Word: duked
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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America will not be so lucky. In David Duke, we have seen the face of American decline. Of course you can argue about whether the United States has entered a long-term decline similar to Britain's. And even if it has, you can argue whether politicians of one party or the other have the right formula for reversing course. But if decline is America's destiny, American society is not likely to take it as mildly as Britain...
...along with one another has depended on that spiritual sense of American manifest destiny -- and, more practically, on a steady rise in the average person's prosperity. For almost two decades now this rise, which Americans take as their birthright, has stalled or at least slowed dramatically. David Duke is a political expression of that reality...
...privacy of the voting booth, it came down to a balance of terror. After riding out the historic race between neo-Nazi David Duke and rapscallion Edwin Edwards, Louisianians had to choose between Duke's appeal to white hostility and fear of the economic chaos and racial divisions that his victory promised. In the end, their pocketbooks and qualms about Duke prevailed...
Throughout the campaign, Edwards supporters warned that if Louisiana elected a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan as Governor, a wave of revulsion would sweep business, tourism, conventions and jobs out of the state. Duke skillfully manipulated the politics of discontent, playing on resentment of quotas, welfare and Big Government. He railed against Edwards' liberalism and his penchant for gambling and womanizing and trading government jobs for campaign contributions. But in the end, the bumper sticker won the day: VOTE FOR THE CROOK: IT'S IMPORTANT. Concluding that electing a bigot would be too costly to a state...
Searching through the results for useful lessons, analysts found some disturbing truths. Anyone who thinks that Duke is merely a Bayou State phenomenon should be disabused by the numbers. More than 40% of his $1.37 million in contributions came from outside Louisiana, mostly small donations from people in 46 states. Duke's supporters were not all racists. Many were hardworking people who felt alienated from government-as-usual and desperate for help. "He says what a lot of people think but don't have the guts to say," observes oil-field supervisor Mark Hulin. "We're all middle-class people...