policy shift

[kashifsakhan]

you know how back in the 1860 and 70s the republican party had policies that sound like something the democratic party would say nowadays, and vice versa. when did the policy change come about that made the democrats more liberal, and the republicans conservative? anyone like to explain when and why?

[A18]

The GOP was never a 'liberal' party in today's sense of the word. It was really a revival of the Federalist Party, whose politics are hard to describe. As early as the 1870s, the GOP was strongly associated with commerce and industry.

The Democrats became statists in the 1890s. Woodrow Wilson cemented it.

The modern GOP can be traced back, perhaps, to the 1920s, when they began pushing for lower taxes and reduced government.