--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: IN ADDITION TO having become a distinctly…" description: "\"“IN ADDITION TO having become a distinctly Christian party, the GOP is more than ever America’s self-consciously white party. The nationalization of it..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e03/kurt-andersen-8221_affirmative-action_in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctl_420840.jpg" --- # IN ADDITION TO having become a distinctly Christian party… ![“IN ADDITION TO having become a distinctly Christian party, the GOP is more than ever America’s self-consciously white party. The nationalization of its Southern Strategy from the 1960s worked partly because it rode demographic change. In 1960, 90 percent of Americans were white and non-Hispanic…” quote by Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e03/kurt-andersen-8221_affirmative-action_in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctl_420840.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e03/kurt-andersen-8221_affirmative-action_in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctl_420840.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e03/kurt-andersen-8221_affirmative-action_in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctl_420840.jpg) > ““IN ADDITION TO having become a distinctly Christian party, the GOP is more than ever America’s self-consciously white party. The nationalization of its Southern Strategy from the 1960s worked partly because it rode demographic change. In 1960, 90 percent of Americans were white and non-Hispanic. Only a few states had white populations of less than 70 percent—specifically Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Alabama. Today the white majority in the whole country is down nearly to 60 percent; in other words, America’s racial makeup is now more “Southern” than the Deep South’s was in the 1960s. For a while, the party’s leaders were careful to clear their deck of explicit racism. It was reasonable, wasn’t it, to be concerned about violent crime spiraling upward from the 1960s through the ’80s? We don’t want social welfare programs to encourage cultures of poverty and dependency, do we? Although the dog-whistled resentment of new policies disfavoring or seeming to disfavor white people became more audible, Republican leaders publicly stuck to not-entirely-unreasonable arguments: affirmative action is an imperfect solution; too much multiculturalism might Balkanize America; we shouldn’t let immigrants pour into the U.S. helter-skelter. But in this century, more Republican leaders started cozying up to the ugliest fantasists, unapologetic racists. When Congressman Ron Paul ran for the 2008 GOP nomination, he appeared repeatedly with the neo-Nazi Richard Spencer, who was just coining the term “alt-right” for his movement. Senator Rand Paul employed as an aide and wrote a book with a former leader of the League of the South, an organization devoted to a twenty-first-century do-over of Confederate secession. After we elected a black president, more regular whistles joined the kind only dogs can hear. Even thoughtful Ross Douthat, one of the Times’s conservative columnists, admitted to a weakness for the Old South fantasy. During the debate about governments displaying Confederate symbols after nine black people were shot dead by a white supremacist in Charleston, he discussed “the temptation…to regard the Confederate States of America as the political and historical champion of all…attractive Southern distinctives….Even a secession-hating Yankee like myself has felt, at certain moments the pull of that idea, the lure of that fantasy.”” [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The GOP has shifted from a Christian identity to a predominantly white, racially driven party, using coded language to appeal to white voters while publicly denying overt racism. **In simple terms:** Republicans now rely on white identity politics. Key Takeaway Recognize and challenge coded racial appeals. Themes politics race identity strategy media Mood critical concerned Type analytical political When to use this quote - election campaigns - policy debates - media analysis - grassroots organizing Key Concepts white nationalism dog-whistle politics demographic change Southern Strategy alt-right Questions to Reflect On - How does coded language affect voter perception? - What can be done to expose hidden racial agendas? A Different Perspective The party’s public stance often masks underlying racial motives, limiting honest discourse. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Affirmative action](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affirmative-action/) [Black people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-people/) [Social welfare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-welfare/) [White people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/white-people/) ## Related quotes > [Here's the thing. When we talk about race relations in America or racial progress, it's all nonsense. There are no race relations. White people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-rock/here-s-the-thing-when-we-talk-about-race-relations-in-america-or/) [Chris Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-rock/) > [America is racial. America was founded on race. Race is America. The code name for America is 'race.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-mooney/america-is-racial-america-was-founded-on-race-race-is-america-the/) [Paul Mooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-mooney/) > [“Curing America's racial pathology couldn't be done with good intentions or presidential elections. Like all diseases, it had to be analyzed at a microscopic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mat-johnson/curing-america-s-racial-pathology-couldn-t-be-done-with-good/) [Mat Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mat-johnson/) > [In the South, prior to the Civil Rights movement and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, democracy was the rule. The majority of people were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-boortz/in-the-south-prior-to-the-civil-rights-movement-and-the-1964-civil/) [Neal Boortz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-boortz/) > [The White Majority is the Problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mona-sahlin/the-white-majority-is-the-problem/) [Mona Sahlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mona-sahlin/) > [Today's white majority is largely silent about the race question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/constance-baker-motley/today-s-white-majority-is-largely-silent-about-the-race-question/) [Constance Baker Motley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/constance-baker-motley/) > [“If the white majority is racist how can a government it dominates be counted on to redress racial grievances? The question is absurd because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-horowitz/if-the-white-majority-is-racist-how-can-a-government-it-dominates-be/) [David Horowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-horowitz/) > [What we acknowledged as a nation during the one-and-a-half year trial of George Zimmerman is that the white majority's public imagination of black people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrisse-cullors/what-we-acknowledged-as-a-nation-during-the-one-and-a-half-year-trial/) [Patrisse Cullors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrisse-cullors/) > [By and large, the theatre establishment is run by a white majority.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynn-nottage/by-and-large-the-theatre-establishment-is-run-by-a-white-majority/) [Lynn Nottage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynn-nottage/) > [Ailes built a Kingdom of Yes. That was his genius. He understood the id of many white conservatives - their sense of constant persecution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-reid/ailes-built-a-kingdom-of-yes-that-was-his-genius-he-understood-the-id/) [Joy Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-reid/) > [Debating the concept of race does not mean that I in any way regard this as a quarrel between neighbors over where they come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norbert-elias/debating-the-concept-of-race-does-not-mean-that-i-in-any-way-regard/) [Norbert Elias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norbert-elias/) > [Among the many international consequences of Barack Obama's stunning victory in the United States is worldwide introspection about whether such a breakthrough could happen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-tharoor/among-the-many-international-consequences-of-barack-obama-s-stunning/) [Shashi Tharoor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-tharoor/) > [In America, there is no racial segregation. I'm not sure I'm quite familiar with this phrase.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-noah/in-america-there-is-no-racial-segregation-i-m-not-sure-i-m-quite/) [Trevor Noah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-noah/) > [“I don't want people to think I mind being mistaken for African American. I don't. There are, however, many African immigrants in America who,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadia-owusu/i-don-t-want-people-to-think-i-mind-being-mistaken-for-african/) Nadia Owusu > [“Curing America’s racial pathology couldn’t be done with good intentions or presidential elections.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mat-johnson/curing-america-s-racial-pathology-couldn-t-be-done-with-good-2/) [Mat Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mat-johnson/) ## More by Kurt Andersen > [“Since the turn of the century, American fundamentalists had reveled in their sense of persecution by an infidel elite, but in the 1960s the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/since-the-turn-of-the-century-american-fundamentalists-had-reveled-in/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“If I think it’s true, no matter why or how I think it’s true, then it’s true, and nobody can tell me otherwise.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/if-i-think-it-s-true-no-matter-why-or-how-i-think-it-s-true-then-it-s/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“Libertarianism used to have a robust left wing as well. Both disliked government. Both were driven by a fantastically nostalgic conviction that a country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/libertarianism-used-to-have-a-robust-left-wing-as-well-both-disliked/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“But what other place on Earth has been more congenial to believers and promoters of mad dreams and schemes of so many kinds? California…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/but-what-other-place-on-earth-has-been-more-congenial-to-believers/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“The antisharia movement lobbied states to pass statutes and constitutional amendments banning the use of sharia in their courts and legal systems, a fantasy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/the-antisharia-movement-lobbied-states-to-pass-statutes-and/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [I'm comparing Americans to international peers in terms of GDP, educational system - the sort of benchmarks we used to designate a so-called developed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/i-m-comparing-americans-to-international-peers-in-terms-of-gdp/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [TED was simply wonderful, an intellectual spa, a 21st-century Chataqua, superb and singular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/ted-was-simply-wonderful-an-intellectual-spa-a-21st-century-chataqua/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“The early advocates of universal literacy and a free press…did not foresee…the development of a vast mass communications industry, concerned in the main neither…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/the-early-advocates-of-universal-literacy-and-a-free-press-did-not/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“EVEN PAUL GOODMAN, beloved by young leftists in the 1960s, was flabbergasted by his students in 1969. “There was no knowledge,” he wrote, “only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/even-paul-goodman-beloved-by-young-leftists-in-the-1960s-was/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“Sixteen hundred years ago Saint Augustine instructed, basically, Don’t be stupid. “Shall we say, then,” he wrote about Genesis, “there was such a sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/sixteen-hundred-years-ago-saint-augustine-instructed-basically-don-t/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“After more than three decades and many hundreds of studies, the overwhelming scientific consensus is that GMO foods are safe to eat. The National…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/after-more-than-three-decades-and-many-hundreds-of-studies-the/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“P. T. Barnum was the great early American merchandiser of exciting secular fantasies and half-truths. His extremely successful precircus career derived from and fed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/p-t-barnum-was-the-great-early-american-merchandiser-of-exciting/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [I am proud to be American. We wouldn't have our big dreams without this quality, but if we can't agree on the shape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/i-am-proud-to-be-american-we-wouldn-t-have-our-big-dreams-without/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“In 1848 the Homeopathic Medical College was founded in Philadelphia, eventually becoming the Drexel University College of Medicine. Homeopathic M.D. degrees were issued by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/in-1848-the-homeopathic-medical-college-was-founded-in-philadelphia/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“If men were ever in a state in which they did not want to know or could not perceive truth (facts or evidence),” Tolkien…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/if-men-were-ever-in-a-state-in-which-they-did-not-want-to-know-or/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) [Explore all 83 Kurt Andersen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) ## More Affirmative action quotes > [The fact is that in too many parts of our country, we still have discrimination. And affirmative action is not just something that applies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kerry/the-fact-is-that-in-too-many-parts-of-our-country-we-still-have/) [John F. Kerry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kerry/) > [Without application of the mind; there is no drive for taking affirmative action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mercado/without-application-of-the-mind-there-is-no-drive-for-taking/) [Joseph Mercado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mercado/) > [Affirmative action was designed to recognize the uniquely difficult journey of African-Americans. This policy was justifiable and understandable, even to those who came from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-webb/affirmative-action-was-designed-to-recognize-the-uniquely-difficult/) [Jim Webb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-webb/) > [Until affirmative action is described and understood as one mechanism by which to make amends for historical wrongdoing against members of marginalized communities, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clint-smith/until-affirmative-action-is-described-and-understood-as-one-mechanism/) [Clint Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clint-smith/) > [“the left had been finessing labels for years: racial preferences to affirmative action to diversity; abortion rights to pro-choice to reproductive rights; global warming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-cashill/the-left-had-been-finessing-labels-for-years-racial-preferences-to/) [Jack Cashill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-cashill/) > [I read American sagas (of the west) and I do not see people who went in search of material things. I see people who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-keyes/i-read-american-sagas-of-the-west-and-i-do-not-see-people-who-went-in/) [Alan Keyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-keyes/) > [The need of black conservatives to gain the respect of their white peers deeply shapes certain elements of their conservatism. In this regard, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-need-of-black-conservatives-to-gain-the-respect-of-their-white/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [My decision was sparked by affirmative action. There was a point in my life when affirmative action would have meant something to me -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/my-decision-was-sparked-by-affirmative-action-there-was-a-point-in-my/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [Who knows what Yale thought it was getting when it hired Richard Rodriguez? The people who offered me the job thought there was nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/who-knows-what-yale-thought-it-was-getting-when-it-hired-richard/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [“It is scarcely the same thing to put a man on the Moon as to put a bone in your nose.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-a-henry-iii/it-is-scarcely-the-same-thing-to-put-a-man-on-the-moon-as-to-put-a/) [William A. Henry III](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-a-henry-iii/) > [If Barack Obama believes there are no victims in U.S, then I assume he'll shut down all the civil rights offices throughout the federal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/if-barack-obama-believes-there-are-no-victims-in-u-s-then-i-assume-he/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [“I think that even someone who got into an institution through affirmative action could prove they were qualified by what they accomplished there. Page 188”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonia-sotomayor/i-think-that-even-someone-who-got-into-an-institution-through/) [Sonia Sotomayor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonia-sotomayor/) > [If they're all so brilliant and I'm such an affirmative-action hire, how come they didn't catch me?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jayson-blair/if-they-re-all-so-brilliant-and-i-m-such-an-affirmative-action-hire/) [Jayson Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jayson-blair/) > [The purpose of affirmative action is to give our nation a way to finally address the systemic exclusion of individuals of talent on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-clinton/the-purpose-of-affirmative-action-is-to-give-our-nation-a-way-to/) [William J. Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-clinton/) > [Affirmative action has a negative effect on our society when it means counting us like so many beans and dividing us into separate piles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kasich/affirmative-action-has-a-negative-effect-on-our-society-when-it-means/) [John Kasich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kasich/) [Browse all 231 Affirmative action quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affirmative-action/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“IN ADDITION TO having become a distinctly Christian party, the GOP is more than ever America’s self-consciously white party. The nationalization of its Southern Strategy from the 1960s worked partly because it rode demographic change. In 1960, 90 percent of Americans were white and non-Hispanic. Only a few states had white populations of less than 70 percent—specifically Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Alabama. Today the white majority in the whole country is down nearly to 60 percent; in other words, America’s racial makeup is now more “Southern” than the Deep South’s was in the 1960s. For a while, the party’s leaders were careful to clear their deck of explicit racism. It was reasonable, wasn’t it, to be concerned about violent crime spiraling upward from the 1960s through the ’80s? We don’t want social welfare programs to encourage cultures of poverty and dependency, do we? Although the dog-whistled resentment of new policies disfavoring or seeming to disfavor white people became more audible, Republican leaders publicly stuck to not-entirely-unreasonable arguments: affirmative action is an imperfect solution; too much multiculturalism might Balkanize America; we shouldn’t let immigrants pour into the U.S. helter-skelter. But in this century, more Republican leaders started cozying up to the ugliest fantasists, unapologetic racists. When Congressman Ron Paul ran for the 2008 GOP nomination, he appeared repeatedly with the neo-Nazi Richard Spencer, who was just coining the term “alt-right” for his movement. Senator Rand Paul employed as an aide and wrote a book with a former leader of the League of the South, an organization devoted to a twenty-first-century do-over of Confederate secession. After we elected a black president, more regular whistles joined the kind only dogs can hear. Even thoughtful Ross Douthat, one of the Times’s conservative columnists, admitted to a weakness for the Old South fantasy. During the debate about governments displaying Confederate symbols after nine black people were shot dead by a white supremacist in Charleston, he discussed “the temptation…to regard the Confederate States of America as the political and historical champion of all…attractive Southern distinctives….Even a secession-hating Yankee like myself has felt, at certain moments the pull of that idea, the lure of that fantasy.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kurt Andersen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctly-christian-party-the-gop-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Affirmative action" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctly-christian-party-the-gop-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e03/kurt-andersen-8221_affirmative-action_in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctl_420840.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e03/kurt-andersen-8221_affirmative-action_in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctl_420840.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e03/kurt-andersen-8221_affirmative-action_in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctl_420840.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“IN ADDITION TO having become a distinctly Christian party, the GOP is more than ever America’s…” — Kurt Andersen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Kurt Andersen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“IN ADDITION TO having become a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctly-christian-party-the-gop-is/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctly-christian-party-the-gop-is/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```