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When did the Republican party turn into the conservative party?


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2014 May 23, 3:11am   4,259 views  5 comments

by edvard2   ➕follow (1)   💰tip   ignore  

This is probably more of a history debate more than anything. As mentioned I did grow up in the rural south where Democrats had a solid footing for generations basically because back then they were the conservative party. Now that the Republicans took over that role the area and most of the South for that matter are now Republican for the same reason: The Republican party is the conservative party.

So I've heard all kinds of reasons as to why the GOP turned as it did. It always has been the party for big business and smaller government. But by adding social conservative "Values" to its roster it became an entirely different party. Some might say this addition also diluted their core fiscal principles by tainting it with socially conservative ideals.

We had McCarthy and his popularization in using the threat of communism as a tool meant to discredit anything not in alignment with more conservative notions. So perhaps that was one of many instances that led to the party's turn from the more strictly fiscally conservative to socially conservative.

Furthermore, has the GOP become more conservative than it has in the past? Some would say so. But with the last two elections it appears the party has come to a point where a conservative flavoring might not benefit them nearly as reliably as it did in past elections. And therefore perhaps yet another turn in the party's platform.

But anyway, how, when, and why did the party of Lincoln and Roosevelt become the party of the right wing?

#politics

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1   marcus   2014 May 23, 3:44am  

They are no longer the conservative party by any reasonable measure, except with respect to religious values pertaining to homosexuality and abortion.

The true agenda of today's right wing is not in my opinion conservative. It's mostly an "I've got mine, screw you" philosophy that no longer believes in the future potential of America (in part because the majority of new born people and immigrants are "non white").

Consider global warming and the environment. What is the truly conservative position here? I would argue that being willing to make some sacrifices in the short term, for the future of humanity and the planet is the far more conservative position.

The right wing today is all about rationalizing selfishness. (and manipulating the religious right to get enough single issue voters on board to win elections(i.e. the 3 Gs, guns, gays, and God)).

2   corntrollio   2014 May 23, 5:15am  

Some people would say the Civil Rights Act or Nixon's Southern Strategy, I'd guess. A lot of people still talk about the Goldwater split of the more libertarian type folks.

The irony is that some idiots think of Barack Obama as a "liberal" (bad terminology brought into popularity by Nixon -- liberal has a different classical meaning), but people who study this know differently, and real "liberals" (in the Nixon sense) are pretty pissed about it:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2012

3   zzyzzx   2014 May 23, 6:14am  

I think it goes back to around the Wilson presidency, since that around when Democrats started asking the taxpayers to support deadbeats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the 28th President of the United States, in office from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913.

The Democrats lowered tariffs with the Underwood Tariff in 1913, though its effects were soon overwhelmed by the changes in trade caused by World War I.[93] Wilson proved especially effective in mobilizing public opinion behind tariff changes by denouncing corporate lobbyists, addressing Congress in person in highly dramatic fashion, and staging an elaborate ceremony when he signed the bill into law.

Sounds like a current Democrat to me.

4   Dan8267   2014 May 23, 8:12am  

edvard2 says

When did the Republican party turn into the conservative party?

1950's to 1960's because of the Southern Strategy. All Dixiecrat racists ran to the GOP.

5   bob2356   2014 May 23, 1:33pm  

When Johnson pushed through the civil rights act the very conservative southern democrats changed to the GOP. The GOP had almost no base in the south prior to that. The second part was in 1963 the courts knocked down the laws barring blacks from voting in the democratic primaries. Blacks voted heavily democratic and the whites moved to the GOP to avoid facing a possible black primary candidate. The third part is the evangelical christian churches becoming very political in the 70's and 80's bringing lots of conservative voters into the GOP. Part 4 was gingrich and the contract with america which moved the gop much further to the right. Lots of people actually believed gingrich bullshit promises which were totally ignored once the candidates were in power.

Prior to the 60's neither party was conservative or liberal. There were both branches in each party.

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