How the Parties Flipped

The two major political parties in the United States, the Republicans and the Democrats, each have a defined political platform. Republicans believe in small government and are predominately culturally conservative. Furthermore, their voting base often resides in rural areas of the American south and midwest. As opposed to the Democrats who believe in larger government, are culturally liberal, and receive most of their voters in population centers like cities. However, if you were to travel back in time to the 1910's and relay this information to the common man, they would call you crazy. The modern Democrats and Republicans aren't like their historical counterparts at all. In fact, the party platforms have flipped entirely since their creation. This change has sparked many to ask how these parties could change their viewpoints entirely. The answer lies with the Civil War, FDR, LBJ and Nixon.

Let's first begin with the Civil War and the founding of the Republican and Democratic parties we know today. First the Democrats were created in 1828 and the Republicans were created in 1854. The Democrats at the time of the Civil War were centered predominately in the south. They were seen as the party of the white southerner with key representatives like John C. Calhoun of South Carolina who defended slavery through advocating for state's rights. The Republicans, however, were the party of the north. They were made up of both religious and non-religious abolitionist who opposed the practice of slavery for moral reasons as well as white northerners who feared an enslaved population would take white working-class jobs. They supported government expansion projects like subsidizing the Transcontinental Railroad. The Republican Party, in 1860, elects Abraham Lincoln (from the now staunchly blue Illinois) to be their nominee for President. Lincoln never advocates for the abolition of slavery when he runs for President, in fact he is willing to allow the south to keep slavery legal as long as no new states adopt it. Nevertheless several southerners see Lincoln as a pontificating abolitionist who wants to free all slaves. South Carolina along with 10 other states proceed to secede from the Union and the Civil War begins.

The Union, of course, wins the war and slavery is abolished in the United States. Republican lawmakers then proceed to pass the 14th and 15th amendment which brings a large swath of Black voters to the Republican base. However, a few aspects of reconstruction era politics do begin to resemble the politics of today. Due to the punishment the North imposes on the South for attempting to secede (as well as the fact that the north had more materials that weren't destroyed in war and more population centers) the south's economy stagnates and the north's flourishes. The northern states become increasingly industrialized while the southern states stay predominately agrarian. This begins to shape the Republican party (centered in the north) as the party of big business. However the Republican party begins to hemorrhage a voting bloc it just received. Black voters across the United States begin to feel disenfranchised by both parties as Southern Democrats quickly become the party of southern racism and Northern Republicans don't believe that advocating for Black rights in a mostly white country is effective to retaining power. As Republicans stop their oversight of the south, white power groups like the KKK (partially democratically funded at the time) begin to take hold and terrorize minority groups.

We now fast forward to the 1920s. Republicans have enjoy an era of unprecedented success with almost every president (besides Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson) before the Great Depression identifying as a Republican. With the economy steadily rising, and hitting its peak in the 1920s, being the party of big business correlated with being extremely successful. That is, until the stock market crashes in 1929 and signals the beginning of the Great Depression. At the beginning of the Great Depression, Republican Herbert Hoover serves as President. He personally believed that big business would thrive best if the government stepped away from regulation, arguably this caused the country to spiral even further into the depression and his inaction shift hate towards him. Due to the fact that Hoover was as hated as he was, U.S., shanty towns caused by the depression were called "Hoovertowns" displaying the country's vitriol against the President. Herbert Hoover was soundly defeated by Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the election of 1932. After Hoover's defeat the real shift in the party's platforms begins. FDR begins his plan of the "New Deal" which authorized a massive expansion of the Federal Government in an effort to combat the depression. The New Deal aided the U.S. a little bit but the depression was ultimately quelled by the massive industrial revival of World War Two. Nevertheless FDR was credited with the revival of the American economy and Democratic platform became that of government expansion. Furthermore, several voters from cities moved away from the Republican Platform because of the perceived success of FDR. Furthermore, several minorities who were disenfranchised due to the depression moved towards the Democratic party. This caused the parties to begin to cater towards their voters and major policy shifts began to take place.

Then the 1960s hit and civil rights becomes the political issue of the day. Black voters had been in limbo but were beginning to shift farther right. However LBJ, Democratic President succeeding John F. Kennedy, signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed discrimination on the basis of Race, Color, Religion, Sex and National Origin. Republican nominee for President, Barry Goldwater, opposed the Civil Rights Act because he believed that it was too much government oversight. Naturally Black and Minority voters swung massively towards the Democratic party and White voters (who opposed the act) swung massively to the Republicans. Furthermore, the division between the Democratic North and the Republican South widened even more with the signing of the Civil Rights Act. A significant percentage of Northern Voters favored the signing of the bill and a significant number of southern voters opposed the signing of the bill. This caused several Northern Voters to swing towards the Democratic party while several southern voters moved towards the Republican party. The split was divided even further when Republican candidate Richard Nixon ran his famous "southern strategy" which attempted (and succeeded) to shift southern white voters away from the Democratic party by widening existing racial tensions. This pushed the south even farther towards the Republican base and pushed the north (as well as highly populated areas like cities) towards the Democratic base.

The political parties of today have changed severely since their founding. Republicans went from having a stranglehold on the north as well as minority voters: to having a stranglehold on the south as well as white voters. Whereas the Democrats have shifted from representing the white voters of the south: to representing the minority votes of the north. However, not every political party is as cookie cutter as displayed in this blog. There are several minorities who support the Republican party as well as those who live in the north. Furthermore there are several White people as well as those who live in the south that support the Democratic party. However, the trends I highlighted are the largest historical trends accepted the political analysts and historians. Although you may belong to a specific subset of people based on race, religion, housing, or geography. It does not mean that you must conform to that political party. It is important to understand that political parties, no matter what their policy will pander towards their supporters. If you want change in the government or even in your party's platform, ensure that let yourself be heard by your representatives. Continue to participate in democracy or the issues that are important to you may never be addressed.

Citations:

“The History of the GOP: How the Party Changed: Skimm News.” TheSkimm, www.theskimm.com/world/history-of-gop-4z2tVlvLHXAcnRIEDPzj9Y.

“The History of the Democratic Party: How It Changed.” TheSkimm, www.theskimm.com/world/history-of-dem-party-apple-e3CyJHSWtcHFMScIwMdNu.

Schlarmann, James. “How & Why the American Political Parties Switched Ideological Platforms.” A Science Enthusiast, 18 Mar. 2019, ascienceenthusiast.com/democrats-republicans-party-switch/.

“John C. Calhoun.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 July 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Confederate States of America.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 13 Aug. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Confederate-States-of-America.

“List of Presidents of the United States.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 July 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States.

“Civil Rights Act of 1964 (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/articles/civil-rights-act.htm.

“Southern Strategy.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 July 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy.