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Thread: The GOP - Not so old

  1. #1
    ★Bandiera Rossa☭'s Avatar The Red Menace
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    Default The GOP - Not so old

    I am still confused as to why the Republican Party of the United States is referred to as the Grand Old Party even though it is younger than the Democratic Party, Is this merely so that they can claim to be great and mighty or is there actual reasoning to it?


  2. #2

    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    Quote Originally Posted by Slurricane View Post
    I am still confused as to why the Republican Party of the United States is referred to as the Grand Old Party even though it is younger than the Democratic Party, Is this merely so that they can claim to be great and mighty or is there actual reasoning to it?
    Its just a name.

    Quote Originally Posted by CBS NEWS
    The Republican National Committee says the acronym dates back to 1875, at which time it meant "Gallant Old Party." And in the early days of the automobile, it gained another popular, although ultimately fleeting, translation: "Get Out and Push" - the treatment early cars often needed.

    Stalwarts of both Republican and Democratic party campaigns would, of course, tell you that "Get Out and Push" is the proper attitude when it comes to motivating voters.

    And btw "democrat" in the days of the nations founding was an insult meaning, "one who panders to the crude and mindless whims of the masses."

    Some things never change.
    Last edited by The Devil's Sergeant; October 25, 2009 at 07:36 AM.

  3. #3
    Georgy Zhukov's Avatar Primicerius
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    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    Quote Originally Posted by The Devil's Sergeant View Post
    And btw "democrat" in the days of the nations founding was an insult meaning, "one who panders to the crude and mindless whims of the masses
    For Federalists maybe.

    And both parties try to paint their heritage to Jeffersons Democratic-Republicans, but really the Republicans just started calling themselves the Grand Old Party after the civil war for no real reason.

  4. #4
    CtrlAltDe1337's Avatar Praepositus
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    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    The original "democrat" party was the Democratic-Republican party, also called before that the Anti-Federalist party.

    The modern-day Republican party came later. But the name Gallant Old Party was originally given to the Republicans because they were credited with winning the civil war. Remember, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican.


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    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    Quote Originally Posted by The Devil's Sergeant View Post



    And btw "democrat" in the days of the nations founding was an insult meaning, "one who panders to the crude and mindless whims of the masses."

    Some things never change.
    Aristotle had a negative and positive term for each form of rule. In terms of rule by the people, his positive term was 'republic' and his negative term was 'democracy'

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    Last Roman's Avatar ron :wub:in swanson
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    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    Quote Originally Posted by The Devil's Sergeant View Post
    And btw "democrat" in the days of the nations founding was an insult meaning, "one who panders to the crude and mindless whims of the masses."

    Some things never change.
    Except that Jefferson's party called themselves the Democratic-Republicans, so clearly they did not see it that way.
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    Boer's Avatar Ordinarius
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    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    I've often been bothered by that myself.
    If the soul is impartial in receiving information, it devotes to that information the share of critical investigation the information deserves, and its truth or untruth thus becomes clear. However, if the soul is infected with partisanship for a particulat opinion or sect, it accepts without a moment’s hesitation the information that is agreeable to it.—Ibn Khaldun.

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    ★Bandiera Rossa☭'s Avatar The Red Menace
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    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    I really disagree with the doctrines of all US parties (yes even the Socialist ones) however this does sort of bother me.


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    Count of Montesano's Avatar Civitate
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    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    Slurricane, I tried to find out why the Republican Party was nicknamed the Grand Old Party without much success. Some say it was because Union veterans who had fought for the Grand Army of the Potomac became the biggest Republican supporters after the Civil War. There's also a saying that the "Grand Old Party" is the only one that respects the "Grand Old Flag." I'm guessing some of it has to do with the fact that the Republicans had a virtual lock on the presidency from the Civil War up through World War 1 (with the exception of Grover Cleveland). In other words, I wouldn't be surprised if the term "Grand Old Party" was a derogatory term that the Republicans co-opted and made their own.

    Besides, both parties have seen major shifts over the past 50 years, and I would argue that modern Republicans can't trace their lineage back to Lincoln, and modern Democrats certainly can't trace their lineage back to Jefferson. For example, many of the Southern Democrats who opposed segregation switched sides to the Republican Party in the 1960s. And the Democrats used to be considered more of a rural party back in the 1930s, but their power bases are no firmly entrenched in urban areas.

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    Kiljan Arslan's Avatar Comes Rei Militaris
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    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    umm opposed segregation? Weren't the dixiecrats who left the, ones who were for segregation?
    according to exarch I am like
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    sure, the way fred phelps finds christianity too optimistic?

    Simple truths
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    Did you know being born into wealth or marrying into wealth really shows you never did anything to earn it?
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  11. #11
    ★Bandiera Rossa☭'s Avatar The Red Menace
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    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    I believe Lincoln was more bourgeois left than anything...


  12. #12

    Default Re: The GOP - Not so old

    The Republican and Democratic Party's have switched sides on the political spectrum in the past 100 years.

    Early US political history

    Democrat's sprung from the Anti-federalist party that was mostly agrarian, limited federal power, etc. It had traction in both the North and especially in the plantation South. They where opposed to the Federalists, who where concerned with commerce, banking, and a strong navy/federal government to protect the US merchant fleet. Federalists gained most of their support from New England, but were also represented in Virginia.


    Early 19th century

    Things got messy in the 1814-1860 period, but roughly speaking the Anti-Federalists/Democrats split into Jacksonian (Southern) Democrats and Northern Democrats. While the the Federalists disapeared completely and with some former members creating the shortlived National Republicans and Whig parties.

    1860 Election

    The Republican party was created to represent the commercial, industrial and anti-slavery agenda in the North, and had zero support in the South. The Democrats were completely split North/South letting the Republican Presidential candidate (Lincoln) win.

    Post Civil War

    Republicans dominated after the Civil War, and became deeply attached to the growing industrial and banking interests in the North. The rapid expansion of industry in the 1890-1929 peroid favored Republicans. Democrat's only sucsess was Woodrow Wilsons populist isolantionist stance during WWI (ironically). However, the collapse in early thirties, and the peoples disenfranchisment with industry allowed the populist Roosevelt to win the presidency.

    Post WWII

    The Republicans tried a different tact post-Roosevelt, positioning themselves as anti-communist hawks as opposed to Trumans percieved weakness on military matters. Eisenhower provided the perfect candidate and won (it also helped that support for US industry/economy had returned). Also, a growing North-South rift had reapeared in the Democratic party, with the Segregationist-Democrats starting to emerge.

    1960 Election

    This is where the old Republican=Urban/Industry/Rich, Democratic=Rural/Poor/South/Populist started to get all flipped around. Kennedy was a New Englander, and carried that region, while also taking much of the south, though his sympathy for blacks lost him the "Deep South" of Lousiana and Mississipi. Nixon was a westerner, and started to make in-roads in rural states and Appliacia. It was an odd mish-mash of an election with the old political lines gettting blurred


    LBJ: The turning point.

    LBJ conciously decided to finally abandon the Southern half of his party by strongly supported the Civil Rights movement, which incredibly angered the south. His remarks after signing the first Civil Rights bill was "We have lost the South for a Generation", and he was right. The Republicans took the opportunity to pounce on this turn of events and "Goldwater Republicanism" was born. Keeping the Republican staunch capitalist/Industry support, strong Christian, anti-black rights, anti-gay rights were added to platform to connect with the disenfranchised southern ex-democrats.

    In 1964, the extremely popular LBJ (61% of the vote) won everywhere except the South (states which JFK had carried), where the modern idea of Republicanism had taken root.

    Today

    Post LBJ, the US political landscape is somewhat strange in that the Republicans now contain both a Christian/Southern/Rural wing and Rich/Libertarian/Industrial wing. The Democratics now find their support from large urban centers, labor unions, and minority's with most of their historic rural support gone. The Republican Party is currently having the same problem the Democrats had in the Truman-Kennedy era, i.e. the South. There is a growing rift between Huckabee-Republicans (Christian Southern Rural) and Gulianni-Republicans (Industrial Northern), which I think will spawn the next chapter in US political party history.
    Last edited by Sphere; October 26, 2009 at 06:24 PM.

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