Opinion
The case against looting and burning
History shows that violent uprising rarely leads to real change with more progressive social policy.
Ross DouthatContributorIn the origin myth of post-1960s liberalism, all the defeats that the Democratic Party suffered in the years of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were owed to the party’s heroic support for civil rights, which rectified a great injustice but opened the way for the Republicans to build majorities on racial backlash.
Like most myths, this story contains pieces of the truth. The battle over civil rights did accelerate the regional realignment of the parties; racial backlash did help the GOP make gains in the once-Democratic South.
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