These groups formed the functional base of the party, turning out the vote. Understandably, this has made it hard for the party to agree on a simple agenda. Third, Democrats have often represented diverse populations, including organized labor, small farmers, Black people, immigrants, feminists, environmentalists, the urban poor and working class, Catholics, and more. (The use of "he" in that last sentence was not a mistake.) The party now stands for only two big ideas: Government must be made as ineffective as possible because competent, responsive government could threaten both plutocracy and white supremacy and "liberty" means freedom of white person ( including corporations, now defined as persons) to do as he pleases, regardless of the consequences for others.
Still, can anyone imagine modern Republicans even putting forward such ideas?Īfter 1960, the Republican Party morphed into a conservative ideological monolith that no longer tolerates moderates of any kind. Republican policies in 1956 never matched their liberal platform language.
"The Republican Party supports an immigration policy which is in keeping with the traditions of America in providing a haven for oppressed peoples, and which is based on equality of treatment, freedom from implications of discrimination between racial, nationality, and religious groups". "The Republican Party … commits itself anew to advancing the rights of all our people regardless of race, creed, color or national origin.". "We condemn illegal lobbying for any cause and improper use of money in political activities". "The Eisenhower Administration will continue to fight … Assure equal pay for equal work regardless of sex ". "The protection of the right of workers to organize into unions and to bargain collectively is the firm and permanent policy of the Eisenhower Administration.". The men and women who, with their minds, their hearts and hands, create the wealth that is shared in this country - they are America.'" "…as President Eisenhower has said, 'Labor is the United States. "America does not prosper unless all Americans prosper.". Consider these planks from the 1956 Republican Party platform: From 1854 to 1960, the Republicans represented a coalition of interest groups including moderates, conservatives and even some liberals. Second, the plutocrats remade the Republican Party into something unique in U.S. They undermined democracy to uphold plutocracy," Hacker and Pierson write. "In short, Republicans used white identity to defend wealth inequality. When that proved insufficient, they used a wide variety of dirty tricks to disenfranchise voters. They "encouraged white backlash and anti-government extremism," and outsourced voter mobilization to the National Rifle Association, white Christian evangelicals and the burgeoning industry of extreme right-wing media. As described by Yale University's Jacob Hacker and University of California, Berkeley's Paul Pierson in their important new book, Let Them Eat Tweets, the plutocrats invented "plutocratic populism," making strident, alarmist appeals to white identity. To maintain their political power and enact their unpopular agenda, the tiny band of plutocrats has stoked the fires of white identity and sabotaged democracy. The opinions of ordinary people count for essentially nothing in making public policy. It's your choice." To be blunt, we now live in a plutocracy. The superrich no longer even have to spend their money to wield power they can just whisper in the ear of anyone running for office, "We have unlimited funds to work for you or against you. These superrich individuals have used their wealth to jigger the rules of money-in-politics, gaining unprecedented political power in both major parties. Now, the richest one-tenth of 1 percent among us owns wealth about equal to what's held by the bottom 90 percent. How is this possible in a representative democracy?įirst, since 1980, we have witnessed the rise of a tiny class of super-wealthy individuals. For example, in 20, and again in 2017, Republicans enacted tax cuts that delivered 80 percent of the benefits to the richest 1 percent, which even most Republicans don't favor. populace leans strongly to the left, yet the right-wing Republican Party continues to win elections, control government and enact a far right policy agenda. This article originally appeared on Truthout.
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