Every 36 years...

[Indy Prez]

There is a political realignment in the United States

1789-1824-1860-1896-1932-1968-2004-

Agree/disagree with my consideration of electoral realignment? Provide your own dates if you so wish but I would most like to discuss (what I consider to be) the 7th (current) Party System and what 2040 (or the next Party System) will see.

*35 years in the first instance

[Cathcon]

I'd agree with all of them except 2004. What I noticed before this thread in researching for a paper I'm writing was how the GOP and Dems each got these equal power cycles, specifically 1896-1932 and 1932-1968. '68 began the new Republican power cycle, but measuring how much that lasted is debatable. Coule be 1992, could be 2008, dunno. Didn't notice the others though.

[Jerseyrules]

1789, 1800, 1824, 1860, 1896, 1932, but the Sixth Party System, IMO, can't really begin until at least 1980.  1968 was same sh^t different asshole, kinda like 2004.  Even in 1980 that wasn't a huge realignment because the Dems held the house until 1994.  Definitely no later than 94 though, which marked the split of the Dems into two camps: liberal and neoliberal.  This sent shockwaves across the world, affecting Tony Blair's method of governing as well.

[Indy Prez]

I think 9/11 and the War On Terror really reshaped everything, making the Democrats the more libertarian Party. The next thirty-six years would be shaped by debates on religion, the definition of torture, America's decline as a world power and (here's hoping) the gradual erosion of the Moral Majority in politics).
 2004 was the first election in which the Democrats could have won without carrying a single Southern state and the Republicans without a single Northern state. At the risk of sounding like Rudy Guiliani, 9/11... 9/11.
 Any ideas of what the next realignment will look like? Maps wouuld be most welcome.

[Jerseyrules]

I don't see why so many people believe that the south will become Democratic, because unless the Dems become a neoliberal and socially conservative (populist) party, I don't see it happening.

[Indy Prez]

I see the electoral college as abolished, or drastically reformed, by 2040. However, in the intervening years, I dunno..