American political transformations--what makes them tick??? (Reagan, Clinton, Obama, independence)

[t. raleigh fingers]

The topic of transformation does not seem to be much discussed. President Obama, often insightful, famously pointed out that Reagan had been "transformative," whereas Bill Clinton had not. He was right. Reagan rewrote the political spectrum, and transformed the right from the Nixonian 'law and order' era.

George Washington is a good example of how transformations can happen. He was a colonial officer and loyal Brit subject who wanted nothing more than to get a royal commission. He denounced the Boston Tea Party as hooliganism. How did he end up seeing the War of Independence as a "glorious cause?"

The coalition assembled by Jefferson is another example. Jefferson was an advocate of minimalist government. As Secretary of State, he had under 10 employees, and still thought that his department was too big, too unwieldy, and too complex. By the 1820s, his coalition was taken over by Andrew Jackson, whose raison d'être was patronage and federal largess. Today's Dems are much more the children of Jackson than of Jefferson. They yowled like stuck pigs when Trump tried to cut back the State Dept. from its 70,000 employee (including contractors) level.

The liberal Republicans of the 1860s would be called far right libertarians today. They favored small government, free markets, and individual liberty. By around 1890 they had morphed into progressivism. Writer and leading liberal William Dean Howells is an example. He wrote for both the Nation and the Atlantic, two of the leading liberal (libertarian) publications. By the late 19th century he was flirting with socialism.

What transformations do you see happening now in 2021, and what do you think might take place in the near future.