(November 14, 2016 at 2:37 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: Both parties have undergone a lot of changes over the years. When my grandfather was voting (WWII vet) they supposedly stood for the "little guy" and continuing the New Deal versus Republican Plutocrats. I think if I were voting 40 years ago I would have supported JFK but I would have to think twice because at that time Democrats were also the party of segregation.
Anyway, during my voting years (30+), the Democrats have always been a very loose group of special interests with not much connecting them. Hard to see where the interests of NARAL and the AFLCIO and the NAACP and Green Peace intersect. That seem less true of Republicans - conservatism is generally about preserving traditional institutions. I'm not convinced that the Democratic party has any such central theme binding it together. Each part of the coalition want to instigate some kind of change to the system and not often are those changes welcome to all member groups.
But it is important to note the traditional institutions they seek to preserve are those that serve the wealthy and there is nothing merit based about who is wealthy despite the tales they like to tell.
