I agree with your premise that party’s change even if their names remain the same. The Republican party began a massive change with Trump’s election and has moved away from being the “rich” man’s party dominated by conservatives to the working man’s party comprise of people whose primary source of income is wages. The shift may be subtle, but it has meant that the party is now about protecting US jobs and is far more aligned with union workers in its desire to see wages for workers rise. The party is not anti-wealth as much as it is pro wage growth for workers. The party does retain some of its social values. Another major shift is it has seized the high ground on civil rights and Constitutionalism, that the Democrats ceded when they embrace judicial activism and progressive liberalism.
In contrast, the Democratic party is increasingly being pulled by the force of progressive liberalism to embrace modern socialism, globalism, and the redefining of rights as privileges that can be granted or taken away by government. Unlike Constitutionalism which tries to limit the power of the majority by granting unalienable rights to minorities, modern day progressive liberalism has no such limits. The Democratic party seems to view the checks and balances that are part of our government design as obstacles to “progress” towards a more perfect society.
Right now religious rights and gun ownership rights are the ones most under attack by progressive liberals, but others like the right to assemble are being challenged aggressively by Democratic governors in this current Covid 19 crisis, who again argue any rights of the minority to assemble are subject to the restrictions government puts on them to assemble. In the end, any “right” which interferes with “progress” is subject to termination or modification.
So church services can be cancelled by governors if it is for the greater good. Put aside the issue of whether church services should be cancelled. The right to assemble is a right to assemble and not subject to “the greater good” and if for a brief period of time the right to hold church services must be restricted then it has to be shown that the same principles used to suspend church services were applied equally across every similar situation like liquor stores. Why are grocery stores considered essential but spiritual establishments not?
The new Republican party attracts working people (who through their payment of taxes) and as citizens of the country believe they have earned their civil rights and right to their property. They desire to be part of country where their civil and property rights are the law of the land. They desire to be as free and independent as possible within the confines of a modern society which leads to various levels of dependency. These values are shared across most members of the Republican party. They reject globalism not out of xenophobia, but rather because globalism threatens the wages they depend on as the foundation of their “independence”.
The Democratic party believes we have evolved as an economy and civilization where socialism is a preferable way to distribute the goods and services our economy produces to insure every person living here (citizen or not) is supported through a social safety net that insures a “comfortable poverty”. They retain enough capitalism especially “crony capitalism” to insure members of the party can continue to experience significant wealth and higher standards of living than the people they take care of.
The poor are expected to vote for the people selected by the party to rule over them, because the Democratic party takes care of them. The single best way to escape poverty is to become become a party leader. This leadership will ensure your ability to secure position and status. Your ability to influence can come from your position in the media, your wealth, your role as an educator of voters, or your position as a bureaucrat determining the rules and regulations over how society operates. Together and collectively you run the country first and foremost in your own self interest and then you provide for those dependent on you the standard of living necessary to retain their loyalty.
The Democratic party is increasingly comprised of those that determine who gets what and those who depend on that allocation to live. Independence and freedom are traded away by the poor in exchange for safety and security. People live at a level high enough to quell organized dissension but low enough to maintain dependence. In a sense, the Democrats are bringing back the feudal society of the past. In time the middle class will erode away and all that will be left is the upper class and a sub class of well off “stewards” and the masses. The Democratic party ideology does not lend itself to a strong middle class whose values undermine the desire to centralize power in the government.
The two parties will clash and it is no surprise given how polarized their goals are. The Republican party is going to become dependent on a strong middle class and the Democrats dependent on the poor (the rich are to small in number to totally control elections as long as we have them). So bringing in huge numbers of poor into this country and eventually giving them the power to vote will make the Democrats unassailable. The Republicans will need to figure out how to limit population growth to levels below that of economic growth and limit global competition to force more money into the hands of working people to insure a strong middle class.
I for one am not sure who will win in this colossal struggle for the hearts and souls of this country.
