Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Partisan Oscillation



Partisan Oscillation

“Grand Old Party” for the Republicans is a misnomer, for theirs is the younger of the two parties. The Democrats don’t mention this because neither Democratic nor Republican parties like to dwell upon their pasts. The Democratic party doesn’t like to remind its base that it used to support slavery; and the Republican party doesn’t like to remind its base that it used to oppose slavery.
The $20 bill has a picture of Andrew Jackson, who is now an embarrassment for the Democratic party. The $5 bill has a picture of Abraham Lincoln, who is now an embarrassment for the Republican party. Perhaps the two parties should arrange an exchange.
Why not? They’ve exchanged bases and territories. The Republicans used to represent pragmatic business-friendly race-rights Northeastern and Western urbanites; and the Democrats represented populist racist Southern farmers. After about a century and a half, these roles have reversed.
And how are we to know that in another century and a half, they won’t reverse again?

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