When did the parties switch platforms?

[Virginiá]

2010, of course (when the Southern legislatures fell)!

Seriously, though, I know those guys were just DINOs.  When they REALLY switched was the 2000s.  You see, Bill Clinton (a Democrat) talked about an end to the era of big government.  He also like deregulated something or something like that, and he had a Southern accent and won West Virginia (and WV votes Republican now, so that means the Democrats of the '90s were the Republicans of today).  Then, in the 2000s, George W. Bush (a Republican) swept onto the scene, and he expanded government (he was a liberal for this) and also passed No Child Left Behind.  Plus the debt.  Democrats attacked him for this (making them the conservatives of that time period).

For Republicans/the South, couldn't you say the seed was planted in 1964? Goldwater lost, but many Southern states and whites began voting Republican at the presidential level after that. You could see the Democratic stranglehold on Congressional offices cracking after as well, albeit at a slow pace. It took quite awhile for this to trickle down to state offices, though. Likewise, around 1988/1992 many traditional Republican states in the North switched as well (at the presidential level, with state offices following in the decade(s) after).

Though I am only talking about party voting patterns and not the ideological components of this change.

[Virginiá]

You're also the party of Strom Thurmond and mind you Robert Byrd.  Jesse Helms I believe was a Democrat.  You listen to the left and this is what happens.

We can't deny that those people were Democrats (even if Strom switched long before he died). Robert Byrd appeared to turn over a new leaf quite some time before he died as well. Obviously I didn't know him personally, but he was definitely not acting racist, or saying racist things, or pushing racist policies for a long time before he died in 2010.

However, now these types of people are Republicans and have been for years, at least in most elections. There are racist northerners but there are quite a lot of racists from the South and will continue to be until the older generation is thoroughly replaced, and even then. It's not that the Republican party in itself has these racist overtones, it's their base of support (the South). Any party that represents these people will end up giving off that image until things change - And as I said, to varying degrees, they are changing.

[Virginiá]

So did Thurmond and Helms, but they don't get a pass from Democrats.

Did he, though (I am legitimately asking)? I see articles around, particularly this Slate one, about how he never publicly renounced his views on racial segregation. I was able to find plenty of Byrd-related material with him renouncing this or that, and even pushing policies or ideas that no Dixiecrat would ever do.

I'd like to think Strom came around, but I don't actually know if he did, and if it was genuine.

[Virginiá]

So did Thurmond and Helms, but they don't get a pass from Democrats.

Did he, though (I am legitimately asking)? I see articles around, particularly this Slate one, about how he never publicly renounced his views on racial segregation. I was able to find plenty of Byrd-related material with him renouncing this or that, and even pushing policies or ideas that no Dixiecrat would ever do.

I'd like to think Strom came around, but I don't actually know if he did, and if it was genuine.

I'm not sure about Thurmond, but I know he fathered and cared for a Black daughter ... couldn't have been THAT racist, LOL.  And Helms hired James Meredith (first Black student to ever attend Ole Miss) on his staff and was apparently (according to Wikipedia) the only Senator to return his inquiries.

I do remember reading that. Apparently he got her pregnant when he was 22 or so. I think all that makes him is a hypocrite, because he still went on to be pretty thoroughly racist after doing that. After all, it happened in the 20s and it was literally generations before things began to change.