THE DEEP SOUTH continues a disturbing and dangerous political polarization. The two poles are white Republicanism and black Democracy. The Democrats can no longer count on an alliance of working class and poor people of both races coming together to seek common political goals. That coalition worked for them for years, but in the Southern states, it's now dead.
In Louisiana last weekend the non-partisan gubernatorial primary election produced two run-off candidates. One is Mike Foster, a white Republican state legislator who just switched parties. He is conservative enough to earn David Duke's endorsement. The other is U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, a black liberal Democrat and Jesse Jackson supporter.
Many Louisiana voters will support a degree of liberalism. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, who is retiring, has a voting record "liberal quotient" of 50-55 percent as calculated by the leftish interest group Americans for Democratic Action. But Representative Fields's LQ is 90-95 percent. He could be as white as David Duke's sheet and not stand a chance of getting elected to statewide office in Louisiana.