How did the Democrats turn toward the left and how did the GOP turn right?

[minionofmidas]

Um, the 92 and 96 planks on trusts have virtually nothing in common. They could easily be two major centre-right and centre-left parties' stances of a given year.

What does he mean by "cultural left", anyways? Tolerance for non-protestant, ethnic Whites?

[minionofmidas]

Back to "cultural left".

There definitely is, in the post Civil War era, an alignment of the Republicans as the Ins, the All-American, Grand Ole, fandumb gungho patriotic party, and the Democrats as the Outs, the groups whose membership in the American body politic was less core: White Southerners, ex-copperheads, Roman Catholics, immigrants.
Blacks, far more of an "out" group than any of the others, are the big excemption up to 1876, but the Republicans left them dangling from the bridge that the Democrats had strung them to that year. That Blacks continued to vote Republican where they were allowed to vote for another sixty years is due entirely to lack of alternative.

If that is what wormy meant, then yes, he's right for a change. There was nothing unavoidable about it until at least 1896, and possibly 1932, but the seeds were sown then. 1896 builds on this 1868 base, 1932 builds on 1896, the 60s build on the 30s, the 90s and 2000s builds on the 60s. Even though there's nothing immediately recognizable left from 1865 except Republicans questioning Democratic patriotism.