Republicans and Demmocrats Switched Platforms Before. Could it Happen Again?

Hello ATS. Here's a little conspirracy theory that's been swirling around in my head recently. The Republicans and Democrats switched platforms over a period of time from about the 1860's to about 1936.

Eric Rauchway, professor of American history at the University of California, Davis, pins the transition to the turn of the 20th century, when a highly influential Democrat named William Jennings Bryan blurred party lines by emphasizing the government's role in ensuring social justice through expansions of federal power — traditionally, a Republican stance.

Republicans didn't immediately adopt the opposite position of favoring limited government. "Instead, for a couple of decades, both parties are promising an augmented federal government devoted in various ways to the cause of social justice," Rauchway wrote in a 2010 blog post for the Chronicles of Higher Education. Only gradually did Republican rhetoric drift to the counterarguments. The party's small-government platform cemented in the 1930s with its heated opposition to the New Deal.

But why did Bryan and other turn-of-the-century Democrats start advocating for big government? According to Rauchway, they, like Republicans, were trying to win the West. The admission of new western states to the union in the post-Civil War era created a new voting bloc, and both parties were vying for its attention.

Democrats seized upon a way of ingratiating themselves to western voters: Republican federal expansions in the 1860s and 1870s had turned out favorable to big businesses based in the northeast, such as banks, railroads and manufacturers, while small-time farmers like those who had gone west received very little. Both parties tried to exploit the discontent this generated, by promising the little guy some of the federal largesse that had hitherto gone to the business sector. From this point on, Democrats stuck with this stance — favoring federally funded social programs and benefits — while Republicans were gradually driven to the counterposition of hands-off government.

www.livescience.com...

Rauchway credits the Democrats’ ideological shift to their ambitions to win the Western votes that were up for grabs in the post-Civil-War era. Much of the Republican federal expansions of the late 1800s had benefited interests in the Northeast—railroad companies, banks,and other big businesses—while small-time farmers in the West received little attention. Republicans and Democrats alike tried to woo Western voters with federal support, but Democrats ultimately stuck to a platform of helping out the “little guy,” while Republicans eventually transitioned to a non-interventionist approach that favored big business.

In a conspiracy twist, I wonder if this could happen again.........? Parties switching sides per-se...With all of the new technologies on the forefront and human expansion into new frontiers in Space, will this shake things up the same as the country's expansion West caused a shake-up within the state of the two political parties. I'm not a Political Scientist or anything, I'm just thinking out loud. What says ATS?

us-presidents.insidegov.com...

Not likely. Now the 2 parties are basically known as Conservative and Progressive Liberal . The days of the Good Ol Republicans and the blue collar Democrats that both built this country together are sadly gone and almost forgotten....

I think parties are getting more and more irrelevant as time goes by.
You really only see stupid people cling to parties imo.

"Oh those rich republicans" etc...

Thankfully, after the clusterfk we have going on in the WH and congress, the internet is educating the people in real time about just what these politicians are after.

The curtains are coming back on the giant façade of the control system, hence the pre-emptive FCC control of the internet.

It gets tough to rip people off, if they see it coming. This dynamic, or screeching attempt to maintain power will have the biggest ripple. It will be met with the biggest distraction you can think of.

Global terrorization of the population via govs and media, removal of rights, world war 3, anything to keep the façade up, to tighten the control net around the people providing the lifestyle that they "deserve".

Quite frankly, I can't believe there isn't a massive civil war going on now to stop this waste of lives.

At the very least, a union style, country wide walkout from work, demanding the gov upholds the constitution, bans illegal practices and laws such as income tax.

At what point do you stop the bs? 65% of your life to support their cush lifestyles? 80%

I see a country that I would not raise a kid in at this point. This country is run by a bunch of psychos.

originally posted by: Gothmog
Not likely. Now the 2 parties are basically known as Conservative and Progressive Liberal . The days of the Good Ol Republicans and the blue collar Democrats that both built this country together are sadly gone and almost forgotten....

Well I think it could happen in the near future. Congress is ripe for some MAJOR changes.

I feel like a guy like Ron Paul could be the modern W.J. Bryan. Obama's shift towards aggressive action in the Syria conflict shows that the Democrats are wanting to win the M.E. as much as the Republicans.

In the 90's I felt I had a lot in common with the Democrats, but with the push of new libertarian republicans, I find that I have a much harder time deciding these days.

If History does repeat, Political parties should shift every 60 to 70 years. The major parties are really just a coalition of minor political parties that have common ground and as the political issues change the battle lines blur.

Hello, I just joined because I believe I have a serious conspiracy theory to post, sorry that this is off the topic of this thread, but I've tried to find a create a new post.

a reply to: lostbook

I don't know about switching, but you're watching them merge right now. The establisment Republicans have been pushed closer to center by the far right wing like the Tea Party. This is creating a situation where Democrats and Republicans are largely allies on everything, because Democrats have been center/right for 20+ years (as in, they're not a leftist party at all). So now we have Center right, Center right, and far right.

If the Republicans don't win this election their party is likely going to fracture into it's various smaller factions, one of which will go right to the Democrats.

If that happens, the Democrats will not lose an election for the next 50 years as we'll end up with a one party system.