What happened to the Republican Party?

[Xithras]

A question for the students of political history: Where did the Republican Party go wrong? I was recently doing some reading on the political history of the US, and found the history of the Republican Party to be very interesting...especially when compared to the modern Republicans.

John Fremont, the first Republican presidential candidate, campaigned with the slogan "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men". They were founded as the party that opposed slavery, corruption, aristocracy, and which supported the rights of the commoner. They were the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ike. It's a party that supported the Civil and Voting rights acts in the 1960's in even greater percentages than our own. It's also a party that's also been torn between the left and right, but which has historically sent moderates to high office.

So in your opinion, what happened? What was the defining moment or event that swung them to the right, against common Americans, and against freedom? At what point did they stop paying attention to American's, and start focusing on their wallets and wars? I found a dozen different possibilities, from the election of Reagan to Watergate, but none that really explained the wholesale anti-American, anti-freedom shift that their party has taken over the past several decades.

I don't ask this out of idle curiosity. As a force in American history, the Republican party hasn't necessarily been a bad one, and in some respects has been very positive. From a modern perspective, I think it's important to recognize where they went wrong to ensure that WE don't go the same way in our quest to regain power in this country.

And another related question, for those brave enough to think about it: What shifts would the Republican party have to make, in your opinion, to become a "legitimate" party again? I assume that nobody here would ever actually VOTE for a republican, but what would it take to return them to the level of respect that they had when people looked on them as "the party of Lincoln"?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. We must always respect the Constitution

I think that is the most important thing that can keep our party on the straight and narrow.

[MichiganVote]

2. They ignored the middle of the country at their peril

Meaning, the mandate they claimed is not and will not be the mandate they actually. Otherwise called, we gambled and lost.

[muntrv]

3. The 1964 election

when Barry Goldwater campaigned to the southerners. Strom Thurmond that year switched parties and it escalated in 1968 with Nixon's "southern strategy."

[annabanana]

4. absolutely cannot substatiate....

But I have a sneaking suspicion it started when FDR became a "traitor to his class" and opened the doors of a middle class life to the working classes. Family lore has it that he was never forgiven for this transgression and that the aristocracy has been working ever since to regain their "rightful place" in society. Since the great unwashed, hoi polloi, lumpen prole party was the home of FDR.. the greedier (and angrier) upper-crusters gravitated to a party they could own outright.

[Xithras]

8. That's a very interesting take on it.

I never really thought about it that way, but there was a great deal of opposition to the New Deal from American aristocracy. I could see corporate dollars flooding into the Republican party as a response. It doesn't explain some of the later voting trends though...like the civil rights acts in the 1960's. It does explain why so many wealthy people are Republicans though.

I wonder if any historical evidence exists to support this idea.

[Orangepeel]

9. but Coolidge and Hoover were republicans

Weren't they both very pro-corporate, anti-worker? FDR was a response to them, not the cause.

[merbex]

5. Goldwater and Nixon happened -that's the short answer

Goldwater attracted real right wing ideologues and they got rid of moderate Repugs by challenging them in primaries

Nixon wanted to win so badly that he adopted the "Southern Strategy" which plays to racial prejudices

[Kber]

6. In the 1960's the democrats, as a party

decided to put priciple over politics and try to turn their backs on the politics of racism by supporting civil rights legislation and the desegration of American society.

Rather than welcoming the democrats to a position that they could reasonably be said to have pioneered, the republicans put politics over principle and "took advantage" of the opportunity to court the racist vote. That's the moment they sold their collective souls for 30 pieces of silver. The've never recovered it.

[keopeli]

7. Whether Dem or Repub, the problem is always lying.

If Repubs would stick to their platform, they would have a much longer lifespan of political control.

The problem is that they say they are for many popular causes, but they practice something quite different.

It has taken many years to notice, but people finally see that they do not follow through with promises and, in fact, take us in another direction.

This behavior causes your base to abandon you, and power quickly fades.

[EstimatedProphet]

10. What I think happened:

The Civil Rights movement. The Republicans saw they could get more power by playing to the shitheel wifebeaters about race fears, and they went down that road instead of the high road.

[byronius]

11. Maybe it was Goldwater's defeat in '64.

They were so outraged and became so bitterly determined to regain stature that they 'made a deal with the devil' -- the corporate crypto-fascists. They became the party not of the 'big tent', but the big sewer -- where all the darkest parts of the American Id flowed like sewage. Whatever the dumbest, cruelest, most un-American thing to do was, they embraced it and funded it. The standard moderates got dragged along, bleating and unable to shift culturally away from their ideological birthplace. My father-in-law is like that. Born a Republican. Not a bad guy -- but he just focuses on the tax cuts and the 'personal responsibility' line and abortion (staunch Catholic upbringing) -- and keeps his blinders firmly in place when it comes to bigotry, greed, insane ideas, poisoning the earth, 'revelations', the good 'ol boy network, etc. -- He just won't look. Nothing there. Can't look. And we're talking not looking with a vengeance. With deep emotion. Because he would have to admit to having aided Darkness. Wouldn't be prudent.

And so we all get dragged over the edge to hell. With blinders.

I don't really know. Probably a lot more complex than this. But to answer the second part of your question --

They would have to stop trying to destroy the human race. (Like that's possible for them.) It's become cellular. No way. Can't look. They are an inherently cruel and ignorant party. It's just what they are about. Even at their sweetest. You know what they could do to win back trust? Lie -- and pretend that they're Good, Moral Servants of the People. Oh, wait. That's right.

[Orangepeel]

12. Why did Teddy Roosevelt leave it?

wasn't it all downhill from there?

[BlooInBloo]

13. The 60's, Civil Rights, Vietnam....

They never could get over that...

And then they exploited the "immoral racist bitter white southern man" as the means to get back in power.

In the course of that exploitation, they sold their souls to the devil.

[Lefty48197]

14. The chickens are coming home to roost.

You reap what you sow. etc.

The Republican party went wrong after Richard Nixon resigned in 1974. They felt that they and their party had been wronged by the Democrats and by the press (nevermind what the AMERICAN PEOPLE felt).
Since that time, the Republicans have been hell-bent on exacting revenge from the Democrats, because they forced Nixon to resign.
That's why they de-humanize and slander every single candidate we nominate for President. Every single one of them. They feel it's justified.
It's because of Watergate that the Republicans impeached Bill Clinton. Some of the hardcore had their "impeach Clinton" stickers on their cars Jan. 21, 1995. They were going to investigate everything they could to try and find an excuse to impeach him. I think they actually expected him to resign after the Monica story came to light.
They don't understand the difference between an incredibly stupid sexual tryst, and a power-hungry maniac who feels that he can commit any crime with impunity. (sounds like GWB - I know, but I'm still talking about Nixon here)
Since the days of Watergate, hate has percolated in the hearts of Republicans. That's why they have no ideas, no agenda that helps the American people. All they want to do is end government, and allow a pure form of laisse-faire economic policy to allow corporate America to run amok.
It took awhile, but the American people have wised up. The gig is up. Good night GOP.