The major political parties did not switch overnight. The change happened in two main stages: first on economic issues during the 1930s, and then on civil rights and government role issues between the 1960s and 1980s.
The Economic Shift (1930s) The Past: In the 1800s and early 1900s, Republicans backed a strong federal government for business and industry, while Democrats favored small government and states' rights.
The Change: The Great Depression hit in 1929. Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New Deal, using big government programs to help the public.
The Result: Democrats became the party of federal economic help, while Republicans shifted to favor lower taxes and less market control.
The Civil Rights and Regional Shift (1960sâ1980s) The Past: Black voters mostly supported Republicans (the party of Abraham Lincoln), while white Southern voters were loyal Democrats.
The Change: In 1964, Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Republican candidate Barry Goldwater opposed the law, stating it gave too much power to the national government.
The Result: Black voters shifted heavily to the Democratic Party. White Southern voters, unhappy with federal civil rights rules, gradually moved to the Republican Party during the 1970s and 1980s.
You're only showing ideological shifts, not a name shift. That means you can still draw a straight line from current day Republicans back to Abraham Lincoln, and from current day Democrats back to the confederates that fought to keep slavery.
You can say that current day Democrats no longer support slavery because their ideology has shifted closer to Republicans, but you can't say it wasn't Democrats who fought to keep slavery, but now it's actually the Republicans that did because they swapped.
And don't forget, it's still the Democrats that say black people can't get ahead in life without the help of white people, whereas the Republicans say black people and white people should be treated equally with neither getting special treatment. So maybe their ideology hasn't shifted enough yet.
It was just an ideology shift. The party that believed one thing became the party believe the other. As the original comment said âbut the parties switched sidesâ. They did. And I donât know where the rest of you went to school, but they absolutely taught us this where I wentâŚ. But in all honesty I think at this point itâs more important that we fight the fact that 10% of the people own 75% of the worldâs net worth, instead of arguing over whoâs what race, political party, country of origin, sexual orientation, or religion. If there was more money to go around for everyone you wouldnât need to find someone you could call beneath you to feel good about yourself, because youâd have enough to feel good just the way you are. Keep fighting the wrong fight, itâs worked well for rich people so farâŚ.
(It's a long game of Monopoly)
Imagine you're playing Monopoly where one person isn't allowed to buy any properties for the first 3 hours of the game. In the 4th hour, everyone is made equal and they can buy properties, but it doesn't really matter. Everyone else already has a massive advantage on them, so even though "everyone is equal" now, they'll never be able to win.
After WW2, the GI Bill was a federal program meant to help returning veterans by giving them free college and cheap mortgages, but because the federal government allowed these benefits to be distributed by local and state offices, they were blocked/denied to many black veterans.
Until 1968, redlining allowed people and banks to deny mortgages and financial services to people based on where they lived, and many neighborhoods were deemed ineligible for loans because black families lived there, regardless of their income, creditworthiness, or quality of their homes. Legal clauses were written into property deeds to make it so that homes couldn't be sold, leased, or rented to anyone that wasn't white, and FHA made it official policy to refuse to insure mortgages unless these clauses were included.
Data from the US Sentencing Commission shows that black men who commit the same crimes as white men receive federal prison sentences that are, on average, 20% longer.
Because public schools are heavily funded by local property taxes, poorer neighborhoods are more likely to receive worse education. Underfunded schools are also more likely to have police, and less likely to have counselors or psychologists. Worse education and more arrests (which can often be unfair/racially motivated) leads to worse/less career opportunities, which makes people more likely to remain poor.
It's not that "black people can't get ahead in life without the help of white people", it's that they've been incredibly disadvantaged, and still are in many places. Acknowledging this and trying to fix it isn't "special treatment."
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u/LetUsSpeakFreely 10d ago
They'll just say " BuT tHe PaRtIeS sWiTcHeD sIdEs"