Chain Reaction: Impact of Race, Rights and Taxes on American Politics

The rise of the presidential wing of the Republican party over the past generation has been driven by overlapping issues of race and taxes. The Republicans have capitalized on these two issues, capturing the White House in five of the last six elections. In a steady evolutionary process, race and taxes came to interact with such domestic issues as welfare policy and minority quota hiring. The author suggests that, although Clinton managed to win in 1992, he leads a Democratic Party that is weakened, fragmented and unsure of itself.