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When Republicans Really Were the Party of Lincoln

What happened was the civil-rights movement. The Democratic Party was split on it, with Southern Democrats being against it and Northern Democrats being for it. That made the Republican Party look better than the Democratic Party, even though the Republicans were not quite as good as Northern Democrats.

Some Republicans thought of appealing to disgruntled Southern Democrats, something that Richard Nixon called his "Southern strategy". This ended up turning the Republican Party into the party of Jefferson Davis. Some Republicans themselves would agree with this assessment, like Senator Trent Lott, who stated that "The spirit of Jefferson Davis lives in the 1984 Republican platform."

In that time, the Democrats became what the Republicans once were.

It's disappointing that we continue to be stuck with single-member-district, first-past-the-post voting, because it forces different factions into awkward coalitions just to get elected. Proportional representation would be a LOT better.
 
Jason Harvestdancer said:
The Republican Party was founded as the party of monied interests. It is still the party of Lincoln.
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The Republican Party was for extending voting rights, keeping religion out of politics, and understood the need for a Federal Government for oversight.
 
Yeah, but the "oversight" that the Republicans desired was pro-business oversight. And I don't mean "pro-business" in the libertarian sense, but in the sense of government policies that aid and benefit the businesses in a Mercantilist fashion, with the government using taxpayer revenue to fund improvements for the benefit of businesses and tariffs for the protection of businesses.
 
Jason Harvestdancer said:
Yeah, but the "oversight" that the Republicans desired was pro-business oversight. And I don't mean "pro-business" in the libertarian sense, but in the sense of government policies that aid and benefit the businesses in a Mercantilist fashion, with the government using taxpayer revenue to fund improvements for the benefit of businesses and tariffs for the protection of businesses.
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I remember a political cartoon for the 1912 election showing Socialist Party nominee Eugene Debs stewing in a pond of water because Teddy Roosevelt had just scampered off with his socialism covers, which left him with nothing. Granted, Roosevelt was running under the Bull Moose Party in that election.
 
There was a time in this country when both major parties had a left, right, and center. There was a time when the world was not so strictly Us vs. Them. There was a time when the GOP wasn't crazy or all its members and leaders bought and paid for by the Koch Bros.
 
AthenaAwakened said:
There was a time in this country when both major parties had a left, right, and center. There was a time when the world was not so strictly Us vs. Them. There was a time when the GOP wasn't crazy or all its members and leaders bought and paid for by the Koch Bros.
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You mean like when Orrin Hatch was the whacko of the Republican Party, not the center?
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
AthenaAwakened said:
There was a time in this country when both major parties had a left, right, and center. There was a time when the world was not so strictly Us vs. Them. There was a time when the GOP wasn't crazy or all its members and leaders bought and paid for by the Koch Bros.
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You mean like when Orrin Hatch was the whacko of the Republican Party, not the center?
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Yeah, like then
 
Old Teddy is often brought up in discussions about the Republican Party's history of positions. If he is everything that you try to say he is, then he is a deviation in between the Republicans that came before him and the Republicans that came after him. If he is everything that you try to say he is, then he isn't representative.

And I still say that in spite of his (for his era) progressive positionings, he is not that far from the Republicans from before and after him. He was a Morgan man through and through, and used the power of the Presidency to break up Rockefeller trusts. This contrasts with McKinley and Taft who were Rockefeller men who used the power of the Presidency to break up Morgan trusts. His wonderful fight against monopoly was nothing more than dirty factional politics.
 
Jason Harvestdancer said:
Old Teddy is often brought up in discussions about the Republican Party's history of positions. If he is everything that you try to say he is, then he is a deviation in between the Republicans that came before him and the Republicans that came after him. If he is everything that you try to say he is, then he isn't representative.

And I still say that in spite of his (for his era) progressive positionings, he is not that far from the Republicans from before and after him. He was a Morgan man through and through, and used the power of the Presidency to break up Rockefeller trusts. This contrasts with McKinley and Taft who were Rockefeller men who used the power of the Presidency to break up Morgan trusts. His wonderful fight against monopoly was nothing more than dirty factional politics.
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there have been other Republicans besides TR. And I can assure you, I was raised with a proper distaste, disgust, and distrust for all things Republican (notable exceptions being Lincoln (freed the slaves), TR (publicly praised the black soldiers who fought in Cuba and the first president my Gramma got to see in person), and Ike (my Poppa's general during WW2)). Hate them as I must, I cannot paint them with the same broad brush. Yes , the GOP is and has been the rich man's party, but those old rich, restricted club belonging, cheating with the secretary, three martini lunch having sons of bitches did not used to be reality denying. Cunning, crafty, and deceitful yes, but they didn't try to outlaw sea rise or claim that life begins with the first mixed drink.
 
During his Presidency, Abe Lincoln supported land-grant colleges and western railroad construction. Before the Civil War, Southern politicians had thwarted that construction. Seems like he'd be a good present-day Democrat.
 
Just because Obama gave businesses big giveaways (and called them bailouts) doesn't mean that it is general Democrat policy to give everything away to business. He'd fit in rather well with the Republicans of today who also want to give everything away to business.
 
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