The Republicans had been slowly moving more toward conservatism (ideological Leftism) since Barry Goldwater won the Republican nomination for president in 1964, but they truly started to gain national momentum with the addition of southern racial segregationists, and the religious Right to the Republican party. This broadened coalition, combined with the difficulties that Democratic President Jimmy Carter (1977-81) experienced in office led to the election of conservative Republican Pres. Ronald Reagan. For more on the evolution of conservatism in the Republican party, you should look up a woman named Phyllis Schlafly, but the pivotal point was 1994 in my opinion. President George H.W. Bush who was certainly more moderate than Ronald Reagan
lost the 1992 election to Democrat Bill Clinton. In 1994, Republicans won Congress for the first time in decades and mounted an all-out offensive against President Clinton. Ultimately, they lost the PR battle as well as their majorities in Congress, but they never really got over it. Because of this resentment, cooperation between the parties became increasingly sparse and voting more polarized. Around that time, the conservative news media also took off, and it pushed the Republican party even more to the ideological Right. Clinton's succesor, George W. Bush, had a largely failed administration with disastrous economic and foreign policies. This widened the division between the parties even more, and by the time Pres. Obama was elected, the Republicans were unwilling to see another successful Democratic administration like Bill Clinton so they obstructed Obama and smeared Hillary Clinton (who they feared would extend the Clinton's legacy of success from the 90s), their goal was to block the Democrats from truly exercising power. Unfortunately, their political base (Republican voters) backed them up, bolstered by the conservative media juggernauts of: Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. For years, the conservative media had been feeding it's viewers the idea that any scientists, scholars, colleges or news media that wasn't inherently conservative was somehow tainted by liberal bias. That limited and nonsensical outlook prevented many conservatives from getting vetted, scholarly research and facts. It has also restricted their informational access to ones with manufactured "pure" conservative ideologies. That is why the polarization has widened and the Republican party is so different. Believe it or not, during the 1980's there were some liberal Republicans... the last vestiges of the party of Lincoln.
Roosevelt was the Democratic president from 1933 through 1945. During this time there were two wings of the Democrat party. The first wing were the southern, native-born, white, rural Protestants. The second wing were the northern, immigrant, urban, Catholics. Even though the Democrat party was divided, both sides were united than ever under Roosevelt. The Republican Party, however, began to believe government was the problem, not the solution.
For instance, we can take a look a Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Both men were established members of the Republican Party. Now, both of these men took presidency in the 20th century. Theodore in 1901, and Ronald in 1981. So what happened in the 80 years that separated them? Well first, it is important to get a good look at their background information to help understand why each of them chose their style of leadership.
The political shifts in American history during the last two centuries are often explained by Arthur Schlesinger's cyclical explanation of eras of public purpose followed by private interest. What is considered liberal versus what is considered conservative shifts in a similar pattern. While laissez-faire policies are considered liberal in the Roaring 20's, the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 quickly changed America's view of liberalism. Suddenly, the small government politics of Hoover were conservative and the progressive politics of Roosevelt were considered liberal. Thus, because the Great Depression quickly changed America's view of liberalism, Roosevelt can be considered a liberal and Hoover a conservative, despite occasionally supporting similar policies.
This was the final straw for many Americans, and enough to push them to the “right” side of the political spectrum, Republican. The election of 1980 brought the re-nominated Democratic candidate, Jimmy Carter, against the newly nominated Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan. While Carter ran a rather “gloom and doom” campaign, Reagan came into the election upbeat and with high hopes of rebuilding the military. Americans, weary of the liberal government, elected Ronald Reagan. Reagan came into the Presidency wanting to restore United States leadership in world affairs with a “get tough” attitude.
To begin with, this era was more a victory for liberalism through many aspects one being politics. The first change progressives wanted in politics was the "initiative were voters could initiate laws instead of waiting for legislatures to do it. Another was the "referendum" were voters could vote proposed bills into law, once again taking power away from the legislatures and giving it to the people. Others included the recall, where voters could remove elected officials from power, the secret or "Australian Ballot" which allowed for more privacy when voting thus encouraging a more true vote and less intimidation at the polls. Also, Roosevelt, who at the beginning of his presidency may have been classified as conservatist, moved more towards progressivism as he pursued his "three C's ", (Control of corporations, Consumer protection, and Co...
Looking at the United States in 1965, it would seem that the future of the liberal consensus was well entrenched. The anti-war movement was in full swing, civil rights were moving forward, and Johnson's Great Society was working to alleviate the plight of the poor in America. Yet, by 1968 the liberal consensus had fallen apart, which led to the triumph of conservatism with the election of President Reagan in 1980. The question must be posed, how in the course of 15 years did liberal consensus fall apart and conservatism rise to the forefront? What were the decisive factors that caused the fracturing of what seemed to be such a powerful political force? In looking at the period from 1968 to the triumph of Reagan in 1980, America was shaken to the core by the Watergate scandal, the stalling of economic growth, gas shortages, and the Vietnam War. In an era that included the amount of turbulence that the 1970's did, it is not difficult to imagine that conservatism come to power. In this paper I will analyze how the liberal consensus went from one of its high points in 1965 to one of its lows in 1968. From there I will show how conservatism rose to power by the 1980 elections. In doing so, I will look at how factors within the American economy, civil rights issues, and political workings of the United States contributed to the fracturing of the liberal consensus and the rise of conservatism.
There has been a huge question of why Texas has shifted from being mainly Democratic to Republican state. When reading “Cowboy Conservatism” by Sean P. Cunningham the most basic analysis of why there has been the drastic change was because rather than Texas leaving the Democratic Party the Democratic Party left Texas. Both parties went through a great amount of change on what each specific party views were. For example “Both parties experienced periods of factional discord and ideological readjustment” The democratic and republican parties had big changes in their political views. The economic changes that Texas was undergoing was one of the reasons that there was discord in the democratic and republican party. Increase in the population in the suburbs was a huge impact in the change of the political parties. The migration into the major cities such as Houston, Austin, and Fort Bend County had an influence on the votes. Since there was an influx of people from other places with republican views there was a tremendous increases of change in votes of political party’s from democratic to republican. There was also a decrease in conservative democrats in the U.S. furthermore having a decrease of conservatives demarcated and increase of more suburbs and the Republican Party is what changed Texas to republican. Texans had a view of the Democratic
The United States, comprised of much political diversity, has only two major political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Republican Party was founded by anti-slavery activists on March 20th, 1854, and is represented by its mascot, the elephant. Often referred to as the “Grand Old Party”, or GOP, Republicans favor customs that exude traditional Christian values with a platform based on American Conservatism. As a Christian myself, the values I share with Republican ideals are a main reason I side with the Republican Party.
...th the Republican image becoming more conservative, the party begins to win the vote of white men. Clearly demonstrated as a win for the GOP when they win the election with Reagan. Reagan used his influence to weaken the provisions of the Voting Rights Act and rescinding IRS ruling baring tax exemption from discriminatory schools. When Clinton came to office, he became the archetype of the “rights” revolution, countered by Bush’s administration that was clearly conservative. As a result of the two revolutions, the Republican and the Democratic Parties were then “branded.” The Republican being more conservative and the Democratic Party being liberal, being split by the Sociocultural and TSE revolutions. Nevertheless, it is clear that America still remained conservative in spite of these revolutions, leading to the collective progress of Republican political fortunes.
In 1980 Reagen won the presidency, which was a victory for the Republicans, he was a social conservative,, in this era Republican dominate the government more than the sixties and seventies. Especially the supreme court which was dominated by the republican. The southern Democrats who liked Reagen a lot are cALLED Reagen Republican, they re-registered themselves as Republicans. Reagen solidified the Republican dominance when he won again in 1984.As this period progresses, the Republican hold on the South and social conservatives becomes solid – the most precise and most significant aspect of political realignment in the modern era. Despite the fact that Democrats were dominant in the house during that era, the didn't oppose Reagen because
Neoconservatism is a variant of the conservative ideology which holds positions that fall between traditional and individualistic conservatism (Ball and Dagger, 2011b, p. 113). Many of the ideas and beliefs that neoconservatives hold, which continue to evolve today, were developed in the 1970s by “disillusioned liberal intellectuals” as a result of the tumultuous societal conditions that were occurring in the United States at the time (Ball and Dagger, 2011a, p. 170). To elaborate more fully, author Irving Kristol, the man known as the godfather of neoconservatives, says, “Many neoconservatives can be described as disenchanted welfare liberals. Once enthusiastic supporters of President Lyndon Johnson’s ‘Grand Society’ programs in the 1960s, these neoconservatives became disillusioned with these programs and with the general direction of welfare liberalism” (Ball and Dagger, 2011b, p. 113). Besides Irving Kristol, some of the other well known individuals who have helped contribute to the development and direction of neoconservatism over the past few decades include Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Norman Podhoretz, UN Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Nathan Glazer, and Dick and Lynne Cheney (Ball and Dagger, 2011b, p. 113). While I personally do not adhere to this ideology, and there are many features I completely disagree with, I will nevertheless stake an affirmative argument for neoconservatism and write as if I am an actual supporter. This is beneficial as it will allow me to empathize with others and put myself in the position of those with whom I disagree. What follows is an argument for a few of the merits of neoconservatism concerning its stance on economic and foreign policy issues.
Texas’ Political ideology centers on Republicanism and Conservatism. This political culture greatly reflects in the state’s taxing system. Texas runs on “laisse faire” motto, meaning that business should left alone. Generally, people with this political ideology do not desire any sort of government intervention (except when it comes to social issues)
Modern liberalism and modern conservatism are both political outlooks that involve acceptance or support of the balance of the degree of social equality and social inequality; while they tend to avoid political changes that would result in extreme deviation of society to either side. Modern liberalism and modern conservatism tend not to be as centrist or middle-of-the-road ideologies as they once could be. Ideology is a set of ideas and beliefs that guide the goals, expectations, and actions of a group (Webster’s Dictionary). Individuals who are conservative or liberal tend to have views that align within a political party, whether it be Republican or democratic, but this is not always the case. There are conservative democrats, such as, Jim Costa and Jim Cooper and there are liberal republicans, such as, Nathaniel Banks and George Washington Julian. Another name for conservative democrats would be blue dog democrats while the nickname for liberal republicans is the Rockefeller republicans. These two ideologies tend to be more of the centrist ideologies. Modern liberals tend to be members of the Democratic Party because they support a wide range of welfare programs and government support of the public sector and tighter corporate regulations (PP Modern Liberalism). U.S. Conservatism evolved from classical liberalism, which makes them similar, yet there is many differences between modern conservatism and modern liberalism. There are principles and tenets that govern each ideology. A tenant is a belief or idea that is held as being true from a group (Webster’s Dictionary). In understanding both ideologies, it is imperative to have an understanding of classical liberalism. Classical liberalism was built on ideas from the seventeenth ...
The time between 1960 and 1989 was marked by immense changes in American life. Inflation and unemployment rates were on the rise, liberal social movements were taking place across the country calling for women’s and civil rights and a distrust of the government’s ability to maintain the nation was brewing. Through all of these changes, Americans hoped for stability and a return to traditional, religious values to right society. While some may argue that the rise of a new conservatism between 1960 and 1989 came about as a result of economic instability, in reality, the desire for a government that was reliable and strong on both foreign and domestic issues and for a stable society centered
Liberalism and conservatism have been political ideas and thoughts from the very birth of our democracy. Their views and points of the government's role in a democratic society have changed over the years, but the basic ideas and principles have remained the same. There are many different degrees of liberalism and conservatism as almost anyone can be labeled. Some individuals are radical and extreme while others stand on more of a neutral territory, but the debates between the understood ideas of each group have continued throughout the history of the United States. We will take liberalism's Gary Doore and conservatism's Irving Kristol as modern day examples and compare and contrast the political ways of thinking of each individual.