Hardshell political history 101

It may seem incredible to many young Primitive Baptists that so many of their forebears within the faith have an alliance to the Democratic Party. A quick summary of political history among our people may help explain it somewhat. Until recent years, Primitive Baptists (even since before the split) have been largely favorable toward the more liberal of the political parties as measured by economic philosophies. For example, they generally supported Jefferson against Hamilton, and Andrew Jackson against his opponents. In other words, they generally supported the candidates who favored the common people as opposed to those who favored the privileged classes.

Those who are under 50 years of age may not realize that it was only with the election of Ronald Reagan that the social conservatism and fiscal conservatism were united in the same party. With the exception of Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson, the political landscape from the War Between the States until the Depression was controlled by the Republican Party, and the Republican Party was the Wall Street (Rockefeller) party. Business tycoons were not overly concerned with moral issues. Social conservatism was, until Reagan, found largely in the old-style Southern Democrats. There was a fairly abrupt change in that reality about the time of the Vietnam conflict, but it has taken a much longer time for many people to realize it.

Further, those who did not live through the Depression cannot possibly imagine what a devastating thing it was. Thousands of men would have been glad to have worked for 50 cents a day if they would have found such jobs. President Roosevelt's policies may not have been (and probably were not) good economics, but men whose families are starving are not overly concerned with the niceties of economic theory. Mr. Roosevelt gave them hope, and told them, in effect, "We are not going to let you starve." As a result, he had a huge amount of good will among the common people, some of whom are now found among the older generation of Old Baptists.