Salvador Said:

Question about the history of the Democratic Party...?

We Answered:

The ideology of both Parties has flip-flopped over the life of the Parties.

It's like a shell game. Many GOP or Dem supporters today are defending principles that are no longer part of their party's platform (or , it's a much more grey area).

Great question.

Willie Said:

What's the deal with the democratic party and the primaries?

We Answered:

They are doing it so they can throw those delegates to whomever they want if needed at the convention... DUH....

Monica Said:

history of the democratic party?

We Answered:

-Oldest political party in US.
-Supported slavery.
-Resisted civil rights for African Americans until the mid-50's.
-Champions of public school, unions, and government oversight over every aspect of society.

Susan Said:

Why do people do not know about the racist history of the Democratic Party?

We Answered:

Everyone knows this about the southern Democrats, called Dixiecrats. The party was divided between them and the northern Democrats on quite a few issues. Most of the Dixiecrats left the party and became Republicans early on. Today, all of the KKK and White Supremacist groups are registered Republicans. Someone brings this up on this site probably every other day. The rest of your rant is pure crap. President Obama is the first black president. If you don't consider him that, then YOU are the racist.

Travis Said:

When Republicans point out that there is some racist history in the Democratic party...?

We Answered:

Actually, they go back decades to try to make that argument stick. The reason is denial of the shift in party constituency that happened about thirty years ago. In honor of the late Paul Harvey, here's the rest of the story (just my opinion)...

The makeup and core constituency of the parties shifted due to Roe v. Wade. That one issue brought the religious coalitions to the political forefront and ultimately caused a shift in party constituency and platforms. There was an overlap between the old Southern Democrats and the Bible Belt, and the combination of the two put Carter(D) in office. Carter didn't buckle to their 'morality based' (pro-life) agenda so they switched parties and Reagan(R) happily took up their cause, sacrificing fiscal conservatism to mollify his new base.

At the time, Republicans were the fiscally conservative party for the rich. They weren't as overtly racist as the old Southern Dems, they just didn't like poor people regardless of skin color. They still don't. The old Southern Democrats, with their 'racist baggage' in tow, joined up with the disenchanted Bible Belt for the trek to the Republican Party. The Republicans, in the move from fiscal conservatism towards social conservatism, morphed into the 'free-market tax cut and spend' crowd. The remaining Democrats, a fairly disorganized crowd, couldn't agree on much more than a "we're not them" platform. They still like to spend, just on different things. By default, they morphed from 'tax and spend' into the 'tax and try to balance the budget' crowd.