The War Between Parties

An opinion-based article on the history of the two main Political parties. We ask the question of whether or not the parties switched sides, the future, and the history of the Democratic and Republican parties.

Did the Parties Switch Sides?

The simple answer for this is no, the parties never switched, the examples previously provided have major gaps in them and most are factually incorrect. One of the most common arguments in the realm of politics always seems to be split in to different opinions, rather than fact. A common opinion of the history of the two main parties of the United States, is that they switch political views and policy in the 1960's, resulting in the Republicans being the land of the south, the party of hate, racism, bigotry, pro-slavery, and segregation. Leaving the Democratic party the party of peace, love, pro-minority, anti-racism and over all better qualities. Sounds like something we have heard before right? The Democrats are peaceful and want to help and the Republicans are evil. Although these theories have been debunked in the past people seem to still believe them, but do they understand what both of the parties actually stand for then and now? Before we get into that I think we should get into the history of both parties. When they started, what they stood for, and whether they are similar, the same, or completely different then what they stand for now in our modern world of Politics.

Civil War, KKK, and Jim Crow

There is no doubt that the Democratic party (formed 1828) has changed over the years. From them being the largest/oldest main political party of the US and party of the south, KKK, and the party of strong state Government. Now we see Democrats being against almost all of this except for the want for big Government, federally and statewide. They now control states with large minority populations, high taxes and seem to be more driven by diversity rather then policy, changing their minds almost every week on core issues such as border security, voter laws, freedom of speech, and the second amendment. When the Republican party was formed in 1854 they started out as an abolitionist party, anti-slavery, they were against the use of slaves in developing and new states in the US. One of the main founders and figures of the New Republican party was Abraham Lincoln, who started his presidency in 1961 which jump started the civil war. The Democrats of the south feared that Lincoln would take their slaves away making the cash crop industry go down so they decided to secede from the Union and put up arms against the United States. After the Civil War was over the southern Democrats founded the Ku Klux Klan, better known as the KKK, in 1965. Now some might have heard that it wasn't the Democrats that started the KKK, but instead someone who broke away from the Democratic party, there is no evidence of such events. The KKK was started to combat against white Republicans and newly freed black slaves, they called for murder of blacks, and whites that support them.

Now let's fast forward to 1877 the start of the Jim Crow laws, implemented by the southern Democrats, the Jim Crow laws where basically the recreation of "Black Codes" in 1865 & 1866, which had previously restricted civil rights and civil liberties of the black population. Jim Crow laws resulted into the segregation of public schools, facility's restrooms and even drinking fountains of the black population. Also President Woodrow Wilson (southern Dem) started the segregation of federal workplaces in 1913. In 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) signed the Civil Rights Act, legally ending segregation and discrimination by Jim Crow laws. Now although LBJ finally signed the Civil Rights Act (which had been denied by Democrats for several years before) he had some issues himself, people say that is when the Democrats and Republicans switched sides, although untrue, LBJ has been quoted saying "I'll have those N-words voting Democrat for 200 years." So much for pro-diversity right? He then signed the "Voting Rights Act" in 1965, allowing people of color to vote, and have the full extent of the 15th Amendment.

When did it change?

So now lets answer the question of when the parties did change, well they didn't, but we now have the south predominately Republican which causes a lot of confusion. There is a simple reason for it though, the south finally got tired of democratic rule over their states, and voted them out. The house seats of the south were predominantly Democrat till 1994. The Southern Strategy, a myth created by Democrats, stated that Nixon had switched the so called "Dixiecrats" into the Republican party. This narrative has been everywhere, history books, history channel, regularly taught in schools and repeated on the media. However, there has been no evidence provided to support this position, although many people insist that Nixon's appeals to drugs and law and order were racist in intentions. In 1969 Nixon put into effect what is now known as the "Philadelphia Plan", which promoted the first program to legally discriminate in favor of blacks. Why would someone who is supposedly a southern white supremacist do that?

Endnotes and Opinion

In conclusion, the parties have changed over time, but not on policy, just the mask that they wear. The Republican party still stands for the same thing they did when they started and the Democratic party has put up a mirror to the republican party. You may ask yourself, "why the change?" Is it all just a scam, a closed closet waiting for skeletons to come out of it? Well in my personal opinion I think there is no change, I think that the only reason they put up this mask is to further minority suppression, voter suppression and to remain in control of the majority of people in large cities, purely based off of votes rather then actual thought and opinion on any matter. So do not be fooled, the party that claims the Republicans are evil are the ones hiding behind their own history, changing it and having people believe them. The only difference now is instead of hateful segregation they segregate people into groups and tell them they are special and deserve restitution, but who do they deserve restitution from? The party that is telling them to take a stand, the party that controls where they live. We notice they have more diversity in their house and senate, why? To try to prove that they are not the party of hate, by aiming for diversity they are forgetting policy and over time we will see more problems, more apology and no action.