Yes, I'm deeply concerned about the words expressed by Senator Lott at Strom Thurmond's birthday party. But I'm even more concerned about the words he used to EXPLAIN them. He said he wasn't praising Senator Thurmond's past racial stance, but he liked his commitment to a "strong defense" and his "fiscal conservatism."
Before the Civil War the Democratic slave masters used to have anti-black conventions where they called us "out-our-names." But after the Civil War, when they had lost power and were trying to get it back, they knew they had to change their language. So instead of holding anti-black conventions, the same former Democratic slave masters had anti-taxpayer conventions - since they were being taxed to pay for the new freedmen's education, health care, and housing. They were known as fiscal conservatives, and they called the Radical Republicans of that day - who were supporting such programs - "tax and spend liberals." That's the origin of the phrase!
