Leo Said:

Will Obama be the first far left liberal president to take the lead of the republican party for the good?

We Answered:

lol, your characterization of the left is a bit off....make that WAY off...

obama doesn't want to "lead" the gop, he is trying to lead the whole country. It's just real tough to lead something that refuses to be led, it's like trying to herd cats. As an obama supporter, i applaud obama's efforts to bring the country together, but i'm very frustrated with all the obstruction evident from the right. They deliberately try to derail obama, and then turn around and complain he isn't doing anything. It's a sad day for america, and these obstructionists are doing more damage than al qaeda ever did.

Renee Said:

Why did the republican party become the states right party?

We Answered:

I don't know either.

Eric Said:

Why do Conservatives confuse the liberal republican party of Lincoln's era with their own ultra right wing...?

We Answered:

Today's ultra right wingers want everyone to think they are "moderate." None of them admit to being far right loons, even when they're spewing their venomous lies. They want voters to see them as "middle of the road," so the Democrats can be portrayed as far left wackos. It's called "reference point," but even though the right understands this, the ideas they're advocating are as far right as it gets: KKK, John Birch Society, American Nazi Party, you name it. Look at their agenda: disenfranchise blacks, deport foreigners, keep down the middle class, cut taxes for the rich, deregulate business and bail out the banks from their own greed-induced problems. Next they'll want noble titles...

Heather Said:

If Abe Lincoln was liberal why the Republican Party is conservative?

We Answered:

Because there was a shift in fundamental beliefs in both parties after Lincoln. So back in his day, Republicans were more like modern Democrats as far as social issues go.

Opposing slavery and giving the blacks the right to vote are issues more associated with today's Democrats.


"The Republican Party was founded in 1854 by a group of renegade Democrats, Whigs, and political independents who opposed the expansion of SLAVERY into new U.S. territories and states. What began as a single-issue, independent party became a major political force in the United States. Six years after the new party was formed, Republican nominee ABRAHAM LINCOLN won the U.S. presidential election. Although Lincoln's election was a triumph for the Republicans, his support was concentrated primarily in the North.

After the North's victory in 1865, the Republicans oversaw Reconstruction, a period of rebuilding for the vanquished South. Lincoln favored a more conciliatory attitude toward the defeated Confederacy. Radical Republicans, however, sought a complete overhaul of the South's economic and social system. After Lincoln's assassination in 1865, the Republicans' Reconstruction policies—such as conferring citizenship and VOTING RIGHTS to former slaves—created long-lasting resentment among many southern whites.

Republicans depended upon the support of northern voters and courted the vote of emancipated slaves. The party fanned hostility by reminding northern voters of the South's disloyalty during the war. The Republicans were the dominant party in the United States from 1860 to 1931, and the party's base among southern whites began to grow in the 1950s, when political loyalties began to shift."

Karl Said:

Why is the Republican party so liberal?

We Answered:

We'll see. It will be interesting to see which Republicans will have the courage to stand up for free speech now (in the aftermath of the AZ shooting) when it will be very unpopular to do so.

Ross Said:

why are the conservatives in the U.S. the Republican Party and in Australia they are the Liberal Party?

We Answered:

When founded in the 1940s by Robert Menzies, the Liberal Party of Australia was there to oppose the Labor Party which was a state socialist party. At the time the Australian Liberals were rather less "conservative" than they are now.

In fact, both major parties have moved to the right. The Labor party shifted gradually between the 1950s and the 1990s, particularly under E.Gough Whitlam in the late 1960s and 1970s and later leaders.

The Liberals kept much of their policy static for a long time. By the early 1990s there might have seemed to be marginal differences between their Liberal and Labor policies if casually examined by an outside observer.

In John Howard became leader of the Liberal Party in the 1990s and moved the party quite rapidly to the right.

Elements of the Liberal Party in Australia are republican while I'm sure that elements of the Labor party are monarchist. Howard was a monarchist, some of his ministers favoured a republic.

In Australia republicanism is a minor issue. While HM Queen Elizabeth might be monarch of Australia in name, she and her government in the UK do not have great influence here.

It could be argued that it's the other way about. A good deal of Mr. Blair's British Labour Party policies were lifted from those of the Australian Labor Party. (Note different spelling).