Today the GOP commemorates the 51st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

It certainly won them plenty of voters, particularly in the South. So it makes sense that they'd celebrate.

 

To be fair, it doesn't pass without the leadership of Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen.

 

If they've got a GOP approved ID.

 

He wouldn't be Senate Majority Leader and very likely would be fighting to keep his seat against the usual "Tea Party" GOP fanatics. Why? He would be seen as far too moderate, just as Reagan would today.

 

That's completely fair, considering all the Southern conservative Democrats hadn't yet left the party. If only they hadn't gone nuts a few months earlier and nominated a no-vote to the Civil Rights Act for President, then spent the next 40 years disavowing Eisenhower, Warren, Dewey and any other Republicans amenable to federal oversight of human rights and public infrastructure. Some conservatives like to pretend that blacks are "blindly" loyal to Democrats, disregarding that every one of their basic rights was secured through the Executive Branch's enforcement of federal rulings or legislation.