Gary Hurst wrote:
not quite. the republicans had always been more aligned with business interests whereas the dems were more about the common man in the neighborhood
Depends on how far back you go. Lincoln was their first serious candidate for president. He wasn't an abolitionist, but his wife and the bulk of his Republican supporters were.
Some other progressive ideas, like individual income tax, were proposed by the likes of the Socialist Labor Party and the Populist Party in the 1800s, with the Dems jumping on that bandwagon in 1894. It was a Republican President, William Howard Taft, who officially proposed the 16th Amendment, after the Dems made the income tax part of their 1908 election platform.
these terms "liberal" and "conservative" are not particularly meaningful beyond just being polarizing TV sound bite jargon. the republican party today is dominated by a super radical bunch known the world over as "neoliberals" but are somehow in this country self classified as "conservative" but they seem not to fit into any sort of american conservative tradition. perpetual war, huge intrusive government giving welfare to all, dual loyalty between the USA and israel, etc -- none of this would have made any sense at all to robert taft or even barry goldwater.
I've got to think the turning point was with FDR. That's when the Dems became the party of 'vote for us and we'll use the federal treasury to buy you stuff'.
> such a person as a traditional conservative has no voice in
america today.
When somebody giving voice to them actually lands in office (Justin Amash), the Republicans scramble to put up a Republican In Name Only to unseat him, while proclaiming that Amash has abandoned "conservative values". In other words, Amash failed to vote special benefits for preferred business interests.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/justin-amash-challenger-michigan-house-97971.html Mitch. _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
