I would agree but I think the term "cracker" could be considered a slur. I grew up in a lot of trailer parks and was probably considered a "cracker" by some people. I also grew up at least one "ghetto" where I was the minority and where some of the white kids at school called me a "w-gg-r" (not sure how to write that).

The Southern Strategy is alive and well. Changing demographics haven't changed enough to make it ineffective. Hopefully we are in the dieing throes of its efficacy.

However I think it's a mistake to frame it terms of "educated, industrialized yankees". Doing so feeds the framework of exclusion upon which our current leaders have built their houses of power.

I think the most productive thing to do is to engage conservatives when possible in non confrontational ways just to point things out. If you use facts they can't argue. And if you don't present things as an argument then they won't argue back and might actually think about what you're saying.

For example, there's a very pro Trump guy at work who is very concerned with how much he is paid. The other day at work I told him that I noticed that the amount of my check being withheld for Medicare taxes was 1/8th what I paid for insurance. So, I told him, if they increased my "medical taxes" 8 times but if I didn't have to pay for private insurance I'd still come out ahead because more would be covered. He had been talking about Bernie and "socialized medicine".

I don't know if he'll think about it, but I presented him a fact that supports my position without directly exposing it (everyone at work is familiar with my policy of not talking politics). And I was trying to include/engage him in his concern for his"bottom line".

@towkneed But that's exactly what the Trump base is..people who consider themselves rednecks and white crackers, and who resent those uppity educated northerners. If you don't retain that mentality, then good for you, but that's the so-called Trump "base."

And I live in the South. It's not a mentally " of the south", although it is "in the South". Racism certainly predates it.

@towkneed Of course not..during Civil War times, the northerners were more racist than the southerners in some ways because they hadn't grown up with black people in their homes.

But if you're going to become belligerent I might have to block you.
I lived in eastern KY for 24 years and those people were as racist as they come.

@birdingnut If I said something that you consider belligerent let me know. It was certainly not my intention. And I, too am surrounded by racists. But I think it's more productive to try to point out things that counter their viewpoint without being confrontational.
But I also know many who are very opposed to racism

@towkneed Why are you still arguing with me and acting enraged? You remind me of the alt-right. I might have to block you anyway.

@birdingnut [nytimes.com]
There were northern states that broke Trump (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin). It's not really a North/south thing.

@birdingnut Not arguing. Just pointing things out. But feel free.