How Georgia Democrats should confront a Confederate flag license plate – The Washington Post

Drew Westen is professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory University and the author of “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.”

Republicans have perfected the dark art of exploiting racial divisions in the South. In the late 1960s, Richard Nixon and the GOP’s “Southern Strategy” capitalized on white resentment of civil rights legislation and school desegregation, along with anxiety about violence in the streets, to attract white Southern voters. Ronald Reagan railed against “welfare queens” and the erosion of “states’ rights,” which had long been code for freedom to discriminate. In the decades since, Republicans have found new ways to demagogue racial division, successfully appealing to a voting bloc that didn’t consider supporting the party of Lincoln for a century after the Civil War — or the War of the Northern Aggression, as I learned of it growing up in Georgia.

This year, the strategy has taken the form of a debate about custom license plates — in particular, a Georgia license plate sporting a broad, bold display of the Confederate battle flag. Democrats have traditionally struggled to counter such race-baiting. And Republicans are wasting no time in running Southern pride and prejudice up the flagpole against the two most promising Democrats to run for statewide office in Georgia in a decade: Jason Carter, grandson of President Jimmy Carter and a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination; and Michelle Nunn, daughter of the popular Democratic senator Sam Nunn and a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, who will try to hold on to his seat against Carter in November, has endorsed the Confederate-flag plate. “Hopefully those who take offense at it will look at the fact that it is a part of a cultural heritage of our state,” he said. Carter has yet to take a stand, and as polls show him moving into the lead over the governor, this may not be the right moment. Nunn hasn’t weighed in, either.

Too often, Democrats have dealt with racial issues by avoiding them. Research shows that’s the wrong strategy, particularly in the South. Speaking directly about race allows our conscious values — which tend to be intolerant of racial intolerance, even in the heart of Dixie — to override our unconscious prejudices, which control our behavior when we’re not looking, or when other people aren’t, as in the voting booth. The best way to handle this kind of dog-whistle politics is to expose it for what it is.

A successful political message that addresses race or any other divisive issue tends to have three components. The first is a value-laden statement that connects with most voters, making clear that the candidate cares about people like them and understands their ambivalence. The second is a statement raising a concern that makes the average person anxious or angry enough to want to do something about the issue. The third is a statement of hope, wedded to a solution, which suggests that the problem is solvable in a way that reflects the values and interests of ordinary voters.

via How Georgia Democrats should confront a Confederate flag license plate – The Washington Post.