{"id":48375,"date":"2026-05-21T12:56:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T19:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48375"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:03:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:03:35","slug":"a-study-confirms-what-lbj-said-60-years-ago-white-americans-oppose-federal-programs-to-spite-other-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/a-study-confirms-what-lbj-said-60-years-ago-white-americans-oppose-federal-programs-to-spite-other-races\/","title":{"rendered":"A study Confirms what LBJ said 60 Years Ago: White Americans Oppose Federal Programs to Spite Nonwhites."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by commander ogg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 (DailyKos.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Still valid after all these decades<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The LBJ quote in the title image was alledgedly said to his press secretary Bill Moyers in a hotel room<\/a> in Tennessee while on a campaigning in 1960. I have no reason to doubt Mr. Moyers veracity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flash forward 60+ years later. In an article<\/a> on the website Alternet, a research study posted in Sage Journals<\/a> shows the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Research reveals that white people appear to support social safety net programs unless they perceive those programs as also helping nonwhites\u2026\u201cThis effect only appears when people compare their political standing directly to that of racial minorities\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While it is nice to have scientific verification of something I believed since I first read that LBJ quote, it is still somewhat disheartening. Again the article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026in many developed nations, high levels of income inequality usually lead to increased public demand for these programs\u2026the U.S. is different in this regard\u2026University of Delaware scientists Sumeyye Mine Iltekin Gocer and Joanne M. Miller learned\u2026that hostility to safety net programs appears to be\u2026primarily with White people \u2014 even those in poverty \u2014 because they fear the programs give nonwhites a boost.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Or to use the less technical version, we can not have nice things (h\/t Digby<\/a>). 1\/3rd of our fellow Americans would rather be poor and homeless because they would be force to share with Persons of Color. As Chris Hayes argued on his program All In, T*ump\u2019s base, approximately 37% of the voting population, is effectively \u201cholding the rest of the country hostage\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is insane, but it is also reality. All this talk about the price of groceries and gasoline, important as they are, do not even come close to the hatred that White Nationalist feel toward minorities. Whether it is the soft version by gerrymandering<\/a> black voters or the direct action of shooting up<\/a> an Islamic Mosque, the results are the same: fear of the other. And that fear permeates a large portion of the voting public, even as they swear on a stack of (insert religlious or secular book) that they are not prejudice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we approach the mid-terms, we should never lose sight of this. The election of President Obama has shown that if economic conditions are bad enough and the Candidate has the ability to talk to people, White resentment can be temporarily overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it will not be eliminated in my lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n