To Renew America: on Civil Rights


Shocked by legal segregation in 1960s Georgia

Besides being overwhelmingly Democratic and corrupt, the Georgia I entered in the 1960s was bitterly segregationist. It always amuses me when reporters and columnists assume I must be a traditional southern conservative with, they hint, racist and redneck roots. As an army brat, my first experience of legal segregation was shocking. In Columbus, schools, bathrooms, and water fountains were all segregated. In 1962 I found myself in my first political argument about race, listening to a yellow-dog Democrat from Cairo (deep in south Georgia) patiently explain how blacks were not fully human and that any effort to integrate was biologically doomed to failed.

Segregation had been erected by the southern Democratic Party to give power to white elites by splitting poor people of both races. Segregation was bitterly defended by southern white Democrats while being challenged by a coalition of northern Democrats and Republicans.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p. 21-22 Jul 2, 1996

Individual rights trump group rights

One of the great debates of the near future will be individual versus group rights. It is a debate that must end decisively in favor of the individual.

If our rights are inalienable, they clearly belong to us as individuals. They cannot be taken away by the government because our Creator outranks the government. Similarly, neither can they be taken away by a group.

The very concept of group rights contradicts the nature of America. America is about the future, about "the pursuit of happiness," while group rights are about the past. America asks who you want to be. Group rights ask who your grandparents were.

Source: Renew America, by Newt Gingrich, p.153 Jul 2, 1996

  • The above quotations are from To Renew America, by Newt Gingrich.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Civil Rights.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Newt Gingrich on Civil Rights.
2016 Presidential contenders on Civil Rights:
  Republicans:
Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Gov.George Pataki(NY)
Sen.Rand Paul(KY)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Sen.Rob Portman(OH)
Sen.Marco Rubio(FL)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Scott Walker(WI) 		Democrats:
Gov.Lincoln Chafee(RI)
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY)
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Gov.Martin O`Malley(MD)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)
Sen.Jim Webb(VA)

2016 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Roseanne Barr(PF-HI)
Robert Steele(L-NY)
Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA)
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to:
1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140
E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org
(We rely on your support!)

Page last updated: Feb 22, 2019