intellectuals, or perhaps, not so naive intellectuals, who pretend that there are 2 distinct Republican parties are practicing the worst form of denial. If you don't want to be labeled a bigot, a troglodyte, a racist, and/or a fascist, it's time to let go and admit that the GOP is no longer your party. It's like saying you belong to the KKK because you enjoy the Saturday afternoon picnics and softball games. Sorry, that foolishness is no longer acceptable.
We are entering a new period of political accountability and those who continue to pledge themselves to America's party of hate and intolerance are going to find themselves in the cross-hairs of national contempt and disdain. There is a day coming when no American Flag lapel pin is going to be big enough to hide behind. You can yell "State Rights" or "Small Government" all you want, but the only terms that are going to stick are going to be bigot, homophobe, fascist, zealot, misogynist, anti-intellectual, anti-science, freak.
Introduction
According to Wikipedia: A hate group is an organized group or movement that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other designated sector of society.
To begin the experiment, we need to choose from five to ten well-known hate groups or organizations. I have chosen eight. My groups are composed of sympathizers and supporters of various, well-known, hate messages or hate ideologies. I have excluded supporters of extremely controversial social issues (such as abortion and immigration) but you may want to include them in your version of the experiment. I have intentionally selected hate messages, or hate ideologies, with high name recognition and a message or ideology that is almost universally known and understood. That is to say, my list does not contain any obscure groups, although, obscure groups are just as meaningful and there is no reason for them to be excluded.
My Hate List:
- · Sympathizers and supporters of the Ku Klux Klan
- · Sympathizers and supporters of the Neo Nazis or the American Nazi Party
- · Sympathizers and supporters of the skin head movement
- · Sympathizers and supporters of the white supremacist movement
- · Sympathizers and supporters of the anti-gay or anti-LGBT movement
- · Sympathizers and supporters of the Holocaust Denial movement
- · Sympathizers and supporters of the Westboro Baptist Church
- · Sympathizers and supporters of the Aryan Nation
While there is some overlap among some of these groups, all are unique and have messages or ideologies that clearly differentiate them. Members of one group may sympathize with another, however, such sympathy is most likely based on the common denominator of hate. Nonetheless, when you conduct the experiment, you may want to choose groups that you feel to be more independent.
Methods
First, imagine that we have 100 randomly selected members from each of the 8 groups. One-hundred is chosen to make the percentages easier to determine. Although, almost any number would work just fine. The only stipulation is that they be old enough to fully understand what these groups represent. I suggest a minimum age of 21, but you might prefer another age.
Second, we will use the current national election cycle, i.e., 2015-2016. We will assume that they are exposed to the election rhetoric of both the Democratic party and the Republican Party. In essence, we are saying that they are exposed to that which they were actually exposed to; nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary.
Normally, voting demographics are easy to come by, except for perhaps hate groups. Very few polls are conducted to determine how sympathizers and supporters of hate groups vote in an election. The goal of this experiment is to determine for ourselves, based on our knowledge of the message and ideologies of these hate groups, how the hate group sympathizers and supporters would vote.
When I ran the experiment, the outcomes were both ominous and very, very clear. In each and every case, I asked myself the following questions:
- In general, would hate group voters feel most at home under the Republican tent or the Democratic tent?
- During the campaign, did hate group voters feel more aligned with the rhetoric of the Republican candidates or the Democratic candidates?
- On specific issues of interest (i.e., hate issues) would voters identify more with the Republican candidates or the Democratic candidates?
- With which party would hate group voters feel the greatest affinity, the Republican Party or the Democratic Party?
Results
For every group, the 100 members voted overwhelmingly for the Republican Party. In my mind, while trying to be relatively conservative with my guesses, I was unable to imagine fewer than 60% of each hate group voting Republican and, for certain groups (e.g. the KKK, white nationalists and Westboro Baptist Church), I consider 80% to be much more likely.
Discussion
This very simple thought experiment, while not scientific, is very enlightening with regard to the Republican Party. The validity of the test increases with each additional experiment. The test can be carried out for any hate group or collection of hate groups; and while results may vary, I'm fairly certain that the alarming trend will not. The Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organizations_designated_by_the_Southern_Poverty_Law_Center_as_hate_groups) has an enormous, comprehensive list of hate groups. I encourage you to peruse the list and conduct this experiment again, and again and again. I think you will see that the outcome is consistently the same, today's hate groups identify much more closely with Republican Party than the Democratic Party.
Conclusion
America has one national party that appears to consistently be the party of choice for almost every hate group and hate organization in America. Based on the Wikipedia definition used in the Introduction, the Republican Party can, without exaggeration, be considered a hate group. America can ill afford to have a national hate party. Its defenders will refute this claim, but the Republican Party now represents the dark side of almost every social issue that confronts America. It is now the "big tent" and preferred party for racism, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia. Just as Republicans demand that “good” Muslims take a stand and break away from the barbaric history of Islam, "Good" Republicans must now take a stand by denouncing and stepping away from the hatred that has become the core of the party.
