the eye of Nova's mind

I don't think that you can blame this one election cycle for the failure of working class folks to realize that capitalism is a con (that is, a confidence game) and that the wealthy--the industrialists--are con artists. It is inherently not in anyone's best interest but the wealthy to maintain the current class structure, but because Americans are taught from childhood to believe that anyone can "make it" (that is, get rich) if they work hard. This belief effectively counteracts the basic fact that many folks who are rich did not work for that money but instead have inherited it. We Americans are victims of our own propaganda.

Also, now that I'm on an anti-capitalism rant, I must point out that capitalism is not in any way necessary for a democracy or republic to function. It's just drilled into us that capitalism is pure and right and very American. After the Palmer raids in the 1920s, I don't think any other economic system had a chance to even get a foothold here in the States. When the house of cards fall, we will all be trapped beneath.

What happened between 1870 and 1920 that caused the shift of ideological alignment between the Republican and Democratic parties?

1870-1900--The Gilded Age : "A cycle of global capitalist expansion begun in the 1820s came to a halt in the 1870s and crashed in the 1890s. ( Read more... )

1873--Credit Mobilier scandal and collapse of Northern Pacific Railroad. Panic of 1873.

1876--Tilden (D) wins popular election but the Compromise of 1877 gives Hayes (R) the presidency (the most controversial US presidential election until arguably that of 2000).

1877--Reconstruction ends. Panic of 1873 ends.

1884--Mugwumps (reform-minded Rs) defect to support Cleveland; become seeds for progressive Democrats of 1930s. Theodore Roosevelt supports Blaine, despite evidence of political corruption. ("Mugwump" survives as a political epithet for a decade.)

1890--Populist Party founded.

1893--Collapse of Pennsylvania and Reading Railroads. Panic of 1893.

1896--Tammany Hall opposes William Jennings Bryan; he subsequently loses the 1896 presidential election. McKinley wins by utilizing the political fundraising abilities of Mark Hanna, who tapped into big business. Plessy v. Ferguson decided.

1897--Panic of 1893 ends.

1901--McKinley assassinated by Leon Czolgosz.

1912--Theodore Roosevelt (R) splits the party; Wilson (D) wins presidency.

1913--16th Amendment levies national income tax.

1915--Birth of a Nation grosses most sales of any film in history, adjusted for inflation (tickets sold for an unheard-of price of $2, which translates into $40/ticket in 2007 prices). Wilson shows the film in the White House and famously says that "it is like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true."

1917--US enters World War I.

1918-19--US enters long period of isolationism.

1919--Race riot in Chicago.

1920--Prohibition engulfs the nation with the passage of the 18th Amendment. Women's suffrage culminates in the 19th Amendment. Harding wins US election, partially due to the influx of female voters. By this time, the ideological realignment is complete, where the GOP is the party of the monied, and Democrats are seen as populist/progressive. This remains the relative descriptors of the parties.