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

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

FDR, FDR.

(The Democrats have always represented the cultural left, and the Republicans the cultural right).

What do you mean by cultural? Because supporting an end to slavery doesn't sound that conservative of the time, & remember Mr. Evangelical Bryan.

And, for God's sake, pretty much the rest of this thread is just a Democratic hack thread. "Racism"! Hah!

I know that's an oversimplification, but yes, racism is the reason the parties are the way they are. LBJ decided that he liked black people (not blah people) so he did some civil rights stuff. He became unpopular in the Democratic south for this, and it won over the Republicans of the North. The Democrats of the south were appealed to by Nixon in 1968, using the racists as a way to get elected.

Ford and Carter weren't racist, so neither party really developed. But then Republicans found someone who would not only become despised by blacks, but also become the most charismatic president in American history. Said person was very right-wing, and the Republicans followed him further and further right, with the Democrats in opposition to him.

Racism is the answer.

[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.

[All Along The Watchtower]

The Democrats have never really been "left". Yes, they have usually been the more "populist" of the two parties (though "populism" is a suspicious word, given that its meaning can change drastically in a relatively short time period). But in the distinctively right-wing American political spectrum, that isn't saying much.

The Jacksonian Democrats that mainly came out of the Southern and (then) Western parts of America were what you would today call "Liberal" or "classical liberal" (I hate that term, btw. ) They represented the small holders, small farmers, self-employed artisans and craftsmen, along with immigrant and native laborers. They were opposed to the more professional "middle class" Whigs, who didn't have the popular organization of the Democrats but had an influential network of support that included newspapers and businesses. Both parties were divided over slavery.

The Whigs' successor in the American two-party system,  the Republicans, were the first party in American history to be created that was not only unified in its opposition to chattel slavery, but was also the first major party to be formed in the emerging industrial capitalist North. Thus, the Republicans were the party of Northern farmers, homesteaders, businessmen and professionals, and other well-educated, politically active, and often affluent men. They were the party of the emerging capitalist middle and upper classes in the Northern United States. The Republicans were mainly a party of creditors, while the Democrats were more divided between debtor and immigrant constituencies who could organize political machines, and a segment of the middle-to-upper classes who hated Democratic machine politics but considered the Republicans to be wrong on vital issues like tariffs and Reconstruction of the South:  the latter group would be known as the so-called "Bourbon Democrats." In the South, the Democrats were the only game in town,  associated with the remnants of the segregationist planter class, along with poor white farmers and laborers as a base of voter support.

So what to make of this history? Well, I think this the beginning of the practical divide between the Republican and Democratic Parties; the Republicans have always been better organized and more cohesive, owing to their more middle-to-upper class support, while the Democrats being the party of "Everyone else" have always been rather poorly organized, but with a potentially larger constituency and consequently, a larger base of popular support.

However, it should be kept in mind that those are generalizations of the parties as collectives; there are so many individual exceptions to the party dynamics within America.  Considering the sheer size of the nation and its vast diversity, one must always be careful to generalize too much.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

I'd say Coolidge and Davis were about even in conservatism. Both come from a Jeffersonian mold of governance.

[Tidewater_Wave]

The Democrats have gotten locked in to favors and promises of free handouts ever since 1964. Each time they promise more as if they're going to make everything perfect in life from cradle to grave. Civil Rights is far better today than it was then, but that party still manages to make things sound differently. This pushes them further and further to the left. As for Republicans, they've moved to the right because religion is under attack now. Let's take John F. Kennedy's speech about secularism. That was fine for 1960 when religion wasn't under attack and the only problems may have been between Catholics, Protestants, and a few Jews.  Now your kids can't pray in school, wearing crosses is forbidden for teachers, and homosexuality is taught in kindergarden. I'm sure Kennedy would reverse that speech today. Ronald Reagan even pointed out in 1980 that he agreed with Kennedy but that was in a different era and times had changed even within 20 years. From that point on, the GOP has moved to the right on social issues. Also foreign policy is bigger now than it has been in recent decades and Republicans are very involved with protecting our nation's security which has been turned into a rightwing mindset by liberals. Both parties have separated that's for sure. During the 50's, 60's, and 70's both Democrats and Republicans were more than less centrist with different views on how to balance the budget and collect taxes.

[tik 🪀✨]

religion is under attack!! to the fort!