Well...I'm sure that the accusations calling me a racist and/or a small-minded idiot will begin to pile in after writing this...even though at least calling me a racist I believe is far from the truth. Technically, there's a lot of things I disagree or I'm sure I would have disagreed with Helms (I'm only 30, and I started voting about the time of Bush, so I don't think I even had a chance to consider him, and obviously a lot of things he did was before my time entirely, which is why I said "I'm sure I would have, " anyway...). However, I think I should have at least a little bit of credibility for this post, considering I'm a trained historian, been a NC resident for most of my life and started paying attention to crazy things like newspapers and politics at a freakishly young age.

First, a lot of this is going against the charge that North Carolinians were racists or otherwise so stupid and backwards that they voted for Helms. Actually, I would argue most people who voted for Helms did believe in basic civil rights, the original civil rights acts and the basic ideas behind them. Although I am very sure that the true racists did vote for Helms as well because they hated even that. Although by the time Helms started going to Washington, that first era had passed. People knew about Helms' past views on the Civil Rights act, etc, but by that time, basic civil rights were not going anywhere. What many people were questioning was some of the extensions of civil rights, mostly affirmative action, quotas, etc. Many people still see the "white hands" ads as appealing to racist tendencies. It was not necessarily racism, it was affirmative action.

However, I think this is one area where many people are going to plunge the dagger. To a certain extent, some of this I think (maybe, maybe not, this is just a theory) depends how people look at affirmative action, quotas, MLK birthday, etc. I think some see affirmative action and other programs like it as absolute parts directly connected to civil rights, and going against it is purely racist. Exactly the same as going against the civil rights bills themselves. However, some see affirmative action essentially as reverse discrimination, and just as bad as segregation. To them, civil rights is one thing, affirmative action is a whole other thing. At any rate, most people were not as conservative as Helms on civil rights, most people agreed with basic civil rights, just were against some of its extensions that Helms did go against.

There were other issues where Helms was almost used as a bulwark against things going "too liberal." I'm trying to get across to people that North Carolina at that time and now is not some backwards, ultra-conservative backwater many think it is. But there is a conservative element to it. Most people in North Carolina were not and are not now necessarily as conservative as Helms was, but there was a certain idea amongst many people that he was being a certain balance. Unfairly or not, people looked at San Fransisco, they looked at Ted Kennedy, and thought they were too liberal. So they gave them Helms. Even within the state you had a similar tendency. Many of the same people who voted for Helms also voted for Terry Sanford and John Edwards, both democrats, who if anything were fairly more liberal than many average voters.

Although another big thing that a lot of people do not realize, and in a way it is understandable unless you've lived here, and hear almost everybody have at least one story about how Helms directly helped them. He was probably one of the best, if not maybe even the best U.S. Congressmen I've either studied or seen for constituant relations. That alone might be even bigger than anything I mentioned above. If it was something that people needed to be done via the government, and it wasn't getting done like it should, Helms would take care of it. And fast. Another poster I read earlier had a post about one case. Had to do with his father's body that was stuck in Italy (I'm thinking military, I kind of glanced at it mostly, I could be getting details wrong). Anyway, couldn't get anybody within various government departments (that should have taken care of it) to do anything. Got hold of Helm's office, it was taken care of ASAP. My own father (who is not exactly a Helms-type himself) even talked about a dam that was going to be built here in the area that would have been environmentally damaging. They got the situation to Helms, and he killed it in no time. Which also shows something else interesting he did. I have to give him some credit for that, because a republican taking care of an environmental problem like that now days is almost unheard of. And he would never ask for anything back (I know everybody is going to be convinced he got big ol' kickbacks and favors etc. I doubt I can convince people otherwise, although, no, he never asked for anything back). He was also very big on farm issues, things that helped them out, which drew in their votes big time.

To me, I will agree that doesn't completely excuse his personal beliefs. He thought civil rights was a bad thing to do. I definitely believe civil rights was the right thing to do and was really necessary, and the only thing to do by that time. And then there's the whole AIDS mess...but of course later he actually recanted on that. Unfortunately though, he was far from the only leader or person of his age to believe what he did relating to that in the 80's. I'm sure there's more, but I'm trying to keep this post at least a little shorter.

And at the end of the day, people on the outside also see Helms as someone that everybody in NC agreed with and thought was great. Hate to burst many people's bubbles, but Helms could be just as polarizing and contraversial here as anywhere else. Think about why the "white hands" ad aired in the first place. If it was such a cakewalk for a good ol' boy like him to win that election, why even go to any trouble to pull something like that? I'm pretty sure most of his races were contriversial. And could be close.

Holy crap this is a long friggin' post. Ok, I'm stopping now, let the redneck bashing begin!