Have Republicans always been the selfish ones?

[Jebus]

This is a question for U.S. history buffs.

Considering that Lincoln, arguably the most considerate U.S. president, was a republican, while Johnson, his egotistical running mate and successor, was a democrat, something must have changed in the last 150 years.

[Not The Real JReg]

I think that this video might be relevant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8VOM8ET1WU

[Red]

I'm a bit rusty on my US History, but let's see what I can remember. I'll go quickly.

There were several shifts, all gradual. We can talk about all the events if you will regarding political tensions historically.

When the Democratic Party first formed, Andrew Jackson was the leader (and while he did some good things, we was kind of an asshole with his support of Slavery, White Nationalism, and approving the Removal of the Indians), whom Andrew Johnson idolized, which explained why he was so vehemently against the Civil Rights Acts the Radical Republicans (who called for Civil Rights and punishing the South) wanted to implement.

Post-War era between 1865-1921 were dominated almost entirely by Republicans, most of whom shared goals (most notably granting Civil Rights, like with Grand and Garfield), but they had their share of missteps. Hayes was accused of removing US troops from the South, meaning blacks weren't protected. The only Democrats in this time were Cleveland and Wilson, and the Democratic stronghold was mostly in the south. Cleveland to my understanding was more Libertarian, in that he didn't think the government should do good things, just prevent bad things from happening (like negative-utilitarianism). After McKinley, the Progressive Era began with Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson. Roosevelt had this Square Deal which was super progressive even by some of today's standards (you still have people trying to weaken the FDA), but it wasn't expanded as much in the second term since Conservative Republicans didn't allow it. Taft did some Progressive things, but he wasn't as Progressive as Roosevelt and even reversed some of his policies. Wilson was, I think, about as Progressive as Roosevelt, although he was very racist, since he was from the South. Also note that when Roosevelt tried to tun again in 1912, he offered his New Nationalism policies, a lot of which were implemented during the New Deal.

Then after World War 1, the US didn't want to change as much, so they elected conservative Republican leaders like Warren G. Harding, and his Vice President/Successor Calvin Coolidge (who was a precursor to modern conservative leaders, and he supported civil rights). Then Herbert Hoover kinda got screwed by the Great Depression, initially refusing to allow government intervention, and was voted out in favour of FDR. To give Hoover credit, he did a lot of charity work outside of politics.

FDR led the Democrats as the party that wanted federal intervention in the economy with the New Deal, which I'm sure you know about. While it didn't get the country out of the Depression, it definitely helped, and kept it from getting much worse.

But I think that modern-day conservatism was formed after World War 2, particularly during the late 50's and 60's with Barry Goldwater. Conservatism has always been in the US (Robert Taft in the 50's with his opposition to Labor Unions, anti-New Dealers during FDR's presidency), but Goldwater not only revived it, but also redefined the ideology, although he did not support the growing Judeo Christian crap in the party (which is ironic for the Republicans, considering how Jesus talked about altruism and such). The 60's were the height of liberalism in America, but when Nixon was elected, the New Deal Coalition pretty much disbanded at that point. Still though, Nixon was relatively liberal compared to other Republicans, though he did some pretty bad things to help offset that. Then in the 80's you got Reaganism, which you know about, and that has strongly persisted until this day.

Nowadays, younger Republicans tend to be more Centrist; They usually support some social programs, gay rights, and acknowledge climate change.

So it's hard to pin down, bit these are the facts as I recall them (and this is just a summary). Make of them as you will I guess.

[Jebus]

I think that this video might be relevant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8VOM8ET1WU

Great video

[Jebus]

@Red Pretty good summary.

It seems the evangelical-republican bromance started in the 80s. The 1984 election was the first since abortion was legalized where the candidates took opposite stances on the issue. Since then, I believe every Republican candidate has been pro-life, whereas every Democratic candidate was pro-choice.

Given how strongly evangelicals feel about abortion, perhaps it's not surprising they forget about the Good Samaritan passage when casting their votes.