Speaking of That

Actually, a buddy and I were talking about this over breakfast.

A couple of these surprised me:
Hyde-Smith is one of six Republican Senators who used to be Democrats. Others will be Kennedy (LA), Cassidy (LA), Hoeven (ND), Braun (IN), & Shelby (AL). #MSSen
— J. Miles Coleman (@JMilesColeman) November 28, 2018

When I registered to vote in 1971 there were hardly no Republicans in Louisiana.  The Democrats had a stranglehold on the state, but there were plenty of conservatives.  We called ourselves Southern Democrats. In the '80s and '90s, the Democratic Party started bending so far left that it veered away from what many Southern Democrats saw as the proper role of a political party andn changed affiliations.  Both of Louisiana's Senators, Kennedy and Cassidy were once Democrats, and I remember those days. 

The band Alabama even wrote a bout it in their hit, Song of the South.

Daddy was a veteran, a southern democrat
They oughta get a rich man to vote like that

The stranglehold of the Democrats was so strong for a while that when I registered to vote, the check-block for the party was pre-printed as Democrat.  That was the default affiliation.  If you wanted to register with another party, you had to make an active choice.  Otherwise, you were a Democrat.