Sound like an alternate universe? Fast forward to 1936, when Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt won on the values of the New Deal, where he massively expanded government power by creating and overseeing pension programs and economic stimulators. He won in a landslide against Republican Alf Landon, who opposed these exercises of federal power.
So what happened in these decades that made the parties switch? When did the Democrats start desiring a big government and the Republicans start desiring a small one?
Some historians point to the turn of the century as influential Democratic politicians such as William Jennings Bryan began pushing for expanding government power to help citizens. This started blurring the lines. But why did he do this?
One answer lies in changing geographics during this time. Remember, states were being added to the Union throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, which means the parties had to cater to these new voting blocs to gain support and influence. While the Republican, Big Business platform was working well in the Northeastern metropolises, the small-time farmers in the newly founded Western states were being left out. So, the Democrats advocated for a bigger government to support these smaller farmers. Republicans were gradually driven to oppose this.
From a financial perspective, the party platforms didn't really switch. Republicans were always the Big Business party, and Democrats were more about the average individual, at least economically. Originally a bigger government helped republicans grow Big Business by raising tariffs and building infrastructure, but once these were implemented, a hands-off government became better for business.
But of course, there is much more to the story. It's very hard to summarize the Big Switch because there really wasn't one. We cannot forget the countless other parties, from Federalists to Dixiecrats to Populists to Progressives, who came and went. It hasn't always been just two parties fighting it out, and even today there are far more than two parties.
Not only that, but we have to note that the north and south have their own factions, Democrats and Republicans have their own factions, and each region and state has its own factions, and that gives us many different “types” of Democrats and Republicans.
There is also the 1968 election to consider. Modern historians agree that it ended the New Deal coalition and the post-war liberal consensus, marking America's slow shift to the right. This happened because of differing opinions on Cold War foreign policy (think about the Vietnam War), race relations, and economic policy.
Basically, there are a million factors which caused a very gradual shift between where Democrats and Republicans stand on the liberal to conservative scale. But a shift happened nonetheless.
https://www.livescience.com/34241-democratic-republican-parties-switch-platforms.html
http://factmyth.com/factoids/democrats-and-republicans-switched-platforms/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/25/how-did-the-1968-election-change-u-s-politics-so-dramatically-this-new-book-explains/?utm_term=.65453e2110c1
Interesting post Bennett! Your analysis on the shift in political parties during this time period really gave a glimpse at some of the possible reasons that could have caused this change. I think another perspective to see it from is the idea that each political party could be trying to win the other side. An article I read was talking about how recently, each political party was trying to adapt to win other members of other parties, which ultimately worked, but caused people to switch sides.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.livescience.com/34241-democratic-republican-parties-switch-platforms.html
Your post was really interesting! I like how you gave a thorough analysis of how the political parties shifted over the 20th century. Another turning point during this shift was when President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. It was said that with that move, the Democrats had lost the South. Two weeks later, the Republican Party nominated Barry Goldwater, an anti-civil rights legislator, as their presidential candidate. Two months after that, Senator Strom Thurmond (a civil rights foe) switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party. At the same time, the majority of civil rights activists in the Republican Party either left or were defeated.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thenation.com/article/when-republicans-really-were-party-lincoln/
This was a really look at the shift of democracy and how its political party allegiances have changed over time. If you look at the Democratic Party alone, there has been a monumental shift in the policy. They were in favor of slavery for decades, and in 150, they now have a section of their policy goals that includes "Ending Systemic Racism" and "Guaranteeing Civil Rights." For as long as the US has been around, our parties have constantly evolved, and I'm curious to see how parties will change in the next 50 years.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.democrats.org/party-platform