The Pendulum Swings

What was once old is new again.

In the last half of the 19th century, and for nearly twenty years into the 20th century, the Democratic Party was the party of states' rights. Since Woodrow Wilson, the party gradually morphed into the federalist party we recognize today. And, as one would expect, the Republicans stood for everything that the Democrats were not. Now, with the marriage amendment controversy and, to a lesser extent, the Schiavo case, we may be witnessing the first stirrings of a change in the parties' stance. Now that the religious right dominates the Republican party, they are willing to embrace federalism in order to consolidate their gains and impose their ideas upon all of the states. And the Democrats are screaming about leaving the states alone, particularly those states that favor gay marriage, and about a Congress meddling into the private affairs of a poor woman on the brink of death.

Now that a new century is upon us, the parties are once again changing sides on several important issues. My advice to anyone dissatisfied with their political party: wait a hundred years.