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The Evolving Ideologies of the Parties
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14718 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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11 / 1988 |
2,377 Words |
| Author
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Gerald Pomper
Gerald Pomper is professor of political science at the
Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.
Chatham House will soon publish The Election of 1988, the
latest of his 14 books on American politics. |
Consider the following election year quiz of just two questions: (1) Which political party's program has included balancing the federal budget, protecting states' rights against an overbearing national government, and asserting traditional morality against secular values?
(2) Which party has stood for vigorously enforcing civil rights laws on behalf of blacks, protecting American industry against foreign trade competition, and adding the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution?
Most readers think they know the obvious answers: (1) Republicans and (2) Democrats. But the answers, historically, are actually the opposite. This demonstrates the parties' readiness to change their ideology to fit new social and electoral demands. Such changes are evident in current politics, right up to the presidential election on November 8.
From the time of Andrew Jackson, the Democratic Party opposed increases in the power of the national government, as in the creation of a national bank. At the turn of the century, as the nation became a world industrial power, William Jennings Bryan spoke for traditionalist America in his denunciation of the "cross of gold." As late as Franklin D. Roosevelt's first election in 1932, the Democratic platform called for "an immediate and drastic reduction of governmental expenditures." Today's Democrats are certainly different from their political ancestors.
Republicans are also historically inconsistent. The party was born in opposition to slavery, led the Civil War, and devised Reconstruction on behalf of blacks. For most of its existence, it fought for protective tariffs against foreign imports. After women won the vote, Republicans initiated proposals on their behalf, from a 1920 endorsement of equal pay for equal work to the support, as early as 1944, of "an amendment to the Constitution providing for equal rights for men and women." Some would say the Reagan administration is not traditionally Republican.
Are politicians just inconstant, or plain dishonest? There are better explanations. The election of 1988, giving us a new picture to add to our national political album, provides a look at how the parties are growing. On some issues, especially race, they have changed their positions as their voting coalitions have shifted. In other cases, changes have been more in appearances than in fundamentals. Basic economic orientations have held: Republicans toward producers, Democrats toward consumers. Basic
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