Here are a few of my thoughts about the recent elections and other things that are going on in our country.

The pundits are saying the Democrats lost because of the economy, high unemployment, the health care plan, stimulus money, deficit spending and other reasons.

These things played some part, but are not the main reasons.

Before the election of Barack Obama as president, it was predicted that people of color would be a majority by 2040. After he won, it seemed this would become sooner.

So, I think, the Tea Party, which is a wing of the Republican Party, decided to do whatever necessary to prevent this.

Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint said President Obama’s health plan would be his Waterloo. Consequently, the rest of the party fell in line.

Sen. John McCain, after promising to work with this President to solve the problems of this country, did a 360-degree turn. Other Republicans followed suit.

The Republicans adopted the Southern strategy that was used after the 1964 Voting Rights Act, but they expanded it out over the entire country. Their aim was to say anything and do anything that was false on FOX News, the Internet, talk radio and television ads.

Their slogan was “We want to take our country back.” They succeeded in convincing some voters who were on the fence, or those who were racists, illiterates and hate-mongers, to side with Republicans.

The Tea Party did not just start recently. It formed during the 2000 election, during the Bush/Gore recount. People were sent from all over the country to Florida by the head of the Republican Party to prevent the recount by whatever means necessary, even though the Florida Supreme Court ordered the recount to go forward. They were disruptive and stopped the recount, yet, no one was arrested.

Fast forward a bit, and the Tea Party behavior at the health care town hall meetings had a very similar effect.

When President Obama was elected, they started rumors that he was not a U.S. citizen by birth, that he was a Muslim, a racist and a socialist.

Then, there was the Shirley Sherrod incident, in which tapes were doctored to make her appear as though she was a racist while working for the government.

These things and other things were used to pit whites against blacks and the Democrat party. Next, the Tea Party moved to immigration and hard economics. It was easy to blame Mexicans for taking jobs from Americans, and if they gained citizenship, they could be a voting block for Democrats.

So, it was best to deport more than 12 million immigrants and make life so hard for others that they would go back to Mexico on their own.

Then there is the Muslim issue, it was already negative throughout the country but was inflamed by the attempt to build a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero with support from President Obama.

Just about every Republican won if he or she was a Tea Party candidate or not. Most Democrats that won were in liberal districts.

Most Republicans voted against health care and will all Republicans on nearly all issues. This is to the point that this is the Southern strategy.

Ron Paul campaigned on states’ rights, that a business should have to right to decide whom it serves — even if their practices are discriminatory.

These acts and more played on fear that people of color were going to take over the country.

Two major political decisions by the Supreme Court have had a part in this. This first decision was when the court stopped Florida from counting votes in the 2000 election, when their job is to make sure all votes are counted.

The second decision was when the court ruled that a corporation or business is to be considered as a “person” and therefore could donate an unlimited amount of money to elections.

Businesses, right wing supporters and chambers of commerce all poured millions into this election with false and negative propaganda about the Democrats.

Some may wonder, “Why would citizens vote for candidates who voted against unemployment benefits?” The answer is simple.

People of color are the last hired and the first fired. So, it stands to reason that the majority of people who are drawing unemployment are people of color. Secondly, “Why would middle and working class citizens vote for candidates who oppose a bill that would take away subsidies and tax cuts for businesses that ship jobs overseas and instead gives the tax cuts to those businesses that locate or relocate in the United States?”

This is the old economic policy of Ronald Reagan called trickle-down economics. When Reagan fired the air controllers in the United States, he was giving outright support for the labor unions in Poland.

Why don’t businesses ship our jobs to developed countries but instead to underdeveloped ones? They say it is a great benefit for our people to get cheap products. They won’t say what is true, which is that most developed countries now have strong labor laws.

When this country was being developed, businesses went to Africa to get slave labor. Now, businesses are shipping middle-class jobs and high-tech jobs out of the country for slave labor.

These should be talking points by the Democrats from now until the 2012 elections. We should constantly remind people that the Republicans support big businesses that ship our jobs to countries for slave labor.

Plez West is a Natchez resident.