Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

The Democratic Party is not full of saints, and it has a terrible history of actions on race. And, yes, some of the well-intentioned programs either didn't work, or worse, had terrible consequences for black people. Clinton's crime bill is another, more recent example. (For the record, I believe it was Nixon's administration that implemented the single-parent rule for certain public benefits.)

The Republican Party is not full of demons, and it has a checkered history of actions on race that includes real, positive leadership (not just the party of Lincoln, but it's hard to ignore Lincoln in this subject). Unfortunately, during the political realignment of the last fifty years, its tent has not only accepted, but in many cases encouraged racists to join. And in the last decade it has directly targeted black voters for exclusion. (And for the record, the mainstream right would tar Nixon as a socialist in today's political environment. Finally, don't get me wrong, Nixon was a bad president.)

If we could get both parties to full-throated, unequivocal agreement that racism is bad, we could make a lot of progress. But I will not play moral equivolency games: in the current political environment, there is a reason that the white supremacists see Republicans as their allies. It's time for Republicans to swear them off, and to disavow their adherents--and to stop doing things like targeting black voters for exclusion. If Republicans hope to win black votes back, those two things might help.

So if you agree that racism is bad, agree with me: black lives matter. Solutions to our history of racism won't be easy, but let's talk about what they could look like.

Don't give every black convict a release.  Don't pay a Nigerian immigrant as if his ancestors had suffered centuries of oppression here.  But repair the damages the way we usually repair damages, with money.

I thought Clinton's "end welfare as we know it" programs (of course, reached in compromise with Republicans) contained some good ideas.  The Obama administration gutted them, IIRC.  Or maybe gutted what was left of them, if the Bush 43 administration did damage to them.

I don't know where you come up with this stuff. What are you seeing that makes you think that white supremacists see Republicans as their allies? I have not seen this.

On of the reasons that Republicans for years, did not reach out for the black vote is that they assumed that the Democrats had it locked up and it would be a waste of time and money in an effort to go after it. It is not that they didn't want the black vote, but since the New Deal and the LBJ War of Poverty, Republicans feel that there was little hope of attracting the black vote.

That is until recently. Trump seems to have started to erode some of the democratic support in the black community and have seen them coming over to vote Republican. I believe this has the Democrats very concerned in this election. Watching the RNC, they have highlighted a number of prominent black republicans and even a couple of Democrats, that are making a case that the Democrats have done nothing for the blacks for years while the Republicans are working in their interests.

I don't know how it will play out, but I do believe that the Democrats are very worried about that possibility.

Seventeen Democratic Senators voted against the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Some of them later switched parties.  Two Republicans voted against it.

George Wallace was getting quite a bit of northern support in 1968.  He was formally a Democrat.

Both parties are, in my view, willing to compromise on issues to attract a dependable voting block.

And, if they didn't, they'd lose any national election.  I would GUESS most outright racists today who are white vote Republican.

I think a lot of more latent racists also vote Democratic.  Biden has in the past made some, um, unusual comments.