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Well, the Republican party, and Democrats, too, have almost nothing to do with what they were in the 1860s. Seems silly to still be thanking them for emancipation and the 13th amendment. What’s inexplicable is that Pubs get no credit for the civil rights movement, even though it was Dems who dragged their feet until the last minute. LBJ gets credit for swooping in and saving the day, and even Kennedy gets reflected glow, though basically he did nothing. People don’t even remember blacks were Republicans for decades until a trickle during FDR, then the sea change of the 60s, only after civil rights legislation.

I’ve heard it explained in terms of civil rights Pubs being the east coast establishment Rockefeller types we now call RINOs. But what does the average person care about how the party was internally split decades ago? Besides, today’s Pubs are like establishment 60s Pubs on civil rights issues. You may have dissenters like Rand Paul, only he’s a dissenter on a lot of issues. I’ve heard it explained that Goldwater was against the Civil Rights Act and Pubs ran him against LBJ, and his ideological type eventually won out in the Reagan era. But who the heck remembers what Goldwater stood for? Not even Goldwater fans, to a degree.

The real explanation is that after the civil rights acts the South switched to the Republican side, the New Left found a home with Dems, and blacks seemingly permanently settled down in the Dem plantation. Not that the Pub platform changed, but we got the guys who everyone thinks of as racists and they got the guys who constantly play the race card. Simple as that.

As for wars, that’s easy. Up until the New Left Dems were the warmongers of the 20th century. Or rather, progressives of both parties were. Which makes sense, as war is the health of the state and from Wilson on Dems were the relative Big Government party. Then came the hippies, and they made a point of being loudly antiwar. Which didn’t stop them from being violent personally and as a movement, but is something everyone can be expected to remember about them. When they took over the Democrat party prowar “liberals” became Pubs. Unlike Dixiecrats, however, they didn’t change. They changed the Republican party. We call them neocons.

Not that Dems stopped waging wars, as is evident with the Obama administration. Pubs were merely marginally more militaristic. Dems wanted to export the Welfare State and back up the UN with force, and we wanted to be World Police. Not all of us, but enough. So I understand regular people’s confusion over Dems’ mysterious past.

As for who amounted more debt an which party is seen as the reckless spender, that is beyond explanation. I don’t know. Maybe it’s that people’s natural instinct is to think war is the most expensive thing a government can do? Maybe it’s just that in the MSM you constantly hear the phrase “unfunded war” and almost never “unfunded Social Security.” Maybe it’s that people never understood supply side economics, and “tax cuts for the rich” hits home.

One thing I can say for certain is Pubs forever sacrificed their claim to fiscal restraint during term after term of deficits and trying to beat Dems at their own game, even if they’ve never matched debt of Democrat proportions.

blacks were Republicans for decades until a trickle during FDR, then the sea change of the 60s, only after civil rights legislation.

It wasn't a trickle as far as voting, they voted GOP until and including 1932, and then instantly and permanently reversed course in 1936.

It was about a 70% GOP vote in 1932, then about 70% democrat in 1936, and the rest is history.

Then came the hippies, and they made a point of being loudly antiwar. Which didn’t stop them from being violent personally and as a movement,

You are confusing societal dropouts, back to the land, live and let live hippies, with left wing activists, yippies, and hard driven college kids who lived for power, activism, and politics, and anything but moving off into the country to live quietly.

Then came the hippies, and they made a point of being loudly antiwar.

Antiwar = One who believes we are fighting on the wrong side

Seems silly to still be thanking them for emancipation and the 13th amendment.

I only harken back to this because it truly is a significant starting point to things of today. As you stated, "Not that the Pub platform changed, but we got the guys who everyone thinks of as racists and they got the guys who constantly play the race card." The truth has NOTHING to do with the party lines of today - at all!

You mention two very good points that further punctuate my disbelief to the STUPIDITY in America: the 1860's and the Civil Rights Act.

I know this is a point of contention, even here in Freeper land, but the south was fighting for state's rights - what they thought and understood was the right to disband a union that was no longer supporting their rights as a whole - remember, not even 100 years early, these very men fought to through off the shackles of a government that no longer supported or defended them. Let's be honest that the main issue the POLITICAL class was fighting for was the economic fortunes in slavery, but the main reason the general populace was fighting for was the right to self-regulate without Federal intervention. But there were many other, significant issues which caused the people to succeed such as lack of economic support, lack of military support, excessive tariffs, etc...; the south thought that they were making a reasoned stand to limit Federalism and to control their own destiny. Nuanced as that is, if properly taught, Americans could understand the fight, instead it has been sold that the south was mean, they all hated blacks and they wanted to destroy the Union - this is a very broad brush that misses many important facts in its swath!

And Goldwater's resistance to the Civil Right's Act was because he felt that the Act was tantamount to Federal laws regulating morality and that the law, as written, would eliminate the right to free association - both proven and oft exploited unintended consequence. IMHO, today, Goldwater's positions, seem to be more aligned with Libertarians - not that there is anything wrong with that. I will take a Libertarian over anything close to the Democrats and over most of the modern GOP-e. Anyway, my point is that instead of teaching and learning about these nuances and explaining their differences, the actual differences and nuances are quickly, and purposefully, passed over as simply being unimportant or even worse, "not the point." They further nuance the nuances by adding a layer of BS on top of the issues which could and should be discussed.

I agree that neither party of today can honestly hold a candle as a fiscal-beacon. This can be proven by the way both the Dems and the GOP-e are denigrating both Conservatives and TEA Party-types who are actually attempting to right our fiscal ship! But again, as you stated, the Dems are all about turning on the Federal money spigot, the more the better and they always have been. Whereas the Reps have never abdicated for turning the spigot on FULL BLAST! Minor, yet important nuances if one wants to make actual, educated votes and decisions in their lives.

The above is why I used the word STUPID and not IGNORANT to describe America. The truth and knowledge are there for those with an inkling of will to scratch the surface.