The Third Party System

It is often assumed the platforms each political party holds, are the ones they have held since the establishment of the party. Democrats have been the party of progressive social issues; while the Republicans own the reputation of being the party of family values. How true are those two representative brand platforms? Have there not been times where Democrats have strayed away from defending basic progressive social issues? Have Republicans always pushed agendas and legislatives that supported the American family? In short, the answer to all the above is: no. The Democratic and Republican party have never remained stoic and will continue to evolve as the voting population does. Throughout the course of American history, there have been numerous …show more content…
For example, nowadays it is almost guaranteed that southern voters, specifically White southerners, will vote for the Republican candidate during the presidential election—or at least conservative politicians during local and state elections. During the third party system in the United States of America, started by Abraham Lincoln, Democrats were able to count on both small farmers and White southerners to support them in elections. There was a shift among the voting population from these groups to align with Democrats during the third party system, to then align themselves with Republicans later on. These sort of shifts have occurred dramatically throughout the course of American political history. Whether it be based on one political party system with another, or specific events creating the shift of voter population. When it comes to large events creating changes, there was the issue of the Civil Rights movement in the 60s. When then president, Lyndon B. Johnson, signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, it was said numerous times that by signing the Act, he also signed away Democratic votes in the southern states. There was then a change of southern votes belonging to …show more content…
First, is the one I feel is slightly deteriorating, but is still a definite contender for being the absolute direction of the parties. That being, the centralization of specific people being the heads of political parties. “The party organizations had lost power not only to the individual members of the party…” For example, when thinking of the Republican party, especially in the state of politics right now, there is one figure that appears at the forefront of the Republican party and in that, is automatically deemed as the sole representative of the Republican party. Personally, I do not conflate certain prominent figures as being the sole leader and representative of their party because a single person does not encompass the entirety of a party, nor the enormous history and complexities of each party. I do not feel I am alone in that belief, and so, that brings me into the second possible direction of political parties. The younger generations are not content with being represented by only one person, and so they are the ones leading the marches, leading the fight against all sorts of superiors and people in power. In my opinion, the future of both the Democratic party and the Republican party are in the hands of the youth. The direction is no longer leading towards a certain figure leading the revolutionary changes

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