how the “American political parties switch sides”?
In: Other
I agree with a lot of what u/DarkAlman wrote, but at the same time, the idea that the two parties “switched sides” is a a little too simplistic and a bit of an overstatement.
The Republican Party rose to power in the industrial north, with close ties to big business. Even though it tends to be more of a Southern party today, those ties to business are still very apparent today. They’ve lasted more than 150 years, with only some minor blips (such as the Teddy Roosevelt-era).
The Democratic Party, which had it’s base in the south and had no such ties to the industrial north, was a natural ally to the labor unions in the north. Once again, 150 years later, the Democratic Party is still much more closely aligned with labor.
Also, as African-Americans became a more powerful political block in the south, it makes sense that the Democratic Party began to evolve and promote policies that were more favorable African-Americans. Without doing the party wouldn’t have survived. They needed that support.
And as u/DarkAlman states, the Republican Party (and more specifically, Richard Nixon), used the close ties of the Democratic Party and African-Americans to shift the Republican Party further right on race issues.
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