History of political rancor, divisiveness, and violence in USA

[goliadh]

The Republicans and Democrats have moved further apart on the last 30-40 years on ideological lines. I kind of miss the days when you had Republicans who were conservative in economic matters, but open to centrist or liberal thinking on social issues or sympathetic to working-class and poor interests. I also miss Democrats in office who were liberal in many respects but strong on defense, like Scoop Jackson and Sam Nunn, or who 'got' blue-collar Americans. Both parties seem to have purged most leaders who don't follow their party line over the last 20 years.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by goliadh

The Republicans and Democrats have moved further apart on the last 30-40 years on ideological lines.

They've done more than that. They've crossed lines. Kennedy and Johnson (Dem.) were the hawks, who got us into and buried us deeper in Vietnam, and Nixon (Rep.) who got us out. Democratic governors fought to keep their schools and lunch counters segregated.

It wasn't until it was apparent that both parties were committed to blind warfare as a solution to all problems and racism was the American way, that people like Gene McCarthy and George McGovern wrested the Democrats away from the entrenched and dogmatic hatred and violence. The Dems have, ever since, been seen as the only party in which anyone would dare to present a liberal viewpoint, but that's not the leaning of Democrats in the pre-Vietnam era.

[BlackShoe]

Vicious campaigns, mudslinging, and political infighting are not something that Americans invented. Back in the 70's, recall being shown a copy of a speech delivered by a challenger against the incumbent. The current office holder was accused of being incompetent, out of touch with citizens in his district, corrupt, etc, some nasty stuff. The thing was, the speech was not from any then current campaign. It had been translated from ancient Latin and was 2200 years old. It was from an election from the Roman Republic. Except for changing the names, places, and slightly modifying a few phrases, the speech could have neen uttered by any modern politician. It would seem that in some ways human nature has not changed all that much in over two thousand years.