Are we seeing a political polarity shift?

[Mike OTDP]

Watching the rise of Trump has confirmed a theory I have, that we are seeing a shift in political polarity. This happens every so often...hard as it may be to believe, the Democrats were the party of national security from ~1930 to ~1968.

For most of my life, the Democrats were the party of the lower middle class and welfare recipients. The GOP was the party of the upper middle class and big business. Obama won in part because he offered Big Business (especially Big Banking) crony capitalism. Adam Smith, over 200 years ago, pointed out that the easiest way for a rich man to become a very rich man was to have the government legislate/regulate him so.

But in the process, and frankly for at least a decade prior, the Democrats were slowly abandoning the lower middle class. Today, the Democrats are the party of Big Business, urban gentry snobs, and welfare recipients.

The GOP, not called the Stupid Party without cause, kept trying to play to Big Business...and ignored the opening the Democrats had left. Which Trump saw and seized.

Trump is one man...but I can definitely see the potential for a major polarity shift in the parties. Which is creating considerable angst among the Old Party Establishment. Some of whom are likely to lose a lot of power, no matter which way the 2016 election goes.

[martini]

Mike,
I think you have a point here. I'm not sure how well it will work out for anyone, but I can see how the shift can/is happening.

[Greg]

CW moves slowly and is almost always obsolete and wrong.

The Democrats have been the party of the rich, big business, the upper middle class (especially those whose work involves words, not math) and welfare parasites for at least a generation, despite conventional wisdom to the contrary.

The old blue-collar union D voting block has been rather slow to catch on, their loyalty is more tribe and blood than thinking, or else they would have realized they've been patsies for *decades*. Trump seems to be separating a lot of those types from the D plantation, those voters crossing over seems to be what's effectively won Trump the nomination.

We'll see if those voters stay on the R side in the general.

[Vonz90]

Maybe if Trump wins and has some level of sucess.

Even then I doubt it as Trump is more cult of personality than organization reformer.

As I am pretty sure that he is just as much of a leftist as Hillary, I think the most likely result is he destroys the GOP brand for a decade like Nixon (who also appealed heavily to the lower middle class).

[HTRN]

The GOP, not called the Stupid Party without cause, kept trying to play to Big Business..

Money is the life blood of politics, without the deep pockets of the fortune 500, a political campaign is doomed to irreverency.