Will the parties switch positions in the next 50 years?

[President Mitt]

2012 might be the year for it as well. There are two available scenarios that I see for a realignment in 2012.

One in which Mike Huckabee gains the Republican nomination, and the Republicans shift to the left on economics. This is probably the most likely option for a change in the political spectrum, as it will shift the Republicans to the statist (or more so) direction, and the Democrats in the opposite. In 2016, the Democrats might take more tepid steps towards Libertarianism, such as starting to support gun rights (a la Brian Schwietzer) and be less prone to supporting the War on Terrorism (and civil liberties) and wars in general.

The other, less likely scenario, but one where many here are hopeful for, is Gary Johnson (or somebody like him) is somehow able to maneuver through the Republican field and snatch the Republican nomination. The bible thumpers, neocons, and southern statists ditch Johnson, and the Democratic Party shifts to the right on Social issues, and foreign policy. The Republicans gradually become more Libertarian, and the Democrats sink back into the statism expunged in the Wilson years (albiet a little less racist). This scenario would probably take much less time to be complete, as Social Conservatism is hardly foreign to the Democratic Party, and Isolationism was a historically Republican plank.

[President Mitt]

Improbable that either the two parties or the nation exist in fifty years.

Or this website for that matter.