literarydiscussions.myfreeforum.org

Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Reading the phrase "Free range discussions" made me think of the
disputes between the farmers, who wanted to fence in and protect their
crops, and the cattle ranchers, who desired a free open range.
Supposedly, their differences played some early role in the evolution of
the Republican and Democratic parties.

Didn't Lincoln switch from Whig to the new fangled Republican party?

And right after the Civil War, I understand that many former slaves were
Republicans, while the Democrats tended to be anti-abolition. Yet, as the
years passed, the roles of the two parties were were reversed.

I am not very political. I have to struggle to grasp the meaning of
conservative vs. liberal, Republican vs. Democrat, left wing vs. right wing.

I found a good explanation of such things via google, 2 years ago, but I
have become rusty again in my understanding.

SFG75 · Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:09 pm Post subject:

Yep, the Republican party was the bastion of the old Whigs, who were
decimated after Jackson's victories. The funny thing?, it wasn't until
abolitionists and free-soil party members flooded into the Republican
camp that the Republicans developed a strong position on slavery. The
democrats had the strongest support in the south. During the mid-20th
century, the roles somewhat reversed as democrats like LBJ sought to
integrate blacks into society more and more, while southern democrats
began to bolt the party for the Republicans(i.e.-Strom Thurmond) This
was perhaps best achieved by Nixon's "silent majority" strategy where
appeals to white-ethnic voters about minorities and the problems of the
60's were played up to gain white middle class votes-which has allowed
them to completely re-color the south on election nights since 1964.
Blacks continue to support the democrats by a hefty margin of roughly
90%. That in and of itself tells you how much things have changed.
Shocked

The conservative vs. liberal split has changed over time as well. From the
18th-late 19th centuries, a conservative supported the monarchy,
established churches, and other mediators of stability in society. Liberals
were free speech advocates, people who wanted a republican form of
government, the philosophes, and people like that. In American terms, a
conservative is someone who favors traditional values and who is for
"smaller" government. That person is against government regulations
and encroachment on their daily lives. Liberals are more colelctivist
minded, they want government programs to help certain segments of the
population and have a healthy trust of government. Today, conservative
is somewhat synonymous with Republican, and liberal with Democrat in
terms of party politics.

Get your own free IRC Chat room