Democracy Betrayed

Contrary to its image as a heroic “party of the people,” the Democrats have simply evolved from a racist party sustaining slavery and oppressing African-Americans in the Jim Crow South to a party which has abandoned them in today’s inner-city ghettos to ongoing social and economic deprivation.

The book traces the history of the party from its origins in the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson to the end of Reconstruction, revealing a record quite different from common belief. 

A concluding chapter extends the narrative to LBJ's Great Society in the 1960s, showing that the manifold failings of the party are not merely relics of a distant past but also illumine our politically contested present. 

Americans who came of age after 1960 have been shown a Democratic Party that sought to promote equality by giving people the tools to get out of poverty by providing subsidized housing, economic opportunity, aid to education, and other massive programs aimed at overcoming the disadvantages faced by people of color. 

Yet here we are today. The book traces history and reveals the Democratic Party’s continuing cynical exploitation of today’s African Americans. Clearly, the Democratic Party has not been magically delivered from its sordid past rooted in slavery and segregation. 

Despite this systemic failure, the Democratic Party has benefitted from a pervasive politically correct mindset in both the popular culture and in academia. Most historians are sympathetic to the Party, overlooking and rationalizing its flaws. This book is a needed corrective to the default perspective given in U.S. history textbooks and elsewhere. It provides a scholarly critique demonstrating that this perspective is indefensible. The book is an extended analysis based on wide-ranging, detailed research in the historical literature; it fits into a unique niche. It is a well-documented analysis combining lively, accessible prose with thorough scholarship. 

The work will be of interest to the historical community as well as general readers interested in U.S. history and politics. Since it is critical of the Democratic Party, it will also be of special interest to political conservatives. 

However, its purpose transcends partisanship. It is intended to provide a solid historical foundation which is essential for the cogent reevaluation of public policy. We cannot shape a viable future without confronting the realities of our past.