Yes, you are quite right.
Back in the 90s, there was this period of time when this matter was made clearer and obvious -- a window, so to speak -- it parsed very clearly for a time before it was obscured and "distracted from" once again.
The moment had to do with all the various 3rd party political groups... and the issue of marriage.
I was lucky to catch this phwam. Basically, we do have two parties -- Democrats and Republicans; and then in re marriage: that which is between a man and a woman.
At this time, there were the usual peripheral columns parsing that Dems were the party of females and Repubs were the party of males.
So, I made up my mind to stay connected to the 3rd party political groups; but clearly to stay on focus with regard to "supporting" a Democrat and Republican Parties "forum".
Since that time, MoveOn and other radical liberal groups have been working hard to seize control of the Democratic party in order to make "gay marriage" the major tent peg of the Democratic party.
Repubs saw this too, and simply moved out of liberal way to not at all "stop" this activity.
And why? lol...
As the Democrats get more and more taken over by their radical supporters, this then makes the Republican party the party of males and females -- the marriage party.
As the Dems lose more of their constituent base, the "political door" gets opened to a genuine and newer opposition party (perhaps it will be the Constitution Party, it certainly won't be Greenies or Libertarians (as they currently stand) ).
And this is why we see folks like Hillary attempting to move towards center, hoping, they can ride the wave of whatever that newer opposition party will become. It's quite fetching to observe this, from my chair. As it is clear to me that Party Democrats yet have no idea what or who that newer opposition group will be.
At this pinpoint of time, Dems can only assert they are for abortion and for gay marriage. That's about it. Repubs worried? Not! lol.
As Party Heads in Dem scan the horizon looking to see WHAT party will be replacing the Dems.. they are not looking to coalesce the new group, but rather the ride the wave on herd.
And this is why there is so much disarray. There's a party out there looking for a leader to lead them, and then there's Dem Big Heads looking not to lead; but to capitalize upon whatever a newer group has cobbled together.
Cat chasing its tail. Or rather, tailspin.
Thus if a third party on the right forms it splits the right and the left wins. As the left implements its agenda the right gets scared and outraged. It unites and then wins elections.
If the left gets split the Republicans win. When they implement their agenda the Democrats get scared and outraged... they get back together and win elections.
The system was designed by Democrats and Republicans to perpetuate the Democrat and Republican parties. It is designed to see that all other parties fail. And guess what? It works exactly as designed.