The historical origins of Trumpism (3)

American political parties have historically been extremely dissimilar to the very ideologically regimented and homogeneous nature of the contemporary Republican Party. Indeed, it could be said that the American political system cannot easily function without rather diverse, somewhat fragmented and contradictory political parties. The reason for this lies partly in the extreme lack of proportionality in America's electoral system (as evidenced by the electoral college system for electing the President, and the skewed system of representation in the Senate) which makes small political parties very unviable ; and partly because of the geographically and ethnically diverse nature of America itself. However, another powerful reason is that the legislature does not act at the behest of the executive (as in the UK Parliament), but that the executive depends on co-operation with various factions in the legislature in order to secure passage of legislation.

If one compares with Biden with two 20th century American presidents who proposed similarly ambitious programmes of reform (Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson) that is precisely what happened. Republican legislators, on an issue by issue basis, voted for legislation proposed by Democrats in the White House. For Lyndon Johnson, it was important to persuade Republicans to vote for the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, partly because he had to twist the arms of the very reluctant 'Dixiecrats', but partly because he valued bipartisan support for these measures.

The Republican Party in the 20th century was a much more pluralist organisation than it is now. Leading figures with comparatively progresive views who had prominent positions in its ranks (Wendell Wilkie, Thomas Dewey, Nelson Rockefeller, John Lindsay, Jacob Javits) would be excluded today, as being far too liberal. Even Eisenhower and Nixon (who favoured comprehensive health insurance) would be regarded with suspicion. Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt bequeathed a powerful reformist legacy which meant that the Republicans were not entirely a party of business interests. Until the 1990s, the Republican Party contained a wide range of opinions, but from the 1970s the range began to narrow. The Democrats, until the 1960s, were even more diverse, embracing forces that were starkly contradictory : the New Deal coalition of intellectuals and labour unions ; the older Democrat constituency of Irish, Italian and East European immigrants and descendants of immigrants ; and the extremely reactionary and racist 'Dixiecrats', who had supported the party prior to the Civil War. Although the Dixiecrats were to peel away from the party after the civil rights legislation of the '60s (as Lyndon Johnson predicted they would) the Democrats remained pluralistic, while the Republicans became increasingly more ideologically monocultural.

(To be continued)