Rethinking the History of Political Parties during the 20th Century in the United States (A Few Thoughts)

As a result of the Civil Rights Revolution for Black United Statesians during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, the Democratic and Republican parties essentially switched positions on major ideological issues, correct? Or put another way, the “Solid South” abandoned the Democratic Party for the Republican Party almost over night, correct? By looking at the evolution of both the Republican party and the Democratic party from roughly 1900 to 1999 you can see a gradual and constant shift in both parties.If we look at all elected offices, in the state of Texas, for example, we see that the Democratic Party had a somewhat strong hold through the 1990s!States have a great deal of power and that power needs to be analyzed and critiqued.And this brings up another point, there continues to be little connection between which political party label candidates adopt and their political ideology when looking at the 20th century as a whole.There are also different standards and expectations depending on what the political office is.Our analysis and study of political parties and our collective historical memory does not recognize the extreme regional variations that exists.And votes are frequently (really) close.And discussions of political parties sometimes forget that it is more of something like a “game” than anything else, in many cases.