Amy Shira Teitel of The Vintage Space explains 'When Republicans Were Democrats: The Party Flip'

I told my readers to "stay tuned for evergreen and holiday posts through the rest of November." I'm following through by sharing Amy Shira Teitel of The Vintage Space explaining When Republicans Were Democrats: The Party Flip, which is about as evergreen as it gets.



Those who have been reading this blog since 2012 may be surprised at Amy using The Vintage Space to examine history that isn't about space, science, and technology, so I'll let her explain in the introduction to the Medium post that accompanies and features this video.

The Republican party today is unrecognizable from when it was established in 1854. The party that abolished slavery and extolled the virtues of individual liberties for all Americans doesn’t quite feel like the same one that celebrated overturning Roe v. Wade. The same is true of the Democrats; the party of slave-owning secessionists and segregationists is hardly the party that today stands for minority, women’s, and trans rights, to name a few. Both parties have evolved, but the significant change came in the mid-20th century with the Party Flip. And it’s not a myth like I’ve seen some people claim.

As a mid-century historian, I work almost exclusively in this politically strange era where nothing aligns with what we know today, and the lines aren’t quite as black and white as readers expect. It confuses people, and frankly, I sometimes need to get it reframed in my head. Especially as a born and raised Canadian; this isn’t anything I ever learned in school. It’s a fascinating history, and like so many big topics, it needs a lot of context. To start unpacking the Flip, we’re going to look at how the two party system came to be, how their ideologies developed, and how those two major parties flipped in the 20th century. And we’re going to start right at the beginning.

Both the video and blog post compose a comprehensive summary of the evolution of party systems in the U.S. so far. It's a good place to start, especially since it looks like the U.S. looks like it's undergoing another realignment as a result of the re-election of convicted criminal Donald Trump. That's a topic I plan on returning to, but only after the Sunday entertainment feature, which will not be highlights of tonight's Saturday Night Live; that would be topical other than the Thanksgiving sketches and I'm not writing topical posts until the end of the month.