OK Larry, if you want to continue believing that it's okay, but historians don't agree with you (on either point). Check out the Democrats under Wilson as an example of pushing for stronger government. Check out the Harding - Coolidge - Hoover presidencies as examples of small-government Republicans. So your theory of a switch in the 1930s doesn't hold up. But regarding Southern Democratic racists becoming Republicans, no, most of the elected representatives remained Democrats. But over time the entire racist (white) South switched to Republican -- and they're now the core of the Party. That's the point with the "switch".