MLK was a Liberal Republican (IE, the folks that left the GOP and joined the Democrats long ago). The reasons for this were that there were Liberal Republicans -obviously- and that the Democrats of the south in which he grew up and his family lived were the Conservative Dixiecrats. The reason he left was because of Goldwater securing the nomination and the rise of the Conservatives.
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"[SIZE=-1]It is almost certain that he broke whatever affiliation he had with the Republican Party, inherited via his father, who had gone so far as to endorse [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
Richard M. Nixon. After the nomination of
Barry Goldwater for the presidency, King wrote in his
Autobiography, "The Republican Party geared its appeal and program to racism, reaction, and extremism. All people of good will viewed with alarm and concern the frenzied wedding at the Cow Palace of the KKK with the radical right. The
best man at this ceremony was a senator whose voting record, philosophy, and program were anathema to all the hard-won achievements of the past decade." Photographs exist of King campaigning for LBJ in 1964."
Why would here therefore join along with Goldwater's successor, and one probably more Conservative (and neo-Conservative) than Goldwater? To change King, you'd have to go back decades, and change the whole social systems of the South for goodness sake.
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[SIZE=-1]Reagan was not a liberal. King was more to the center ITTL. He still appealed to the right of ttl for his pro life stance.[/SIZE]
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You're confusing an issue that has been politicized in recent decades with ideology overall. One can be a Liberal in all issues and be against abortion and things of that nature. That does not make one a Conservative.
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