Why do "conservatives" call themselves Republicans when they are really old Southern Democrats?

Question

-Are they too stupid to realize that they aren't really Republicans?

-Are they too stupid to come up w/ a new name?

-Or do they just like using a name voters are very familiar with?

Answer 1

They feel anythings better than being called a Democrat or Liberal.

Answer 2

Actually that is a very good question.

At the Chicago Convention in 1968 the (then ) young baby-boomer hard leftists (Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, etc.) made a concerted effort to take over the Democratic Party.

It worked.

In 1972 they nominated George McGovern, perhaps the furthest Left candidate that any major party has run, before or since. Of course he got crushed (carried only Massachusetts and D.C.) but the hard left still had control of the Democratic Party. They have been taking the party further, and further and further left ever since. The Democratic platform for 2000 was further to the left than the Socialist platform was in the 1920.

A lot of people, many but not all of whom lived in the South, saw that the Party they had always supported no longer reflected their views... they saw that the Republicans were closer to what they believed than the Dems were. (As Regan said "I didn't leave the Democratic Party...it left me!)

These folks were called "Reagan Democrats" by the media... and they are properly called "Neo-Conservatives" ... meaning they are new Conservatives...in that they don't agree with what the Dems have become but they don't totally agree with the "Paleo-Conservatives" either. (Pat Buchanan is one of the few Paleo-Conservatives out there... people who still back, more or less, what the Republicans were for back in the days of Sen. Robert Taft... BEFORE FDR... the sort of fools that would back the Smoot-Hawley Tariff.)

Since they make up the vast majority of the Conservative movement they they are often just called Conservatives.

Answer 3

They are probably most like the people who ran against FDR, who were Republicans, and at that point represented the status quo. The Democrats had become the "anyone who isn't Republican" party.

Parties are like species classes; they evolve over time and occassionally switch roles. Originally, the direct descendents of Mammals were the lumbering kings of the land. Then reptiles, the tiny newts, evolved into dinosaors. Then Dinosoars died out and were replaced by huge, lumbering Mammals. Parties are constantly changing platforms; it's the needs of people that survive unchanged.

Answer 4

Voters are familiar with the name....

Ask any repube that is over 60what is important to them and they will answer you with Dem. ideas....

Todays Dem's are closer to the Republicans of the early 1900's The best republican president was Teddy Roosevelt. I

Im' a strong Liberal but I have pics of Teddy up in my house!!

Answer 5

I don't know many Republicans who are students of anything but rewriting history.